Park Hyatt is one of my favorite hotel brands, so I had high expectations to spend a few days at the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi. Especially since we upgraded our room to an excellent suite using a Diamond Suite Upgrade. To get to the hotel from the Al Maha Resort, I just arranged with our uber driver on arrival at Dubai Airport. That was easier since scheduling uber pickups is not available in the remote location of Al Maha.
In retrospect, I’m not sure how much of a savings it was, if any compared with booking separately. Still, it was convenient for the 90 or so minute drive. Thanks to Flagstaff hotels for helping us book the staycation of our lives.
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
I was able to confirm our suite upgrade months in advance, and better yet, this was before the change to Hyatt’s systems, so I was able to use a Diamond Suite Upgrade from my pool earned in 2014 (expiring February 2016). Hyatt’s system upgrade has since removed this loophole.
As we discovered when checking in, restaurants would be quite limited during our stay due to the start of Ramadan. There would be no food service at the pool or most other restaurants during the day. Several places closed all together, and others had limited service. There was also a dress code. I didn’t realize how strict this was until I was turned away from the main restaurant for wearing shorts. The Cafe is the name of this main restaurant where we had breakfast each day which consisted of an extensive buffet with typical western and middle eastern options. This was the only restaurant running a full schedule during our stay. We didn’t know that Ramadan would be happening during our stay when we booked it, but other than some slight annoyances, it wasn’t that big of an issue. It just required a little more planning around our meals.
Unlike most Park Hyatt properties, this hotel was quite large, with over 300 rooms. The hotel was nowhere near full, so other than longer walks to get places, I don’t think service suffered due to the larger than typical Park Hyatt.
Photo tour of our room at the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
Our suite was on an upper floor of the main building at the far end of the hall, and we had a huge balcony/patio that overlooked the beach. In the above photo, the balcony is visible about 1/3 of the way from the left side of the photo, just left (and above) the leftmost awning. I’m not certain which type of room we got, since there are various types of suites shown on the hotel’s website. Maybe it is a Park Terrace Suite, but in any case, we had tons of space in the room, with a giant balcony, and a huge bathroom plus a second ‘guest’ bathroom near the door.
The king sized bed was comfortable, and the room had a large TV, plus floor to ceiling windows that looked and opened to the patio.
The bed was nice, but what was really impressive was the bathroom.
Park Terrace suite, I think?
Whatever type of suite the hotel classifies our room, it was a great space and excellent use of a Diamond Suite Upgrade. The huge terrace was nice, but due to the heat of the day, we rarely used it. We did have a room service meal there on the first evening of our stay. Given our limited dining options, room service worked out well for us.
We mostly just relaxed during our time on the property. We left our daughter at home, and my wife and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary. A lot of time by the pool (most definitely in the shade), and just lounging around. We had a fancy dinner one night to celebrate our anniversary at The Park Bar and Grill. As a rule, I try to avoid meals in hotels, but options are somewhat limited in Abu Dhabi. As we would discover, this is especially true during Ramadan. We tried to go elsewhere, with Ramadan but many places closed. The restaurant was good, and just walking downstairs was certainly convenient.
Public areas of hotel
Other areas of the hotel were quite impressive in terms of design. The lobby faces the pool and beach and has 2 story windows.
The beach is huge, and during our time there, mostly deserted. I didn’t really spend much time there, other than to watch sunset a few times. It was just too hot for me to enjoy it, and shady areas of the pool were more my preference.
There is a well equipped gym, connected to the spa, and another pool there. The gym is fully equipped, and again mostly empty, likely due to lower occupancy during the time of our stay. I didn’t have any spa treatments, but there are various facilities available which are free. This includes sauna, steam room and various hot tubs. On our last day, we spent some time in the gym/spa after we checked out but before heading to the airport. This was a good way to prepare for our flight. I always like to get in a workout before a long flight, especially one where we would be eating and drinking for much of the flight in a fancy First Class Suite Apartment.
Bottom Line
We spent a few days here, which I found sufficient. This is at least in part due to relative isolation of the hotels location on Saadiyat Island. Depending on what you are looking for, maybe you would want a longer stay. The main purpose of our trip was coming up soon, our flight in Etihad First Class. Our Etihad chauffeur picked us up, and the big adventure was about to begin.
