A lot of hesitation when choosing my hotel during my last stay in Abu-Dhabi. Finally on the advice of a friend I decided to try the Royal Meridien. Last minute booking, no “normal” room at less than 300 euros per night so I let myself be tempted by an offer on the hotel website and for a little less than 400 I chose a “Corner Suite” with access to the Club Lounge which allows, by the way, substantial savings on a number of extras.
The Royal Meridien Abu-Dhabi, ideally located near the Corniche
The hotel is well located, two blocks from the Corniche. Even though Abu Dhabi is not a walking city anyway, it is always nice to be at a reasonable distance from everything and to be able to go for a morning run to the Corniche.
It is composed of two towers, one topped by a panoramic restaurant/bar, overlooking a set of buildings on the ground floor including restaurants, pool, and lobby.
A lobby that is a real living space
As soon as you arrive, you will appreciate the large lobby which you can guess has been recently renovated. It is airy and tastefully decorated in a modern, clean style. You can breathe well and feel good.
There are also spaces for discussion and work in “open space”, equipped with computers.
In the purest tradition of Starwood hotels, the reception is efficient, friendly and attentive. The trademark of the house.
It is late and I go to my room.
An airy room and a smart marketing trick
The room is spacious and tastefully furnished. One quickly sees that the hotel had been renovated a short time ago. Although it is in one piece, it is laid out in such a way that one has the illusion of having several rooms which are in fact so many spaces intelligently delimited to give this impression of separation without harming the impression of space.
There is a “dining room” area.
A living room area.
And the night part itself.
The night part can be separated from the rest by an electric blind.
Not to mention the large bathroom.
If you can’t see it on the screen, you can lie down in the bathtub when you’re 1m90.
Nothing to say about the room. It exudes newness, cleanliness and space.
the bedding is very pleasant and allows an excellent sleep.
The storage space is also sufficient and you can easily fit the contents of your luggage.
But nothing beats a video visit.
On the other hand, the hotel has skilfully marketed this room. When we hear “corner suite” we necessarily think of a corner room with a view on two sides of the hotel at once. Well, no. If this one is well in angle, it gives only on one side with, moreover, 3 windows at half height instead of a large picture window like the other rooms (see the photo at the top of this article where one sees well the rooms of angle on the right of the building). Very well done from a marketing point of view. But I will not complain as the room is pleasant.
The view is still appreciable.
Starwood’s service remains true to itself
Having forgotten my adapter at home, I quickly contacted the customer service. A practice that is now becoming widespread at Starwood is access to the service by chat. Why not simply use the telephone? Firstly, to keep up with the habits of a new generation of customers, and secondly because some people may be uncomfortable with a foreign language and prefer to write. But we’ll talk about that in another post.
Anyway, a simple text message was enough for a power adapter to arrive in my room less than 10 minutes later.
A varied and high quality restaurant offer
The breakfast buffet is rich and varied. The choice of salty/sweet, cold/hot is large enough for everyone to find something to eat. Et le cAnd the setting is just like the rest of the hotel.adre est à l’image du reste de l’hôtel.
I also tried two restaurants in the hotel.
The Market Kitchen, “fusion” cuisine, good and very affordable for this kind of hotel.
Stratos is the only revolving panoramic restaurant in Abu Dhabi. Depending on the time of day, it is a tea room, cocktail bar or grill.
The atmosphere is more “trendy”, the view more exclusive and the bill is more expensive.
Nothing to complain about on the dishes but a few flaws in the service tarnished the experience a bit. As for the unsurprising bill for a good “grill” in this type of establishment, it has been largely softened by the 20% discount enjoyed by members of the chain’s loyalty program in most of its hotel restaurants (even if they do not stay there).
As for the Salon Club, there is not much to say. A quite acceptable offer of hot and cold snacks and a free alcohol service at aperitif time. Efficient and pleasant service, well located with a view on the lobby. What you would expect from a Hotel Club Lounge, nothing more, nothing less.
The hotel also has other restaurants including a famous Italian one as well as bars and a night club that I did not try.
A pool to quickly renovate
I haven’t tried thespa or the spa. On the other hand, the swimming pool located at the foot of the towers is a bit of a blot on the landscape.
One will appreciate its size but, seen closely, it looks much more “worn” and dated than the rest of the hotel. I will be told later that its repair has been postponed for a few years but should be done soon. The reason for this is simple: here the heat means that the pools are not used in the summer and so it is at this time when no one is hanging around outside because of the heat that the necessary work is done. Except that in recent years Ramadan was in the summer and the space around the pool was reserved for special parties and entertainment. That explains everything.
However, the hotel also has an indoor pool.
Royal Meridien Abu-Dhabi: a near flawless performance.
As you can guess, the Royal Meridien Abu-Dhabi is close to being flawless. The service at the Stratos is a bit rough, the pool is a bit old-fashioned… a few details that are inevitably noticed when the rest is perfect.
Would I return to this hotel if I had the chance? Without a doubt. At the price of a simple Mercure in Paris, there’s no reason not to try the experience again.
The photo gallery is visible in its entirety here.
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