Love our staycations especially when we are hosted in a Five Star Hotel. This time it’s at Park Rotana which is a Five Star Hotel located close to the iconic Sheikh Zayed Mosque and surrounded by a string of parks. I thought you needed a beach to really enjoy a hotel but Park Rotana with some outstanding restaurants, wellness & Fitness club to energize you tired body and entertainment for the kids and family makes this hotel an interesting proposition for a fully fledged entertaining holiday.
Park Rotana lobby was quite spacious and 50% of it was taken up by PARKAFE which is their Lobby Lounge Cafe. Whenever I was at the lobby I would get tempted to peep into the PARKAFE counter which had some enticing offerings of home-made pastries, desserts and chocolates. They also focus on healthy snacks. As you can see above, I did enjoy a nice cup of coffee and blueberry cheesecake. It’s quite relaxing to be sitting in their spacious lobby lounge. The cheesecake was an ordinary one even though it looked very enticing on that plate but the coffee was addictive.
Park Rotana has 2 suites. We were in their biggest suite which was called the Club Rotana Suite. It is a 72 sqm suite which featured a separate living area and includes a dining area as well. The view we had was of the Khalifa Park. Also from a distance we could see a private airport. We were presented with a personal welcome treat of luscious colorful macaroons. I loved everything about it including eating myself which was a white chocolate rested on a dark chocolate.
There was a separate work desk and the master bedroom has an interactive TV besides the LCD we had in the Living area. Kids would often use the interactive TV to play games. For me the one disappointment was that they didn’t have a USB charger for my smartphone. I had the cable but they would not be able provide me a USB charger. Often the last few hotels I visited all were all able to arrange a USB charger. Living in the USB charging era they need to make sure they well equip themselves with these very obvious requests from guests. But I must admit their hospitality and service has been very generous and accommodating wherever possible.
The bathroom felt sleek and luxurious which had a walk in shower too. Talking about luxury, I honestly didn’t feel enough luxury from a premium suite perspective. I expect a lot more from a Five Star hotel be it the quality of the carpet, granite, wood, sofas used. Somehow the focus seemed to be more for business.
Some of the in-room facilities would include:
- High speed wireless Internet connection
- 24 hours room service
- Complimentary tea & coffee making facility and bottled water
- Complimentary daily local newspaper
- Smoking rooms are available
- Mini bar
- In-room safe
- LCD TVs
- Hair Dryer
- Complimentary pressing
Club Rotana Lounge
This is our second day time stay at a Rotana hotel. We already knew the big benefits of taking a room which had access to their Club Rotana Lounge. I strongly recommend to pick a room that had access to the Club Rotana Lounge. It’s totally worth it! Club Rotana Lounge definitely has a plan to satisfy your appetite throughout the day.
- Complimentary breakfast – 06:30am to 11:00am
- Complimentary morning snacks – 10:30am to 02:30pm
- Afternoon High Tea – 03:00pm to 06:00pm
- Evening Canapes – 07:00pm to 09:00pm
By the way, kids don’t have access to Club Rotana Lounge after 05:00pm.
Club Rotana Lounge benefits would include:
- Private reception with express check-in/check-out
- Complimentary breakfast and selected beverages served throughout the day
- Complimentary evening cocktails
- Complimentary Internet access throughout the day
- Dedicated meeting room with comprehensive facilities
- Audio visual equipment and secretarial services
Seafood themed night buffet at Ginger All Day Dining restaurant
For dinner we were at the GINGER ALL DAY DINING RESTAURANT which hosts a seafood theme on Thursday nights. Priced at AED 230 per person which includes two glasses of house beverage. Children from 0 to 6 years eat for free and kids from 6 to 12 years get 50% off the price.
As you can see above there was a quite a lot to eat and lot of selection when it came to seafood. For me the favourite part was the the LIVE cooking station, where you get to choose your fish and they grill them fresh for you. Every table had grilled lobsters delivered even if you didn’t order. Besides hot, you also had a wide range of cold seafood selection. Dory Fish fry was tantalizing appetizer which I couldn’t resist.
One tip I can give you is you need to be here early. The earlier you arrive the better. For example, the selection of fishes goes down from 7 to 4 after a while and never saw them coming back. Similarly those irresistible dory fish fried appetizers when finished took a long time to be refilled. This is one area they seriously need to improve. But I guess fresh food takes time to deliver as well.
Beds have been comfortable. Although I’ve had a good sleep here, pillows have not been the best I’ve experienced. They had all the light control switches next to the bed(atleast around 6 of them just dedicated to lights alone) which made it very convenient. I just wished they rented DVDs so we could make use of the DVD player they provide us in our rooms. By the way, they also provide BOSE speakers for bluetooth surround sound which can be streamed over your smart phone.
Activities at Park Rotana
As you can see for activities they had quite a bit. We took total advantage of the facilities specially when it came to billiards, table tennis and temperature controlled swimming pool. The gym was totally equipped with latest state of the art equipment, it was also accessible 24 hours.
- An outdoor temperature controlled swimming pool and sheltered kids pool
- A Pool bar
- A fully equipped gym with the latest state-of-the-art cardio vascular equipment, machines and free weights area
- A professional fitness instructor is available
Kids had lot to cheer for their share of fun. After a good game of outdoor swing, slides and play in the bouncy castle they then ran for a nice swim. The temperature controlled swimming pool was a lovely experience for both kids and adults. Kids were also provided with soft balls to play within the pool. After a swim, you could grab a towel from their counter and get yourself clean from their private bath. The adults swimming pool was connected to a Pool bar. The good part was the building around it provided a nice shade so the afternoon never felt warm as it was supposed to be.
Meanwhile at Club Rotana it was Arabic special for the evening. All categories from the hot & cold starters(fatayer, cheese roll, vine leaves, kibbeh, hummus, moutabhal), mains(meat grills), desserts(halawat al jibn, cream pastry) have all been irresistible.
The next morning we were kind of lazy to get out of our rooms early so we ordered an IN-ROOM breakfast which I thought was a fantastic decision. They came dot on time as per our request. The entire breakfast order came with a table and what had to be warm stayed warm and what had to be cold stayed cold. From the menu you have the option of ordering Continental, American, Arabic, Healthy set breakfast or you can choose from their ala carte. You should definitely try their breakfast sandwich which was a combination of toasted croissant, pan fried eggs, cheese and turkey bacon. Get’s my mouth watering when I think about that sandwich. The french toast was a disappointment. They definitely need to work on it.
Since complimentary breakfast was available at Club Rotana located on the same floor as our room I quick checked in to see what they served for breakfast. It was typical croissant, muffin, jam, yoghurt, cheese etc. They could also serve you fresh eggs the way you wanted(Poached, boiled, fried, eggs benedict, scrambled egg or even make an omlette the way you want). But the real breakfast to enjoy was at their All DAY DINING RESTAURANT GINGER.
We had a wonderful massage at Park Rotana Bodylines Fitness & Wellness Club. The cheapest offering would be the Express treatments starting from Dhs 149 which would be a 30 mins massage on any of the below:
- Back, Neck & shoulder massage.
- Head Scalp Massage
- Leg & Foot massage.
They have been flexible and wouldn’t mind focusing certain areas of the body on your request. I can clearly tell you that they have experts here and they’ve done a very good job when it comes to massage.
I must not forget to mention the marvelous Mocktail which was given after the relaxing massage which comes complimentary as a part of your package. Just before the massage you are requested to select from a menu of fresh mocktails which is delivered to you at the end of the massage while you wait at the relaxation lounge. You also get to use their Sauna and Steam bath after the treatment.
Children Friendly Friday Brunch at GINGER ALL DAY DINING
We definitely did not want to miss the Friday Family Brunch Fiesta arranged by Park Rotana at Ginger All Day Dining restaurant. Kids are emphasized for this brunch where the restaurant has made special arrangements for them with a special kids buffet, Kids face painting corner, Cartoon screening and a sponge bob character roaming around the restaurant during the Brunch hour.
Food is international with lots of meat grills to eat. One of the highlight of the day for me was the unexpected, a Madrasi mutton gravy that was appreciated by everyone at the brunch. I specifically digged into it when I saw most people going for it. Succulent lamb pieces with tantalizing gravy that instantly gets you addicted. Some of the other highlights would be their charcoal shawarma where they use real coal and fire to heat it up and not electricity. Not to mention the giant sized striploin and chicken roast was an attraction at the LIVE cooking station.
They were plenty of desserts but the chocolate fountain was definitely the star attraction from the desserts counter. Children were crazy about the chocolate fountain and fortunately it is to their reach so they were happy helping themselves. Pecan tarts and Indian rasmalais were some that I really enjoyed and couldn’t settle with just one.
Be it a business meeting or social event they have a range of venues and meeting rooms to arrange events including weddings which could house atleast seat 700 guests. They seem to claim to provide the latest technology and state of art facility so I think your real serious concerns should be taken care.
Breakfast at GINGER ALL DAY DINING
Not to forget, the grand breakfast we all looking forward to early morning at any hotel stay. As expected they gave us a refreshing start to our morning with an array of fresh products displayed at their breakfast buffet. I really appreciate the quality in some of them. I truly admire their smoothies to be begin with. Never felt smoothies this fresh at hotel breakfast and they had a variety museli fused with different fruits like blue berry which was unique and tasted excellent.
At their LIVE cooking station you could have the eggs the way you wanted. They make one of the best hash browns and oh I must tell you the french toast here is much better than what we received in our room during our first day in-room dining breakfast experience. At the end we were very much satisfied with our breakfast here at Ginger All day dining restaurant. This is also where I first bumped into an ice cream made by Barakat.
Click here to know more about Park Rotana. Click pictures below to see them in full screen view:
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