Everything Included, Five Minutes from the Corniche: Rixos Marina Abu Dhabi

Rixos built its business on the fully inclusive model, and its Premium resort on Saadiyat proved the format could work at genuine five star level in Abu Dhabi. Rixos Marina took the same idea and moved it into the middle of the city, into a tower of 525 rooms rising thirty nine floors above the Marina at Al Kasir. The property was rejuvenated in 2022.

The result is arguably the more useful of the two addresses. A private beach at the base, the hotel’s own marina alongside, and Marina Mall attached at podium level.

Thirty nine floors above Marina City

The position is central in a way the island resorts are not. Corniche Beach is five minutes by car, Etihad Towers four, and Emirates Palace and Qasr Al Watan just beyond them. The airport is around thirty five minutes.

The mall connection is the practical winner. Shops, restaurants and cinemas are reachable under cover without stepping outside, which between June and September is not a small consideration. Guests who want to see the capital rather than only sit on its sand will find this the easier base of the two Rixos properties in the emirate. The Saadiyat resort sits on a protected stretch of open coast. This one sits five minutes from the Corniche with a mall attached, and the trade between those two positions is the whole decision.

Rooms for two and rooms for six

Fifteen categories run through the tower. Rooms begin at superior, with sea view versions above them, then deluxe and premium in both Corniche view and sea view, and a two bedroom family room at the top of the room tier.

The suites run further: one bedroom deluxe and family suites, two bedroom deluxe, premium, family and king suites, a three bedroom Presidential Suite and a four bedroom Royal Suite. That spread is the reason the hotel handles large parties comfortably.

Rooms are individually furnished and soundproofed, with premium bedding and minibars. The height of the tower means the Corniche view categories genuinely earn the name, and the balconies on the premium rooms are worth the difference in rate.

Soundproofing is not a decorative claim in a building attached to a shopping mall on a ring road. It is the reason a room on a low floor here is usable rather than merely available, and it is worth knowing before turning down a rate for the sake of a higher number on the lift panel.

What the rate actually covers

The all inclusive rate covers meals, snacks and beverages including alcoholic drinks, with the venue and timing conditions that apply to the format everywhere.

The venues give it something to cover. Turquoise, People’s Restaurant, Vero Italiano, Terra Mare and The Hashi Restaurant carry the sit down dining between them, across international, Turkish, Mediterranean and Asian cooking. The Bakery Club and the Infinity Lounge handle the lighter end. Below them sit Isla Beach Bar, People’s Bar, Privé Lounge and three pool bars, with ice cream, fruit and grab and go kiosks around the grounds.

The Turkish strand is the one worth seeking out, since it is the tradition the brand came from and it is the reason the format arrived in the Gulf at all. Vero Italiano and Terra Mare cover the Mediterranean between them, and The Hashi takes the Asian end.

For a party of four staying five nights, the arithmetic is the argument. Twenty breakfasts, twenty dinners and everything between them, in a central district where those meals would otherwise be bought at capital city prices, is a sum that resolves in the guest’s favour well before the last night.

> An inclusive rate makes obvious sense at a remote beach resort. In the middle of a city, where a guest could walk out and eat elsewhere in ten minutes, it is a bolder proposition and the cooking has to justify it. Here it does.

Beach, marina and Naturelife Spa

The private white sand beach carries cabanas, loungers and umbrellas, with surfing and body boarding available alongside beach yoga in the mornings. The marina sits directly adjacent.

Several pools serve the tower, separated by purpose into family, adult and adventure water. Naturelife Spa includes complimentary use of the hammam, steam room and sauna with treatments, and the menu runs to deep tissue massage, aromatherapy and Ayurvedic work. The fitness offer is properly equipped and extends to a sports club, a tennis court, yoga and personal training.

Rixy, and the case for families

Rixy Kids Club takes children from four to twelve, with arts and crafts programming and a children’s pool of their own. Family rooms and connecting rooms are plentiful, and the inclusive rate suits a family particularly well because it removes an entire category of expense and an entire category of argument.

Meeting facilities and a business centre serve corporate groups, and the position between the Corniche and the government quarter gives the property a credible business case alongside the leisure one. It is unusual for an inclusive hotel to work on both counts.

The 525 rooms sit in useful company on this stretch. Bab Al Qasr, four minutes further west, holds 677 keys and residences. The Conrad at Etihad Towers holds 377 across twelve restaurants charged individually. Rixos Marina holds 525 and folds the restaurants into the rate, which is a rare arrangement to find this close to the centre of the capital.

Practical notes

Take a Corniche view room with a balcony as high in the tower as the rate allows, use the mall connection rather than the taxi rank, and give the marina an evening. This is the inclusive format applied to a city rather than to a stretch of empty coast, and the location is what it buys you.

Contact

HOTEL: Rixos Marina Abu Dhabi
ADDRESS: Marina Mall, Ring Road, Al Kasir, Kasser Al Amwaj, Abu Dhabi
TELEPHONE: +971 2 498 0000
EMAIL: reservations.rixosmarina@accor.com
WEBSITE: https://marina.rixos.com/
AREA: Marina / Al Kasir