My wife & I (38 / 42 from Essex, England) have just returned from our 3rd visit to the Beach Rotana and had a wonderful time. Its been a while since our last holiday, so we just wanted a nice relax and a bit of sunshine.

We flew Etihad from Heathrow overnight and after stocking up at duty free at Abu Dhabi airport, arrived at the Beach Rotana at 8.30am. We weren't due a room, before 2pm, but asked the check-in staff if it was OK if we went to the pool area, until our room was ready. No problem, they said, so we went to change at the gym, by the pool and sat on our sun loungers. The lady from reception came to get us at 10am, saying that our room was ready. Great service.

Our days consisted largely of a massive breakfast, sunbathing, reading and swimming. We'd end with a drink at the Brauhaus Happy Hour (4pm until 8pm), a quick shower and then out to dinner. We ate in Indigo's (New Indian Restaurant - the best lamb curry that I have ever had), Rodeo Grill (My favourite Steakhouse) and Brauhaus (German - Good food, but very poor service. They are too busy with Happy Hour drinkers and not enough staff to cope with diners, as well. They also tried to charge full price for drinks ordered during Happy Hour, because we asked for our bill, at the end of the meal)

We did leave the hotel. The adjoining shopping centre is a real bonus, a nice escape from the mid-day sun for an air-conditioned stroll. There is also a supermarket here, where you can stock up on soft drinks, etc.. We also ventured out in the evening, walking down to Le Meridien for drinks at The Captains Arms and the NRG Sports Bar. We had an excellent Thai dinner, in Talay. A short taxi ride away, we went to Hilton and ate in Hemingways (Tex-Mex, excellent) and Royal Orchid (Chinese, good food but rubbish service)

Our weeks holiday went too quickly, but I would recommend using the City Centre airport check-in, opposite the hotel, where you can check-in 24 hours before departure. This worked really well and meant that we didn't need to go to the airport until 1 hour before our flight on our last morning.

The only negative point, I would raise is the land reclamation work going on on As Suwwah and Reem Islands, which are about 200 yards off shore, opposite the hotels beach front. 100s of dump trucks, per day, were bringing in rubble, which was being bulldozed into the sea. There is some building work going on, building a new hospital and the Marina Heights development. Noise and dust aren't a problem, yet, but if the land reclamation is going to bring the islands nearer to the shore, it may be a problem, in the future. I do wonder, also if these buildings are tall enough, whether they may end up putting the Beach Rotana's beach and pool areas, in the shade for part of the day.

Anyway, all in all we had a wonderful holiday and would still return to the Beach Rotana.

If possible and if budget will allow book a Club Room for two reasons.
First the rooms are spacious the bathroms are luxurious with Jucuzzi Bath and a huge walk in shower with a Mosoon Shower Head. The service for these rooms are great with fresh fruit topped up dailey fluffy towels topped up and Orchids left on your pillow at night.

Secondly there is a buffett breakfast thrown in that starts your day off well in the Club Lounge and the evening drinks and canapes served from 6pm till ten pm with great views from the lounge area at night.

That just leaves you the problem of where to have dinner- we liked the Finz a pier rest with great sea food and tables outside to enjoy the evening breeze. Trader Vics was a disapointment after others I have used in the Middle East the Indian resteraunt the name escapes me was also very good.

The Hotel is right by a Mall and when the weather heats up that will be a great assett- as we went to the impressive Marina Mall one evening but it took 40 mins to get a Taxi back as the line was quite long and we were told that after nine pm it is very difficult to get a taxi back.

The pool resteraunt is very good and the staff around the pool are very friendly and helpful.

There is a development going up on reclaimed land by the Hotela and although not noisey it will effect the view once the work has been completed. Its a case of going now before it becomes another Dubai.

Lorraine and Martyn Black

We stayed at the Beach Rotana over the Easter Period. The hotel is well situated in Abu Dhabi and is an impressive building inside and out. We used most of the restaurants and were happy with the food with the exception of the rosebud restaurant, the food here was cold and not at all enjoyable, The room was large but the views were disapointing, we overlooked a large roof area followed by building sites on reclaimed land, There is a large area of land being reclaimed and I suspect the building will continue for a long time, once finished the view to sea will be very limited, The big negative was the service, this was slow and delivered by staff that gave the impression that they were not really interested. we enjoyed our weeks stay but would not go back there.

My husband and I stayed in this hotel in March. If you are staying in this hotel upgrade to a Premium Tower Room as they are so much more luxurious than the Superior rooms. My only complaint was we arrived during the night and the reception staff told us our room was not ready and they would put us in a Superior smoking room and transfer us to a non-smoking room in the morning. When I said it was a Premium Tower Room I had booked they said the superior room was the same. Don't let them fool you it is nowhere near as good and is like a cupboard compared to the Tower rooms. However, when I complained in the morning I was immediately given a Tower room. The toilet in Premium rooms is huge with a jacuzzi bath, shower and a rainshower which was amazing. Your bed linen is changed daily and you get a tray of fresh fruit in your room everyday. The view is looking out to the sea which is a building site no matter where you look - not hotels fault.

We went to 3 restuarants, Pregos - did not care for it, Rodeo Grill where the steaks were to die for, and Rosebuds which was buffet and where you get breakfast. The choice at breakfast was fantastic. If you intend to eat in hotel I would recommend that you get the Rotana Awards Card. It costs £105 but if you go to the restuarants you get 1 meal free and 15% off your drinks - good if you go to the Rodeo Grill which we went to twice and is expensive but excellant. Also you are guaranteed to keep your room till 18.00 at no extra charge.

The pool is good and there are plenty of sunbeds and shades. The pool is heated so it like going into a bath and the toilets and changing rooms are very clean. Within the changing rooms there is a steam room and a large jacuzzi as well as showers and hairdryers.

If going from Britain you are better taking Bank of England notes and changing them in the shopping mall next door to the hotel at there exchange centre as you get a better exchange rate than you do here. We got 7.5 dirhams to the pound where it was only 6.75 here. Also you don't end up coming back with Dirhams and losing money changing them back to £'s. Don't change them at the hotel as there exchange rate is a lot lower.

Liked this hotel and hope to go back one day.