Golden Tulip Al Jazira, Abu Dhabi > Reviews (1)

I wasn't expecting too much from this hotel, but was pleasantly surprised. My husband was being sent on a few days business trip to Dubai during the school half term, and I decided to tag along at the last minute with our two kids. With only a day to go I didn't expect a great choice of hotels. Sure enough, the only hotels coming up with suitable vacancies were the Kempinski at $850 a night (no thank you!) and this one, at $170 a night. I was a bit confused though as several hotel finder sites put it as Dubai, but the address was Abu Dhabi. Looking on the map we found why, it is nearly exactly haflway between the two emirates. As my husband was working quite nearby and we had a hire car, this was not a problem. If you come from Dubai, it is about 40 minutes drive from the airport (but could be longer if you are unfortunte enough to hit rush hour traffic). It's about 25 minutes drive once you pass the Mall of the Emirates. There is a hotel bus that goes to the mall on certain days of the week, leaving at 3pm and returning to the hotel at 8pm, if you dont have your own transport. If you were coming into Abu Dhabi airport I expect it would be a little quicker to drive to.

Location/environment

The hotel was quite easy to find, from Dubai we just drove straight down the main highway and turned right at Exit 19. The hotel is on a man-made island in the middle of nowhere. It is surrounded by well-kept gardens and has a large carpark with lots of greenery. The lobby is large and airy and there is a very nice outside swimming pool in the shape of a fish (though you only really see that from an aerial view, not while near it). The pool has a swim up bar, serving soft and alcoholic drinks and ice-cream, and a nice touch for kids of a little area with motorised rubber boats, which are free to use. There were ample loungers round the pool with a towel on each one. The pool does have very loud pop music playing all the time, but it is switched off at 7pm. There is also a free pool table, fussball tables and table tennis table by the pool. Down some very steep steps is a little sandy beach, again with lots of loungers and a volleyball net, and a small roped off area of sea to swim in (very salty sea, I should warn you, best keep your head above water!). The beach area has showers and toilets, all well kept and clean. Unfortunately you are not looking out over a sea view as such, but at the opposite bank of the man-made canal, which is not too picturesque.

Room

I was very impressed by our room with was large and airy, with a very comfortable bed. It was on the ground floor, with large patio windows facing the pool that opened onto a little private patio with table and chairs. It was perfecf for swimming as you could just change in your room, stroll over to the pool, then walk back to your room afterwards for a shower - no padding round hotel corridors in your costume or dripping water in the lifts! The decor was very soothing, white walls with blue wooden furniture with wicker effects, and blue/white bedding/pictures, etc, and a pale wooden floor.

The TV was a little small and basic, but you don't go to the Gulf to watch TV. There was a good selection of English channels, with movies and news. The bathroom was very large, with a big bath and good shower, although both taps were labelled hot, confusingly. There were large white towels and free Golden Tulip toiletries. There was a mini bar stocked with soft drinks and snacks - if you wanted alcohol to be put in the mini bar you had to ask. We took two rooms for us and the children and there was an interconnecting door which could be opened up.

Food

We only ate in the main restaurant and had room service; there is another restaurant by the pool and a cafe which I can't review as we didn't use. The pool restaurant had an ouside terrace seating area high up on the hill which looked nice. Room service - oh dear! Unfortunately they chose someone to answer the phone and take orders who struggled with English. I tried to speak clearly and repeated exactly the words on the room service menu, but we had problems with our order both times we used room service, with items either not arriving or the wrong thing coming; our two fish and chips (clearly described on the menu as battered hammour) turned into grilled salmon and vegetables. The food was mostly OK (the pasta was very good actually) but avoid the vegetable korma which is tinned diced veg (carrot, sweetcorn and beans) in a tinned sauce - bleugh! We went for the restaurant buffet in the evening, which was again, OK, but nothing to write home about. Breakfast was a buffet with a good selection of bread and croissants, toast, good selection of fruit and various cooked stuff (which I didn't try).

Service

Staff were very helpful and friendly; we were greeted immediately with a smile at reception (something you don't always get in the Gulf!) and check-in and out was quite fast. Our room was ready immediately, though we arrived before mid-day for a 2pm check-in. Problems were solved in a friendly way, though lack of English made things difficult (i.e. we needed more toilet paper and could not make this understood on the phone, staff had to come round and see what we meant). Restaurant service was very attentive, with plates cleared/drinks offered promptly.

Overall, I would recommend this hotel as a relaxing, pleasant and reasonably priced place to stay away from the hustle and bustle of Dubai/Abu Dhabi. There is nothing to do nearby so you need transport, however, they are building a new international airport at Al Jazira and a Palm development is under construction nearby, so in a year or so this should be in a more happening area. For now though, it's a little oasis of peace.