Fairmont Bab al Bahr

Barakat is the worst person I ever meet in any hotel in my life he is so rude and never helped us to solve our complaints as we booked with Yas and they never provided my kids extra beds and he shouted on us when we came and asked him at night also there is no baby crib available for my baby this guy is the worst I can’t believe he is a manager no manners and bad behaviour Read less

“My husband and I were given a surprise staycation in Fairmont Bab Al Bahr hotel. The room is full of personalized food amenities and also the room is spotless, comfortable, and had a beautiful view with the sheik Zayed Grand Mosque .The staff went out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed and they made us feel welcome and valued. Special thanks to Rajan, Mark ,Cristian, Phoo , Angella , Chef Hari , Ms. Eve and Ms. Auristelle ❤️❤️ Read less

Excellent hospitality, a warm reception led by Zilmar . We checked in late Evening and were greeted by a smiling reception staff . Valet was also smooth . My wife’s birthday was there so we were upgraded with flowers and cake , thanks to the generous GM Mr Elias. 1st day dinner , couldn’t find any Indian dishes , so gave this feedback and oh boy , 2 chefs were deployed just to cater to my culinary taste And request . I also asked for a Sugar free desert which was promptly arranged next day . Many thanks to the Chef Dipti Ranjan I m thankful to Raffy and Elisha for their exceptional service in the restaurant. Solomon the bell buy was a sweet chap with a lovely attitude. Excellent view from the room , grand interiors , awesome volt gym , mouth watering food added by the friendly service marked our stay . Highly recommend ،great job team Fairmont BAB. Well done . Read less

We have had so many amazing trips to the UAE and stayed in so many fabulous hotels. This holiday was booked to celebrate two milestone birthdays in our family and, honestly, the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr did not make our holiday special and actually left us feeling really disappointed. We would not recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Abu Dhabi. There have to be many hotels who can offer better care and consideration to their guests. I emailed the hotel six months before we were due to visit to advise them of our circumstances - special birthdays, one vegan guest, etc. I was assured, in writing, that the hotel could cater for our needs, would make our stay special and that, food wise, there would be lots of options available across the hotels restaurants. This was absolutely NOT the case. On arrival, my husband’s actual 50th birthday, no acknowledgment was given to him at the check in desk. The room we were allocated was in a terrible position within the hotel and no birthday drink/cake was placed in the room to help to make his birthday a little special. We had to pay for a room upgrade to move to a room with at least some sort of view. We arrived during breakfast but were told we couldn’t have breakfast unless we gave up breakfast on the final day of our stay. We ended up going out for the afternoon and headed back to the hotel for dinner. This is when the reality of our food situation for the next eight days really kicked in. Staff across many of the restaurants had little understanding of what vegan actually means. Items labelled plant based (PB) turned out to have dairy in accompanying items (e.g. the bread that came with one of the PB labelled salads in the Lebanese restaurant was later said to have milk in it - I suffered terrible stomach issues for part of my stay and knew that somewhere in the hotel had served me dairy and it was only when the bread was placed on the table for dinner that the server mentioned that I could not eat it. When the same bread was given to me the previous day, with my PB-labelled salad, no mention of the milk in the bread was made, so I had some, as I had been led to believe that it was also PB. We had booked the half board package and honestly wish that we had saved our money and not opted for this. We found that there were very few vegan options at the restaurants with an A La Carte menu and, in addition, the food offering (for non vegans) was boring and repetitive, meaning that for an 8 night stay, there was little variety to experience. CuiScene - the buffet restaurant serving breakfast and dinner was only open for dinner between Thursday - Sunday during our stay (something which we only found out about on arrival). When visiting this buffet, I was told that I should not eat from the buffet as none of the food items could be guaranteed to be vegan and there was a high risk of cross-contamination - not quite what I had been led to believe would be the case when I contacted the hotel to ask about their catering offer. Instead, I had to sit and wait for food to be prepared which, although it seems like a privilege, meant that my family had already finished all/most of their buffet meal by the time that my food had arrived at the table. I very much felt like a burden and this is the first time I have been made to feel this way during a so-called 5 star hotel stay. For contrast, we stayed at Fairmont The Palm in Dubai a few years back and the staff there were phenomenal and catered with care and consideration for my dietary needs. They knew what a vegan diet was, showed me what I could enjoy from the breakfast/dinner buffet and also offered me alternative dishes which they would happily prepare fresh for me during each meal sitting. The email I had received from Fairmont Bab Al Bahr made me feel like I would receive a similar experience at this hotel too - but I could not have been more mistaken. The half board package, if you choose not to eat at the buffet, gives each guest a 140 dirham per day credit to use at the other restaurants. The restaurants will offer you a specific menu for those with a half board package and do not offer the a la carte menu unless you specifically ask for it. The staff explanation /dining information sheet provided at check in do not tell you that only certain drinks can be ordered and paid for using the half board credit. We actually received mixed messages from different staff members about how the credit may be used and it seems that staff need more training to make sure that they all give consistent / correct advice to guests to save everyone embarrassment when the wrong information is shared / relied upon. The 140 dirham credit cannot be used to order room service or pay for food when by the pool - so food options are very limited at this hotel. We noticed that quite a few guests were ordering food delivery from other places - something which we have never seen as necessary at other 5 star hotels. Some of the staff tried to understand our situation and improve our experience but there appears to be a general lack of understanding, empathy and also a lack of training that we have never experienced at other 5 star hotels. The fact that we were celebrating two milestone birthdays and no acknowledgment was offered to support the birthday celebrations was shocking. Reception staff actually seemed uncaring at times and the correspondence that I received prior to arrival was clearly drafted by someone who does not have an idea of how limited the vegan food offering would be for a guest or that his/her colleagues would not make any special arrangements for the guests celebrating their birthdays. All in all a very disappointing stay which has taught us that Fairmont Bab Al Bahr is not a hotel that we would seek to revisit/recommend to others. If the email correspondence received prior to our stay had been correct, honest and truthful, we would have considered alternative hotels for this important family holiday. Read less