Fifty Square Metres and a Cable Wakeboarding Lake: Marriott Hotel Al Forsan, Abu Dhabi

Fifty square metres is the figure to hold on to here. That is roughly what a premium room runs to at Marriott Al Forsan, and it buys a balcony, a seating area set apart from the bed, a laptop workspace, a minibar and refrigerator and a bathroom sized in proportion to the rest. The outlook is either the gardens or the city beyond them.

Floor area at that scale is not something the capital’s towers give away at this rate, and it sets the character of the whole property. This is a hotel that spreads out rather than stacks up, and the rooms are the first place a guest notices it.

Four hundred keys across five floors

The hotel holds 400 rooms across five floors, which is a low, horizontal arrangement quite unlike the thirty and forty storey buildings on the island.

Practically, that means short lift waits, ground level access to the gardens and pools from much of the building, and a walk rather than a descent to reach breakfast. Connecting and family rooms are widely available, and cots are provided at no charge.

The scale of the rooms is the genuine advantage, and it compounds for anyone staying more than two nights. A guest working from the room has somewhere to work that is not the end of the bed.

Al Forsan, and eleven minutes to the terminal

The property occupies Al Forsan International Sports Resort in Khalifa City A, on the mainland side of the capital rather than on the island.

Abu Dhabi International Airport is eleven minutes away by road, which is the shortest transfer of any hotel in this series. Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi University and Mazyad Mall are each around six minutes, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is a ten minute drive, and Yas Island and Ferrari World are close.

For a guest with an early flight, or one whose business sits on the mainland rather than in the financial district, that arithmetic decides the booking on its own.

Khayal, The Grill, Appaloosa and Couture

The dining programme is broader than the location would suggest, running to six venues alongside a coffee shop and a deli.

Khayal handles all day dining across international menus, overlooking the pool and the garden, and runs a substantial brunch. The Grill is the steakhouse, open for dinner and worth reserving. Appaloosa is the sports bar, with garden views. Couture Lounge covers tapas in the evening. Room service runs around the clock.

Six kitchens is a serious count for a hotel on the mainland, where a guest cannot simply walk out into a restaurant district, and it tells you the property expects to keep its guests fed on site for the length of a stay.

> A hotel out at Khalifa City could reasonably get away with two restaurants and a bar. Six, one of them a proper steakhouse, says something about how long it expects guests to stay put.

Water, treatments and the health club

Two outdoor pools serve the hotel, with complimentary cabanas and umbrellas, a swim up bar, a poolside bar and a children’s pool alongside.

The spa runs deep tissue massage, body wraps and facials, with a sauna and a steam room attached, and the health club operates around the clock, which suits guests arriving on late flights and adjusting from other time zones.

Wakeboarding, horses and a shooting range

What sits outside the hotel is the reason most guests choose it. Al Forsan International Sports Resort carries cable wakeboarding, equestrian facilities, a shooting range, karting, archery and paintball, all within walking distance of the lobby.

Cable wakeboarding in particular is a facility very few hotels anywhere can point to on their own site, and it is approachable for beginners rather than reserved for people who already own a board. A guest can have a first lesson before lunch and be at a meeting in the city by three.

For families with older children, the effect is decisive. A teenager who has exhausted a beach in two days has not exhausted this.

Meetings, children and the fly in visit

On business, eight meeting rooms and a conference centre are supported by a business centre operating around the clock. Combined with an eleven minute airport run, that makes the property a natural choice for a meeting flown in and out inside a single day.

For families, a children’s pool, a playground, free cots and readily available connecting rooms cover the practicalities, and the sports resort covers the rest. Fifty square metres of room with a balcony also does a great deal of work when two adults and two children are sharing it for a week.

Among the mainland hotels

The mainland alternatives divide cleanly by what they are built around. VOGO Abu Dhabi Golf Resort and Spa holds 172 rooms wrapped around the twenty seven holes of Abu Dhabi Golf Club, thirteen minutes from the terminal. Millennium Al Rawdah sits inland by the exhibition centre with eight meeting rooms and four pools. Andaz Capital Gate offers 189 rooms inside the leaning tower beside the halls.

Marriott Al Forsan is the largest of them at 400 rooms, the closest to the airport at eleven minutes, and the only one of the four with a sports resort on its own site. A golfer takes VOGO. An exhibitor takes one of the ADNEC pair. A family with a fortnight and two restless children takes this.

Take a premium room with a balcony, book The Grill for one evening, and try the cable wakeboarding even if you have never stood on a board.

Contact

HOTEL: Marriott Hotel Al Forsan, Abu Dhabi
ADDRESS: Al Forsan International Sports Resort, Al Fursan Street, Khalifa City SW17, Abu Dhabi
TELEPHONE: +971 2 201 4000
EMAIL: mhrs.auhal.sales@marriott.com
WEBSITE: https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/auhaf-marriott-hotel-al-forsan-abu-dhabi/overview/
AREA: Khalifa City / Al Forsan