A long weekend is an opportunity to spend a weekend with friends, especially when professional obligations mean that we rarely see each other outside of work. The Travel Guys improvised a short stay in Abu-Dhabi and we decided to stay at the St Regis. It is one of the two St Regis in the city (while Paris has none to date) and the first historical one before the one in Saadiyat Island opened more recently.
Booking
As usual and in order to ensure the best rate, the reservation was made on the SPG website. At this time of the year when the heat makes even expatriates flee, it was not difficult to find a rate of less than 150 euros per night for this 5 star luxury hotel.
If the St Regis Saadiyat is as its name suggests located on the peninsula of the same name and wisely awaits the opening of the Louvre and other museums that will populate the area from 2018, this one is located on the famous Corniche, in other words it is one could not be better placed.
Late arrival and cumbersome check-in
We arrived at the Dubai airport in the late evening because we were originally supposed to spend one night there and one night in Abu Dhabi before revising our plans. At the airport exit we jumped in an Uber that dropped us off in front of the hotel entrance an hour and a half later.
The check-in is done seated, in a dedicated lounge.
We had booked two Deluxe rooms (otherwise the basic room) and had checked a few minutes before arriving for online availability of superior rooms and suites that the strict application of the loyalty program would have had us automatically upgraded to.
We are told with a big smile that we have been honored with Deluxe rooms with sea view. Except that this is what we had booked. Weary and not wanting to waste my time in palavering at nearly one o’clock in the morning – and being there for only two nights – I grunt for the sake of it and go to my room. Olivier will be more combative and after more than half an hour of hard negotiations will get a “Grand Deluxe”. Crying to get a loyalty program application, you’d think you were at AccorHotels!
Deluxe and Grand Deluxe at the St Regis Abu Dhabi
Let’s start with the discovery of the Deluxe room.
The door opens onto a hallway that serves the bedroom (at the back) and the bathroom (on the left). It has a good sized dressing room.
Of decent size, the room is tastefully furnished without being overcrowded, which is often the problem of hotels that play the ” vintage ” game.
Speaking of old, it should be noted that this “fake old” in a modern hotel is finally much more credible and less overcrowded than real old hotels that try to remain “in their juice” through renovations.
The marble bathroom is simply superb with its two basins…
its separate toilets and showers and, especially,its large alcove bathtub.
I would add that the products offered to the client come from Remède, which also operates the hotel’s Spa.
An attention from the management was waiting for me in my room.
The room overlooks the hotel’s swimming pool, and on the other side of the Corniche, the hotel’s renowned Beach Club, its swimming pool and its beach (pictured here).
And the visit in video to finish.
And Olivier’s Grand Deluxe:
The successful combination of luxury and modernity
Before going any further, let’s have a look at the property and its atmosphere. You could read it on many articles about the hotels we tried, we are very skeptical about the “fake old” which under the pretext of following the codes of luxury of another century is often fake, sometimes too busy, and is no longer in 2017 a guarantee of standing. It’s a shame for historical hotels that overplay their hand, it’s even more of a shame for modern hotels that miss their positioning.
The St Regis Abu-Dhabi is without a doubt a modern hotel.
You could see on the visit of the rooms that it does not commit any fault of taste by playing the vintage game in the interior.
And to confirm this impression I let you enjoy some pictures of the lobby and the common areas.
Bar and catering
Let’s start with the breakfast,the buffet is very rich.
There was even a” pork ” section, very rare in these countries.
A rich and varied buffet, but ultimately very traditional. No “Wow” effect with surprising dishes or even a Sushi station. A pity. But quality and service are irreproachable.
In terms of restaurants, the offer is also rich but when you remove what is more snacking, those of the Beach Club which often do not allow to “charge” on the room of the hotel, there is finally not much left. We tested an Italian restaurant located within the walls of the hotel. Impeccable food, perfect service…until the bill. Splitting the bill in half and applying the SPG loyalty program discount seemed beyond the waitress’s capabilities which made us waste a good ten minutes in discussions on the theme “either you have the reduction or you separate the notes but I can’t do both at the same time”. The manager of the restaurant arrives, a very nice Italian who had already come to discuss with us at the beginning of the meal…and the problem is solved in 5 seconds.
Let’s come to the bar(s). Starting with the St Regis Bar.
Large, warm, cosy...there is no shortage of terms to describe it.
We will not fail to honor the local creations and to try some variations of Bloody Mary. Indeed, if it was invented at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, the Bloody Mary was popularized at the St Regis in New York by the same bartender who had invented it in Paris and had crossed the Atlantic in the mean time: Pete Petiot. In this honor, many St Regis have created a “local” variation of this mythical cocktail that each bar of the chain offers to its customers. To our great regret,unlike at the St Regis in Istanbul, the Bloody Mary variations are not mentioned on the menu, you will have to ask the bartender.
Nothing to say about the different cocktails tested even if we will always regret the lightness of the doses compared to some real cocktail bars.
The bar also has a humidor and a lounge dedicated to cigars.
The hotel also has a second bar on the mezzanine which is mainly a tea lounge during the day and a champagne bar in the evening.
There is indeed a tradition in the St Regis: they crack open the champagne every evening at 7pm. The hotel even offers limited invitations to attend the ceremony and drink the bottle of champagne. As platinum members, it was not difficult for us to ask for and obtain two seats to be in the front row (6 people maximum).
And here is the result:
The place is inevitably more “soft” and impersonal than the St Regis Bar but still very pleasant.
You can hear the piano notes and the voice of the pianist who plays in the lobby at cocktail hour.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWkYjkkDwrP/?taken-by=the_travelguys
Fitness, beach, pool and spa
The hotel has a very large fitness room, well equipped and, icing on the cake, it is on the floor and not in the basement so it is bright.
At the end of the corridor a second, smaller room is also equipped with some appliances.
The equipment is modern, we have plenty of space. In short, a very pleasant experience.
The St Regis Abu Dhabi has two swimming pools. The first, at the foot of the building, at the level of the fitness room.
We did not try it because we went mainly to the Beach Club. The latter is located on the other side of the Corniche and who has been to Abu Dhabi knows how complex crossing the street here is. To remedy this, the hotel has dug an underground passage that connects it to the Beach Club. In marble and air-conditioned, naturally.
The St Regis Beach Club is a renowned property that welcomes not only hotel guests but also a number of locals who pay to spend a few hours there. It is composed of a set of bars, restaurants, a beach and a swimming pool.
Let’s start with the beach where we spent some time “to try”. To try because in the middle of July with an outside temperature of 44° and a water which exceeds 35° the experience is worth to be lived but is not very refreshing.
On this Sunday morning we were only 3 or 4 to venture to the beach.
The water was of course clear, clean, very warm and shallow even at the maximum distance allowed. This is not ideal in such temperatures, which encourage you to immerse yourself.
Delicate but essential attention: as soon as we were installed the staff will bring us a bucket of ice filled with bottles of water and will not cease bringing back new bottles as soon as we had finished one. That is, very often.
After this experimentation, which we knew from the start would not be very successful, we retreated to the huge pool of the Beach Club. A pool long enough to do a lot of laps like in a “real” pool.
There were a lot more people here which is quite surprising considering that this is a period that tourists don’t like and during which all expatriates leave the region to find milder temperatures. However the dimension of the places makes that we absolutely do not feel the crowd, which is very pleasant.
The reasons for the pool’s success?It is artificially cooled (a little over 25° in my opinion) to give an impression of coolness without the temperature difference with the outside making it unusable because it is too cold.
It has a jacuzzi (again…the hotter you are at the beginning, the cooler you will find the pool water) and many areas where the depth allows you to lie down with your body submerged while keeping your head above the water.
Numerous water droplet jets help keep you “cool”.
Of course, there is a permanent supply of fresh bottled water and a long “pool bar” where you can drink as much as possible in or near the water.
A very pleasant experience because in the end we felt very little the 44/46° outside temperature. On the other hand, it is impossible to avoid sunburns: even in the shade you cannot escape the reverberation in a country where only a few clouds pass by at this time of the year.
Let’s finish with the Spa after a busy day.
The reception is next to the fitness room.
The store sells, of course, the Remède products used in the property but also the Bliss products that are well known and appreciated by the clients of the W Hotels and their Spas.
The essentials are there: shower, Hammam, Sauna, Jacuzzi.
It’s clean, pretty, pleasant, simple. We would have expected something a bit bigger and more ambitious, especially since we know the Spa at the St Regis Istanbul. When we were there, the Spa was almost empty but I’m afraid that it will quickly become crowded when a dozen or so clients decide to use it at the same time.
One unpleasant aspect, however, is that the staff is so intent on picking up every towel, replacing every used product, and wiping up what needs to be wiped up that the guest has the impression of having a shadow behind his back at all times, which is not the most pleasant thing. Maintaining this high standard is essential for a property of this standing, but it must be done with discretion. Here the cursor is not necessarily well positioned.
Panic at check-out
Now it’ s time to leave. We had asked the hotel to organize us the transfer to the airport of Dubai because contrary to the outward journey where we had taken an Uber, there is none in Abu Dhabi to make the return journey. This request was made via “Let’s chat”, the service that allows you to chat with the concierge via iMessage or What’s App and deployed in a large part of Starwood Hotels. We had written confirmation of the reservation.
Checking our bill at the check-out we notice that the service has not been charged and we point it out. The reception then realizes that the reservation has not been made. The reserved car may not be available, but maybe, well they don’t know. So maybe one from a lower range. In fact, they are unable to tell us which vehicle and at what price. It’s a good thing we had some leeway before we left because it took almost an hour to get confirmation that the vehicle we had reserved would be there at the right time. A thoughtlessness that in the end has no consequences but which is not tolerable in this category of property, just like the vagueness in which we were left when everything could and should have been managed in a transparent way for the customer.
Our Bentley will pick us up on time. Because at 70 euros per person for a journey of an hour and a half, compared to the rates of cabs and VTC to go from Paris to CDG there was no reason not to indulge.
The grades
Room : nothing to complain about. 10
Food/Bar: Breakfast, bar and restaurant at the level you would expect. However, the fact that all the Beach Club restaurants do not allow room charges and the moment of hesitation at the restaurant at the time of the checkout cost points. 8
Checkin-out : done seated, in a lounge without any problem. But two “collateral” incidents tarnish the picture. The question of the upgrade due to the check-in and that we had to fight to get simply because the staff did not want to redo the paperwork at 1:00 am when the arrival forms had been done during the day and the question of the transfer on the return which, if it has nothing to do with the check-out process, materialized at this moment with a little floating management. 8
Loyalty program application: basic benefits obtained and a sham upgrade given unwillingly to one of us when both were eligible for a “full” and automatic upgrade. 5.
Facilities: from the fitness room to the Spa and the pool…no complaints. 10
Value for moneyAt about 120 euros per night, it is sure that we are on value for money but a little less on the experience for money because of the problems mentioned above. 8
Service and attention: impeccable but the bugs with the upgrade, the restaurant and the transport reservation on the way back lower the score. 8
Hotel: very well located, without lack of taste, clean, relaxing atmosphere. 10
All the photos are available here.
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