SimplyAbuDhabi VII

2 3 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I style – no matter how busy they are. Guests staying in the Tower Club, Deluxe Club, Grand Club Rooms and Club, Etihad, Sky and Royal Etihad Suites receive exclusive service and access to the Club Executive Lounge – located on level 45. This prestigious lounge, open 24 hours a day, has already developed a reputation for delivering the very highest standard of executive privileges, allowing guests to work in their own time and space – whatever their priorities may be. The Lounge has shower suites and changing rooms, an internet lounge, and a business centre with four meeting rooms – all equipped with state-of-the- art technology, video conferencing facilities and high speed internet connectivity. It has been exquisitely appointed, and the floor-to-ceiling windows provide incredible and breathtaking 360-degree views outside. You won’t want for refreshments, either: The Club Executive Lounge offers an extensive breakfast, alongside light snacks including hors d’oeuvres and desserts – and there are complementary beverages throughout the day and evening. Business visitors to Abu Dhabi (not to mention residents of the city) will also be thrilled to hear about what we thought was one of the most impressive parts of the whole building – the extensive Conference Centre. As soon as you enter, you’re struck by the same feeling of pure elegance and class you feel elsewhere in the complex. There’s a real sense of theatre in the spacious pre-function area, with its indoor terrace views over the hotel’s lobby atrium. We were told that it was a priority of the designers to create a striking entrance area, as they believed it was essential to establishing a pre- function ambience of invitation and open interaction. Adding to the dazzling effect, there’s more art fromHis Highness Sheikh Suroor bin Mohammed Al Nahyan’s private collection displayed here. The Conference Centre is intended to provide a haven of welcoming comfort in the heart of a modern city. It has also been carefully designed to be home to the staging of memorable events – with the elegance to meet the demands of the modern business world. And in our view, it has already proven its success. The luxury furnishings and interiors are the very height of refinement: the world’s finest marble, crystal and other carefully selected materials have been blended to form a stunning and tasteful backdrop in which people can meet and profitable business can be done. The pre-conference area alone was magical enough – but the most striking part of the Conference Centre is surely the fabulous Mezzoon ballroom. When we saw it, we were completely blown away. The floor is covered with a 1900 square metre (20451 square feet) bespoke hand-tufted rug, featuring beautiful large-scale contemporary designs of leaves and subtle local patterns. And the walls are incredible, too: they’re wrapped in delicate, golden woven metal threads, with backlit alabaster light slots. There are 40 bespoke Czech- made chandeliers featuring a phenomenal 540,000 pieces of crystal trimmings. And the sparkling room can accommodate up to 1,400 guests in a conference setting – or 1,000 for a sumptuous seated banquet dinner. For smaller events, it can easily be divided into four separate sections. It’s one of the largest conference centres in AbuDhabi. There are 13 meeting rooms here, alongside a range of larger suites and showrooms – including