Four Hundred and Ninety Nine Rooms Above a Formula One Circuit: W Abu Dhabi, Yas Island
The hotel sits at Yas Marina, on the southern curve of Yas Island, and the Yas Marina Circuit runs directly beneath the building. Two towers stand on either side of the track, joined above it by the Grid Shell, a curving lattice of steel and glass that is lit from within and changes colour after dark. Nothing else on the island is arranged this way, and no other hotel in the world is built across a Formula One circuit.
Yas Marina lies below, with its own restaurants and bars along the water. Ferrari World, Yas Waterworld, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi and Yas Mall are each a few minutes away by car. Zayed International Airport is 8.5 kilometres out, and the Corniche around half an hour.
The Grid Shell
The canopy is the defining piece of architecture and it has become visual shorthand for Yas Island itself. It arches across the circuit between the two wings of the hotel, and after dark the panels shift through colour in sequence.
Inside, the design follows the brand template: strong colour, deliberate theatre, and social spaces built to function as destinations rather than as corridors between the lifts and the door.
The arrangement is also what allows a hotel and an unbroken run of racetrack to occupy the same piece of ground. The towers sit either side of the tarmac and the Grid Shell carries the building across it, so the circuit is never interrupted and the hotel is never divided in two.
Four hundred and ninety nine rooms and suites
The property holds 499 rooms and suites. Categories run from Wonderful rooms upward through Spectacular and Fabulous, and the suite ladder climbs through Superior, Urban and W suites to a Penthouse of 409 square metres arranged across two floors.
Rooms are contemporary and design led, with floor to ceiling glazing and views over either the marina or the circuit. The circuit facing rooms are the ones enthusiasts want, and they are booked far ahead for race weekend. The Whatever Whenever service desk operates around the clock and is a more practical facility than the name suggests. The hotel takes one pet per room, up to eighteen kilograms.
At 499 keys this is the largest of the three Yas Island properties in this series, and the only one where the choice of room decides what is happening beneath the window rather than how far away the water is.
Garage, Brooklyn Chop House and the two decks
Seven food and drink venues operate across the building. Garage covers five cuisines in one room and is the hotel’s busiest table. Brooklyn Chop House sets a steakhouse against Asian flavours. Roastery handles specialty coffee through the day. Pappas Taverna, the Mediterranean kitchen, is temporarily closed.
The bars matter as much as the kitchens here. W Lounge is the social heart of the building, Rush Bar the late option, and the two rooftop terraces divide by audience: the WET Deck pool is adults only, and the SUN Deck is the family side. The marina level venues below extend the evening well beyond the hotel’s own doors.
Seven venues, two rooftop decks and a marina underneath. This is a hotel that runs at volume by design, and guests who want a quiet weekend should book elsewhere on the island and come here for a drink.
AWAY Spa and FIT
AWAY Spa runs across two storeys, with nine treatment rooms, a couple’s massage room and a hammam. That is a substantial provision for a hotel of this register, and it is the part of the building guests are most often surprised by, given how much attention the architecture takes. The FIT gym is open around the clock and equipped with treadmills, bikes and punching bags.
The pool scene is a significant part of the property’s social life rather than an afterthought, which is worth knowing before booking a lounger and expecting to read. The split between the two decks is the useful mechanism here: guests wanting the party take the WET Deck, guests with children take the SUN Deck, and neither has to negotiate with the other.
The outdoor terrace looks out over the marina, and the water is busy from late morning onward on a weekend.
Race weekend
Once a year the circuit beneath the building carries a Formula One Grand Prix, and the hotel becomes the centre of gravity for the entire emirate. Guests in circuit facing rooms watch the cars come through the turn from their windows.
Rooms for that weekend go early and go at a premium, and anyone planning to be here for it should book many months ahead. The rest of the year the track is used for club racing, driving experiences and events, and the architecture alone justifies the visit.
Three thousand five hundred and twenty square metres of event space
Event space runs to 3,520 square metres, which is more than the 2,439 at the Hilton down at Yas Bay, and the hotel handles launches, parties and corporate hospitality around race weekend at a scale that reflects it. That business is a large part of why the property trades as hard midweek as it does at the weekend.
Families are accommodated and the theme parks are minutes away, but the centre of gravity sits with couples, groups and the race crowd. Parents looking for calm will prefer The WB Abu Dhabi beside the theme parks or the Hilton at Yas Bay with its beach.
Race weekend and the rest of the year
The most unusual building on Yas Island, for reasons of engineering rather than taste, and the address for race weekend. Book a circuit facing room, book it very early for the Grand Prix, and accept that this is a hotel with the volume turned up.
Contact
HOTEL: W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island
ADDRESS: Yas Island YS1, Abu Dhabi
TELEPHONE: +971 2 656 0000
EMAIL: contact@visitabudhabi.ae
WEBSITE: https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/auhwh-w-abu-dhabi-yas-island/overview/
AREA: Yas Marina / Yas Island