Hotels Reviews

Review: Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi

a pool and a body of water with buildings and trees

We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


Review: Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi

Thanks for continuing on around the world with us as we celebrate my mom’s surprise 75th! We just left Dubai and made our way via Uber to Abu Dhabi.  Miles and I wanted my folks to see Dubai and enjoy the World’s Highest High Tea, but also wanted them to experience THE BEST first class products the world had to offer, and that meant they had to fly the Apartment, and one of the easiest routes to find space is from Abu Dhabi to London. We couldn’t come through Abu Dhabi and not see the Sheikh Zayed Mosque and you can’t get a location better than the Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi. a large building with many lights and trees

The resort footprint is massive with a large main hotel structure, villas, and a village area with various restaurants featuring world cuisine.

The Deets:

  • When: April 2017
  • Where: Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
  • Loyalty: Marriott Rewards
  • Status: Platinum
  • Rate: 30k per night, per room
  • Benefits: “ breakfast”

Check-In

We were greeted by porters and escorted to the Elite desk where our Platinum status was acknowledged. Marriott Rewards Platinum status guarantees club level at a bevy of Marriott properties ( including JW Marriotts which is why we chose it in Beijing over the Ritz), but the Ritz does not guarantee those benefits.

The front desk clerk told us that instead of he couldn’t give us club access, but he would give us breakfast served downstairs at the buffet. I thought this was a nice hat tip, and was appreciated.  This ended up turning into a problem…One that I wrote an entire post about.  The following morning when we arrived to the buffet we were told it wasn’t part of our rate. Ultimately, it was honored, and you can read about the details in my other post, but it turned into a 30-45 minute ordeal that never needed to happen. It was never something we expected until it was offered…anyways.

a large lobby with a marble floor and a large counter

The Room:

We had adjoining rooms and they were both large with fantastic bathrooms.  My room had two beds and there was PLENTY of space, so much so that they put a loveseat between the beds. What a great idea. On the desk was a welcome note and a little treat. My first impression… 30k points is a steal.  Both rooms had small balconies overlooking the pool and the canal.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I love Asprey products and I left a generous tip the first night we were there…

a bathroom sink with a group of toiletries and a tissue box

Visiting Sheik Zayed Mosque

There are shuttles running throughout the day that the hotel provides. If you end up missing one, the taxi fare is cheap. It’s roughly a 5 minute drive.

a large lawn with a large building in the background

Another quirk…The concierge.

I wrote an entire post about this as well. We tried to schedule Afternoon Tea at the Emirates Palace and was told that we couldn’t – they were booked up, but they could do a tea at the hotel. However, when I called the Emirates Palace myself I got a reservation. Hmmmmm.

Food:

The Breakfast

It certainly wasn’t worth the drama over it being free or not. It certainly didn’t compare to the JW Marriott in Beijing, and personally I feel is weak for a “Ritz.”  The physical serving stations felt tired, and the food was good, not great.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Other Facilities:

Gym

Watching the sunset and listening to the sound of prayer from the Grand Mosque.

I’d highly recommend going to Li Jiang. It’s on the lower level of the hotel and has a great view of the mosque.

a red couch with pillows on it and trees in the background

Overall:

Would I stay here again?  Yes, but because of the location and price. For 30k points, it’s a fantastic deal and you couldn’t ask for a better location for visiting the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. The actual hotel, accommodations, room, etc are very nice, but we had a couple hiccups with the It’s also roughly a 20 minute drive to the Emirates Palace and Etihad Towers. I would, however, come to the hotel not expecting the traditional Ritz customer experience, and if the rate were to increase I’d go elsewhere.

a large chandelier in a building

 

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

a blue credit card with lines and symbols

Learn More

 Affiliate link 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 3x on dining
    •  including eligible delivery services for takeout
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel Portal
  • 2x on all other travel
  • $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Chase Travel
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 10% Anniversary Bonus
    • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Primary rental car coverage is my favorite

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners

Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

10 Comments

Leave a Reply to Parents' Review: Etihad First Class Apartment Abu Dhabi to London - Monkey Miles Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.