Rixos Premium Saadiyat Island

We have just returned from 2 weeks at this hotel (August) having had the best holiday! The service and the staff here are amazing, every single person was wonderful and it made our trip great. Food was great, loads of choices and everything delicious. That goes for the buffet, people’s (lunch by the pool) and all of the à la cartes. There was nothing we had that we didn’t love! Drinks were amazing, again loads of choice, nothing you couldn’t get. The pool staff on their roller skates were amazing and the kids loved it. They were always smiley and it was nice to chat to them daily! We also loved the lounge/lobby bar in the evening. Obviously being August it was hot (not an issue for us!) but we still managed to spend time on the beach. The beach itself is AMAZING. White powder sand and crystal clear blue water. We didn’t know if we would be able to visit much due to heat but we went to the beach early mornings for a swim and for the kids to play, and then again early evening for drinks in the beach bar. It was lovely to be able to enjoy the beach even in the summer and we loved it. All the pools were great, cooled nicely so it was lovely and refreshing to get in! Kids loved the wave pool and the slides round in the kids area too. We did days out at seaworld and Warner bros world which were both incredible, and quick and easy by taxi from the hotel. We also did an evening at TeamLab which was just around the corner and also amazing. The concierge staff were great at helping is book and grab us a taxi which made everything really easy. ALL of the staff were incredible, way too many to name. But every single person really made our holiday. Whether it was in reception, restaurants, by the pool or beach, everyone was smiley, chatty and really helpful and I don’t think anyone could improve on the service at this hotel! We saw Romell (sorry if we have spelled that wrong!) at every restaurant who was wonderful. We bumped into him almost daily across our visit and he was wonderful to chat to. Asking about our day, chatting to the kids and just generally lovely. We couldn’t ask for a better holiday and will definitely be back! Thank you! Read less

We have been fortunate enough to stay in some fantastic hotels and resorts over the years, but Rixos Premium Saadiyat Island is, without doubt, the best hotel experience we have encountered - Ever! From the moment we arrived, the experience was exceptional. We reached the hotel at around 9am and were delighted to find that one of our two rooms was already available, allowing us to settle in immediately after our journey. We had booked two King Rooms, which I believe are considered amongst the hotel's more standard room categories. There was absolutely nothing "basic" about them. The interior was beautiful, the rooms were spacious and immaculately presented, and the amenities were excellent. The attention to cleanliness throughout the entire resort is remarkable. Everywhere you go is spotless, beautifully maintained and, something we kept commenting on throughout our stay, the hotel continuously smells amazing. Food and Dining The food throughout our stay was outstanding. The main buffet at Turquoise offered an incredible selection and consistently high quality, but the à la carte restaurants were a brilliant way to mix things up during our stay. We experienced Mermaid for seafood and Greek-inspired cuisine, Aja for Asian dining and L'Olivio for Italian, and all three were fantastic experiences in their own right. The quality of the food, presentation and service across the resort was consistently excellent. The all-inclusive offering is also genuinely premium. A particularly welcome detail is the inclusion of premium branded spirits, rather than relying solely on local alternatives. For someone like me who doesn't typically enjoy local variations of familiar spirits and liquors, this was a big plus and another example of the quality of the overall package. Service As impressive as the hotel itself is, the staff and level of service really elevate Rixos Premium Saadiyat to another level. The Concierge team went above and beyond with everything we asked of them. Nothing ever seemed too much trouble. Everyone we encountered was helpful, incredibly polite, friendly and genuinely seemed to want guests to have the best possible experience. The resort wasn't overly busy during our visit, which undoubtedly added to the relaxed atmosphere. We had no difficulty getting seated in restaurants, service was efficient everywhere, and we always found sunbeds available. Admittedly, we tended to be down around 7:30am for a quick swim before breakfast, but at no point did the resort feel crowded or stressful. The complimentary shuttle service to Yas Island is another excellent touch, particularly for families planning to visit the four attractions and Yas Mall. It makes getting over to Yas Island extremely straightforward and adds even more value to the overall experience. We travelled with a six-year-old and were also really impressed with the facilities available for children. We used the Rixy Kids Club on one occasion, primarily to give him a break from the peak daytime heat, and he thoroughly enjoyed his time there. It's a fantastic option to have, particularly during the hotter summer months, and gave him something different to enjoy while getting some respite from the temperature outside. He also popped into the Teen Zone a couple of times during our stay and really enjoyed that too. It's another great little amenity and one of those additional touches that helps make the overall experience even better for children. Travelling with a 6 & 12 year old meant there were a couple of areas we didn't get the opportunity to experience, including Savannah Sol and the Spa, so we'll have to save those for our next visit! A couple of suggestions... It is genuinely difficult to find anything to criticise, so this is more of a suggestion than a negative. During the hotter summer months, it might be a lovely additional touch for the pool team to occasionally offer guests ice-cold face cloths during the peak heat of the day. We've experienced this at a few other luxury resorts and, when temperatures are particularly high, it's such a simple but incredibly thoughtful gesture. It feels like something that would fit perfectly with the already exceptional level of service at Rixos. The other suggestion would be around the children's splash pool and Aqua Bar area. The Aqua Bar is really convenient for getting food during the day, particularly when spending time around the children's pool, but during the summer heat we found it simply too hot to comfortably sit and eat in that area. We asked whether we could take the food away to eat somewhere cooler, but we were told it couldn't be taken away from the area. It would therefore be really useful to have a cooler or air-conditioned/semi-enclosed eating space nearby where families could enjoy food prepared by the Aqua Bar while getting a break from the heat. Alternatively, perhaps some form of takeaway packaging could be offered during the hottest months. Again, a relatively small change, but one that we think would make a noticeable difference for families visiting during the summer. What impressed us most was the consistency. Beautiful rooms, immaculate surroundings, fantastic food, premium drinks, excellent facilities and genuinely outstanding service, there wasn't one isolated highlight; the entire experience was exceptional from beginning to end. Rixos Premium Saadiyat Island has set a new benchmark for us when it comes to resort hotels. We arrived with hight expectations and somehow left feeling that they had been exceeded. Without doubt, we will visit again. An outstanding hotel, an incredible team and quite simply the best hotel experience we have ever had. Read less