FAMILY HOLIDAY AT RIXOS SAADIYAT ISLAND ABU DHABI

Rixos Saadiyat Island decisively changed my mind about all inclusive holidays… Since a less than luxury all inclusive break in Barbados many years ago the thought of staying in another all inclusive sprawling resort hadn’t been front of mind… Thankfully there’s a new breed of all inclusive: or as Rixos promote their luxury Saadiyat Island beach resort, ‘all inclusive all exclusive.’ The all inclusive concept has been totally reimagined. This is a hip luxury resort where your wallet stays packed away! All inclusive is a concept totally new to this part of the world – it’s the first in the UAE.

I initially spent months trying to find a hotel in Dubai, where we were flying into, and gave up. Nowhere was particularly baby friendly despite advertising as such and the hotels just didn’t pass muster. The few we liked were excruciatingly expensive for the limited use of facilities given we’d have a baby in tow…

As a first family holiday, I don’t think I could have found a more baby (and hence parent) friendly and relaxing location in this part of the world than Rixos Saadiyat Island. To have free run of the grounds with a rug rat in tow is I believe pretty rare? And lovely grounds and facilities they are too!

To be clear, this isn’t a package/charter holiday bargain all inclusive… Looking around I would have said it’s the type of resort mostly for people like us (see all my others reviews, I like nice places) where circumstances are a little different to what they were and they’re looking for something that works luxuriously for the whole family and the new normal.

Mrs O mentioned to me a couple of times there were new hotels on Saadiyat Island and I knew from a previous trip that it was gorgeous there! The beach and the clear azure sea really is stunning. After she reminded me to look again, I stumbled across the Rixos Saadiyat Island. It’s only three months old so there’s not many photos or reviews, but what I read (and the guests I contacted on Instagram) convinced us! (Funny story… Mrs and Mr O then appeared two hotels down the beach from us during our stay!)

We wanted a swim up room so we could easily take baby for a quiet swim.

We wanted a proper beach.

We wanted to be able to use all the facilities, not be restricted to a small corner of the premises!

We wanted it to be easy and hassle free.

Rixos delivered all of this, there’s even baby food in the buffet! In fact, a family with a baby girl staying at the same time as us told me they’d phoned ahead of arrival and the hotel provided her a sterilising kit and sourced the right low sodium water for their formula too. Very baby friendly, there’s good reason why there is no shortage of pushchairs around the pool each day. Thankfully we only saw impeccably behaved children and thoughtful parents who swiftly carried crying babes away…

Grounds

It is a very elegant and hip resort. The architecture, inside and out, is stunning and the low rise design of the buildings is eye catching. There’s water everywhere which I particularly liked. It’s a large resort however because of the design it doesn’t feel large. One can amble comfortably around and even though it was busy when we were there it never felt crowded.

Rooms

Massive. We arrived earlier than check in and were kindly lent a standard room until ours was ready. A standard room has ample space, a massive bed and funky styling with high quality decor and furniture. I particularly liked how the bathroom and free-standing bath opened up into the bedroom.

I had booked us a swim up family suite, effectively the size of two bedrooms. Our lounge had a separate toilet, a sofa and two armchairs. It became a toy storage room for us. Our bedroom had a super king size bed, a sofa and chair, a table (baby’s changing table), a cot and a dressing room. The bathroom was massive. Aromatherapy Associates smellies are always good news as was the free standing bath and twin sinks, in addition to shower and toilet cubicles. These are high spec rooms, we really liked the decor and having oodles of space.

The highlight for us was the direct pool access from our room. We actually had our own pool, Lady Luck was smiling at us as our suite had an adjoining room (which would share the pool) that was not booked. We had a westerly facing room which meant plenty of afternoon sun, perfect for the baby as we had sufficient hours of shade. The pool is 1.4metres deep, has step access and is beautifully heated. There were comfy loungers too. We were located close to the main pool and pool bar, so it was easy to sneak out (over the wall) to get drinks! This space was perfect, baby could nap inside and we could be by the pool with the baby monitor on.

Rooms are sometimes cleaned quite late in the day which was a bit annoying as we tended to be in our room, so had to send them away to come back when we were at dinner. The rooms were always cleaned very well and plenty of water left. The coffee pods weren’t always replaced but they appeared immediately if we rung housekeeping. Our mini bar was restocked each day.

We had a cot in our room which I requested in advance. New and clean. Baby slept peacefully in the night in there, right through on 5 of the 6 nights despite the time change! At home he has a cot bed which is far larger and so he made himself comfortable in the middle of our bed for a few of his naps!

Food and drink

Like many, I prefer to only use a buffet at breakfast time. But for this holiday, when we didn’t know when we would eat and if we could keep baby either amused or asleep while we ate… A buffet was ideal. The food quality, freshness and choice in the buffet was second to none. And the bread and the puddings and all the choice of main courses were just fantastic! The dining hall is very big, but look past that and enjoy what’s on offer. A buffet when weaning a baby is particularly amazing! Apart from the baby food, he tried watermelon, hummus, pancakes, cucumber and toast, alongside his usual salad bits!

There are á la carte dining options too, which can be booked at midday for two days in advance only. Not everyone likes this approach, but personally I do. It means less no shows, it’s fairer to all and it is nice not to need to plan far ahead! We dined Turkish one night and Italian the other – both excellent. There’s no difference in food quality, just quieter surroundings more like a typical restaurant!

At lunch time there is a restaurant on the beach called Peoples. We ate here a few times, excellent snack style lunches. The only annoyance here was that staff didn’t seem to want to give us a baby chair. My sense is they want to keep the babies in the buffet, by telling families that’s where the chairs are! We held our ground. This was the only blip in our whole holiday!

Drinks are plentiful as one would expect at an all inclusive! Thankfully it isn’t the kind of place to see over indulgence, apart from the weekend day guests! The house wine is perfectly drinkable (Table Mountain), whilst not what we would pick at home it was perfectly gluggable. And you can’t go far wrong with Hardy’s sparkling wine either! The pool bar has a cool vibe in the daytime and was perfect for a sundowner or three come evening. The other bar we particularly liked felt particularly sophisticated, in the water garden below the enormous arch.

The hotel is on a beach with a number of other hotels, so if you fancy a walk for a drink or a meal there’s ample choice. We strayed out one night to meet friends for supper at an excellent Lebanese restaurant at the St Regis, running late as we almost forgot we needed a wallet!!

Pool and beach

The pool is excellent and very elegant too. There are plenty of loungers and there’s a cool vibe to it. It does get busy and everyone reserves loungers early… But since parents with babies are normally some of the earliest risers, the babies had the best seats in the house! There’s always music playing softly, it is however loud during the exercise classes but it never disturbed my snoozing baby!

There’s step access at each side of the pool and it’s a good size for swimming lengths. We loved the novelty of having a swim up bar, having never seen one before (we are small hotel fans)! There is great service around the pool, staff are constantly nearby to take orders. Children are allowed at this pool, this was one of our main reasons for booking. So many hotels don’t let kids anywhere near the picture postcard pool. Rixos does and in so doing it fully embraces the true meaning of family friendly.

The beach is stunning. We didn’t spend much time there apart from to walk and paddle as baby would have eaten the sand! But if we hadn’t minded sand eating, then we’d have been happy there too! Bean bags and hammocks add variety as well as a kids play area!

The water park and wave pool are awesome! Really they’re for children but we enjoyed it together with the baby and it was fun for us all!

Many of the rooms are swim up and this USP gives the feel of private pools without the price tag, I suspect it is also why the communal areas don’t feel overrun. If you want sun all day, specify south facing in your room choice.

Spa and fitness

The spa looked gorgeous but we didn’t get a chance to try it! Fitting appointments into a day broken into four hour routine chunks required more planning than we had energy for! However, I think the hotel misses a trick here, had I been able to book an appointment in advance of our stay I would definitely have had one or more treatments.

There are countless classes in the pool and the outdoor fitness area. Well participated in and with very energetic coaches. The gym we are told is massive, but despite taking my trainers, I didn’t get near it, preferring to swim!

Service

The staff really excel here. They are so helpful and really dote on the children which keeps the parents happy. English may not be the best for all staff but you can’t go far wrong really if you make the baby smile and keep the parents wine glasses or coffee cups topped up. As a new hotel, of course they are a new team and many are new to hoteling but they’ve got the basics right and the rest is about charm and being happy in their work! Which they all are. Staff of all grades remember you day to day despite the size of the property, which is always a good sign.

Thoughts

Whilst the resort was busy when we were there it didn’t feel crowded, just relaxing. We noticed one night in the buffet when we were later to eat (slow bedtime routine…) just how many guests there were! And of course at the weekend when expats descend on all of the hotels!

Rixos is a brand I hadn’t heard of, despite them being part of Accor. We took a punt on Rixos Saadiyat Island and it paid off. They gave us the first family holiday we dreamed of. Maybe it isn’t where we would have stayed before baby, but times and needs change and thankfully we found this!

The swim up room and private pool we wished for. A proper beach that’s beautiful. Full use of all the facilities. Easy living that was hassle free. All in a luxury hotel. It really was an easy, warm, relaxing, baby friendly and (especially for this part of the world) sensibly priced stay. I didn’t think you could get all those things in one place!

I have always preferred to stay somewhere where we have our own private outdoor space as well as relaxing and eye catching communal surroundings. We absolutely had this here and being able to sit by our own pool while he napped was a real treat!

10 days ago I wouldn’t have gone near an all inclusive large resort. But if Rixos Saadiyat Island is part of a new breed of luxury all inclusive resort then I will be finding some more!  Whether the hotel realises it or not, the most important thing they did was keep the baby happy. As a great hospital says ‘the child first and always’. Not quite the same circumstances as a hotel, but it’s the same mindset that allowed us to thrive without worry and relax and baby shone even more brightly from our good humour. The island name translates as ‘island of happiness’, which clearly isn’t just accidental!