This is a review of the Hotel Beach Rotana, in Abu Dhabi.
Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSC is a hospitality company founded in 1992. It is based in Abu Dhabi and has more than 100 properties operating or under development, across more than 20 countries.
In early December 2025 I took a Luxair 1-week tour package, to see the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (5-7 December 2025).
The tour package included the return flight Luxembourg–Dubai-Luxembourg, the transfer to Abu Dhabi, and the hotel. The tour package included the options B&B, half-board, full-board, and full-board-all-inclusive. I took the full-board-all-inclusive, which meant all meals and drinks in any of the hotels restaurants and bars, etc.
Being race week, the price was much higher than normal, which meant the increase depending upon the package (i.e. full-board-all-inclusive) became more attractive as a percentage of the overall cost (which was a bit eye-watering).
The above photo is little misleading, the hotel is on the far left. The photo below is of the Beach Rotana hotel seen from the river.
Anyone thinking of booking this hotel should read carefully the reviews, etc. I had read the reviews, and was aware of the pro’s and con’s of this hotel.
The key elements, not seen in the feature image, is that the actual hotel is just to the far left on the photo, and the beach is in fact set in a river, surrounded by large buildings. So it’s not guaranteed sun on the beach all day long. Positives are that I sunbathed on the smallest band of sand seen above, and it was perfect for taking sun in the mornings. Also the hotel has direct access to the Abu Dhabi Mall, a city mid-size mall with +200 retail outlets.
Based upon customer reviews this hotel is well situated in the city centre, the staff are attentive and provide a good service, the rooms are said to be clean, and comfortable and the private beach, pool, gym, and restaurants were appreciated.
Negatives were that it could be busy at peak times, some services felt slow, the private beach was relatively narrow and might not have sunlight all day, and some people complained about extra charges.
My review will touch on many of these positives and negatives, but let me deal first with the negatives.
The hotel is busy, you can see the constant arrivals and departures, but staffing is impressive, and I never had to wait to get a taxi, etc. The beach is not “that” narrow. I always easily found space, but I only sunbathed in the mornings 09:00 to about 11:00. I was on a full-board-all-inclusive, and I didn’t pay any “extras”.
However, I will mention two particular points below:-
Getting to and from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
In the guide to the race, there were lots of very specific instructions about how to arrive, park, and leave the race track area (see my separate review on the race). There was the sense that getting a taxi might be a problem (it wasn’t), so I contacted the hotel about different options. Initially I asked about how to get to and from the race track, but the hotel misunderstood and told me about airport pick-up and drop-off. Then they said they could provide a car on race days, for 600 AED per trip. The United Arab Emirates dirham (AED) is the local currency, with €1 ≈ 4.25 AED (so 1 AED is around 23.4 euro cents). So they were quoting around €140 per trip (i.e. >€800 for the 3 race days). Later they came back and said that they could not provide individual trips, and that I would need to book a car for 10 hours/day at 1,500 AED (>€1,000 for the 3 race days). But I had already spoken to the race event organisers who told me that getting a taxi was not a problem. In fact, of all the Grand Prix events in the year Abu Dhabi was one the easiest.
Let’s look at the taxis. I always easily found a taxi, although one 7-seater van did try to con me at the race track. All the taxis I took were modern 4-door full-sized cars (often Toyota), very clean, and all with meters. And they all drove me by the most direct route, etc. (two of them had been inspired by what they say on the race track). In Abu Dhabi, during the day, pick-up was 5 AED (pre-booking 4 AED), 1 km was 1.82 AED, waiting was 0.60 AED per minute, and 12 AED was the minimum fare. In Luxembourg the equivalent fares (minimum), pick-up €3.00 (compared to €1.15 in Abu Dhabi), per kilometre approximately €3 (€0.42 in Abu Dhabi), standing time ≈ €0.50 per minute (€0.14 in Abu Dhabi). So a trip to or from the race track was between €10 and €20 depending upon traffic, etc., and to the different cultural sites (Louvre, palace, mosque) between €5 and €11. The hotel prices were quoted by the hotels transport department, whereas the porters at the entrance were very clear and honest, take a taxi.
Collecting my Race Day Passes
I had arranged to have my 3 race day passes delivered to my hotel. I received a message saying that the hotel had refused the package because I was not registered. I had just arrived, but was registered. They tried again, and were again refused. I sent them my name (first christian name and family name) and my room number. Again the pack was refused.
I went to the desk and they told me I was not registered. I showed them my room card, and we discovered in the database they were using my second christian name, and had appended my first christian as if a family name. Changes made, documents delivered – finally.
Entering the Hotel
Driving up to the hotel in the evening, my first impression was of a business hotel. People entering-leaving, lots of cars, taxis, etc. and a relatively discrete but fully operational front entrance.
But the entrance lobby was far more impressive. I had a great feeling, here was a busy hotel, working well, and the check-in was efficient, etc.
During my stay, the Christmas festive spirit started to appear. Initially it was presented as a simple winter-village. The hotel introduced some typical winter-time products and gifts, etc., but one morning we all came down to find a Christmas tree in the lobby. I don’t know how they managed this overnight.
I had a “standard” room room on the 4th floor. As i came out the lift, I could look over the “Essence”, the international buffet that also provides the breakfast buffet.
I will freely admit I was disappointed by my “standard” room. It looked positively boring, as compared to the palatial entrance, etc.
I spent 8 nights in this room, and it proved to be perfectly functional. Good points were that it was spacious enough, the shower was good, towels fit for purpose, security was good, drinking water was proved, cleaning was well done, and they even left me a nice box of chocolates during the week.
Negatives were:-
- Despite the bed being conformable, I always woke with a bit of pain in my back. I prefer a hard mattress with a nice thick topper, and here the mattress was a touch too soft, and there was no topper.
- The TV had two problems. Firstly, the available programmes were poor by international standards. Secondly, the maximum volume for international channels was set a 25, so you had to sit directly in front of the TV to hear something.
- Perhaps the most irritating problem was that the safe was too small. It was not big enough to lay flat a 13″ MacBook Pro. It was possible to just get it in at an angle, making it difficult to put all my other stuff in at the same time.
- Finally, the little balcony was a bit useless, and the window didn’t let in much light. The view from the balcony was nice enough, but it was far more pleasant to sit is the shaded courtyard overlooking the beach and river.
One final thing about the room. In one corner there was a small arrow on the ceiling. This is a discreet marker indicating the direction of the Qibla, the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca. So it shows the direction Muslims face when performing the five daily prayers (salah).
Dining Options
The hotel offered 12 dining options, namely:-
- Finz – seafood
- Rodeo Grill – steak
- Benihana – Japanese
- Trader Vic’s – Frech Polynesian
- Prego’s – Italian
- Indigo – Indian
- Brauhaus – German
- The Garden – outdoor “experience”
- Essence – international buffet
- Bay View – pool bar
- Al Shorfa – Arabic
- Cafe Columbia – coffee house.
Much as I liked these options, I find it totally boring to sit alone and have waiter service. So despite have “full-board-all-inclusive” I only used the Essence, the international buffet.
Here we have the international buffet breakfast with 9 stations providing a massive selection of options. Naturally I tried a number of them (noticeably no pork on offer), before settling on my standard, musli with fruit and an orange juice, followed by a pot of coffee, warm milk, and a couple of Danish pastries.
The one really odd thing was that there were open bowls of both raspberry and apricot jams, and there were also two options of jam in the usual small glass jars, and the options were raspberry and apricot!
Lunch and dinner were along the same lines, with 9 serving stations offering “international cuisine”, along with numerous Arab, Indian and Asian options. There was always a roast with Yorkshire pudding, but no pork and not much freshly cooked fish (although fish was part of the salad and Japanese buffet).
There was also a dessert and fresh fruit buffet. The dessert options were well prepared, mouth sized, options mostly inspired by European tastes. But there was a sense of “sameness” in it all, although there was usually one option that stood out. The problem was finding it.
Overall the food was well prepared, and there was a vast choice. There was always something new to try, e.g. one evening the lasagne was outstanding, and there were always a couple of well prepared Indian dishes.
However, the high point were the girls serving (not those walking around looking smart in their suits and dresses). The girls immediately knew my name, and my preferred drink (gin with a double tonic). They always took time to talk, and I learned that tips are rare. Firstly, service charges are usually built in, and secondly there is no social obligation to tip (not tipping is not seen as rude or miserly). Thirdly, the UAE is increasingly cashless, e.g. I didn’t spend any cash in the 9 days I was there, except a few €s for the porter when arriving on the first evening. It’s often said that you could round up the taxi fare, but I found that the fare was immediately transferred from the metre to payment terminal, and it was too much trouble to cancel the payment just to round up a fare. I had a long chat with a Nigerian driver, who explained that for them the key was to pick up as many trips as possible. They would get a decent bonus, and a few rounded-up dirham wouldn’t make much difference. He mentioned that in a 10-hour day he could make between 35-45 trips. That week with the Grand Prix and a Conference on AI in the hotel, he would be constantly in movement and probably do a 12, or even 15 hour day.
Also it was surprising that the only cash accepted for payment is the UAE dirham (which is pegged to the $US). Neither the $US or € were used, and at no time did I need to change money.
The Beach
Usually when I stay in a hotel I use their spa-sauna, but this time i just went down to the beach between 09:00 to 11:00. I always found plenty of space on the narrow band of sand to the left.
The weather was very agreeable. For a couple of days there was some morning mist, but it had disappeared by about 09:00.
Overall Conclusion
The hotel was expensive due to race week. Would I stay there again, I’m not sure. The choices with the package tour were very limited, and picked the best one. I would in any case revert back to the simple half-board.
I would like to go back to Abu Dhabi, since it provided an interesting holiday, but it’s not on top of my list.
