Shortly after my vow to make 2020 the year of staycations and an enjoyable retreat at Andaz The Palm, my bestie Zoe Bowker asked me to accompany her to a staycation at Rixos Premium Sadiyaat. I threw some stuff into my tote bag and jumped into her Range for a road trip to the capital city. I’ll spare you the details of what a fantastic time we had and the number of Lonely Island videos we watched into the wee hours of the morning, because that’s always a given when we’re together, but I must mention that it does help when the food, service and location are good. In this case, they were great.

Resort Type: Abu Dhabi’s first all-inclusive resort, and very family-friendly.

Beach Access: sprawling, with sparkly-clean, powder-soft sand and turqouise blue waters that although just an hour and a half away from Dubai, feels like it’s in a different country altogether.

Room Type: ‘Ultra-Inclusive Family Suite with Pool Access’ but the description should actually specify that you get a semi-private pool all to yourself. I call it semi-private because no one else can access it, however the privacy level is low as the folks staying above you can see inside, as can most passers-by as the surrounding wall is low and foliage/hedges bare. We even got an interesting surprise when one of the lifeguards came in through the hedges to say hi and ‘check that there were no unsupervised kids in the pool’. Unnecessary as everything is in clear view. When they say ultra-inclusive, they mean ULTRA inclusive. All you can eat and drink, all day, at almost all the outlets. Only 2 of the outlets (the Italian and the Asian ones) require an extra surcharge of AED 50 and AED 100 pp, respectively, and the Italian meal was one of the best Italian meals we’ve had in the UAE.

Welcome treats: A fruit plate, bottle of red, and delicious box of patchi truffles that I inhaled as far as Zoe did the red.

Mini-bar: Packed to the brim with Kit Kats, Smarties, Lays, and soft and hard beverages. It is refilled everyday, and of course they had a kettle and Nespresso machine.

Overall color scheme and feel: Think emerald green, matte gold, and white with pops of yellow for a bit of a fun element.

Living Room Area: The sofa doubles as a sofa bed for the kiddos, but with the two extra chairs, the living room could easily seat 5-6 if you wanted to watch a movie. There are two TVs, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. There is also a 4-person dining table here.

Bathroom(s): The regal ensuite bathroom opens up into the bedroom through two doors, giving it a very spacious feel, however the second bathroom is also a proper one with a shower, and is not just a powder room.

Bedroom: Beautifully sunny, spacious and airy, with it’s own access to the backyard/pool area with white, shades of green and pops of yellow to put you in a cheerful yet relaxed mood. There are safety fences right outside the porch-like areas right outside the bedroom and living room, in case you’re worried about kids wandering off to the pool unattended, but the sliding glass doors lock as well.

Backyard: There were 4 sun loungers, a dining table for 4, and a small balcony table and two chairs right outside the room- seating is definitely aplenty here. The dining table was meant to have a glass on top of it. It was missing, therefore we couldn’t balance anything on the wicker, but  the room next to ours had it. The foliage could really do with some coming-back-to-life, and the backyard looked quite barren and (quite possibly because of the color the tiles) sandy/dirty.  The sun loungers already had the towels laid out on them, which made them looked as if they’ve already been used, but when we removed the towels we saw that one of the loungers had mold on it. Yikes! That said, we spent most of our 2 days there sunbathing in the backyard.

Private Pool: wasn’t the best designed one. The steps were on either end of the L-shaped pool (that had a bit of an indentation in between), which didn’t make a lot of sense, especially as one end of the pool ended at a wall. Ideally, the indentation (which had a ‘no diving’ sign) should’ve been where the steps were, and the green patches creating a divider between most of the pool and the backyard shouldn’t have been there. The pool wasn’t very user friendly, and it wasn’t very clean either, we found a toy and a water bottle left behind by who we’re guessing was the previous guest.

In-room amenities: Bed-side USB chargers: check. Do we even need anything else? I don’t! However, they had everything you could possibly need from blow-dryers to loofahs. The toiletries were aplenty, the robes and slipper comfy and you didn’t need to call for anything.

Mini-bar:  generously stocked with lays, Kit Kats, smarties, sugary sodas and some drinks for the adults as well. They’re restocked daily and you’re charged nothing. They also had the quintessential Nespresso machine and kettle, but fair warning: there was no decaf.

Turn-down service: By 6:30, we had promptly received our turn-down service, which is ideal for a family seeking to put their kids to bed early. Our slippers were neatly laid out on the mats (I loved that they had a smaller sized option for me), and lo and bold- this was one of those super rare UAE properties that actually leave a pillow chocolate (also Patchi) for you. Please comment below and let me know which other UAE properties do that, as I can’t remember coming across any! 

Common facilities: There is a tennis court, exercise classes, private beach, a big common pool, spa, kids club, meeting rooms, the whole 9 yards. We also enjoyed some lovely live music outside L’Olivo, and some off-tune but entertaining tunes at the Club House because even after dinner we were in no mood to call it a night, and thanks to all-inclusive,  bottomless everything, we didn’t have to!

Dining Options: You have the all day diner: Turqouise, and the beachside bistro where meals are included in your package. If, however, you’re willing to spend an extra AED 50 pp and/or AED 100 pp (which you totally should considering the value for money you’ll get), you can enjoy dinners at L’Olivo and AJA, respectively. L’Olivo served up some of the best Italian fare we’ve ever had in Dubai. Throughout the meal, we simply could not wrap our heads around how this was costing only an extra AED 50 pp! Not only was the food beautifully plated but the contrast of textures and balance of flavors were some of the most superior we’ve ever had. Whoever is heading the F&B at Rixos Premium Sadiyaat, clearly knows what they’re doing!

Service: We called housekeeping for a couple of things and they weren’t really on top of their game. When we asked for decaf Nespresso pods, it took them nearly half an hour to come back with every Nespresso pod they had and confess they weren’t really sure what decaf was.

Verdict on Rixos Premium Sadiyaat Island: An all-inclusive resort stay should be the only way to do a resort stay! The peace of mind of knowing the maximum you’ll spend just takes a vacation/staycation to a whole new level of relaxation. Yeah, I dropped a rhyme.