It’s not the only feature of the hotel worthy of special mention, however; a tunnel takes guests right onto the seafront, where a beach club, Nation Riveria, is still under development.
This will include two restaurants — one to be operated by Asia de Cuba, a brand currently in operation at Morgans Hotel Group properties in Miami, LA and London and the other an as yet-undisclosed seafood eatery from an international operator — as well as a beach bar and children’s club managed by St. Regis, and event lawns.
In the hotel itself, F&B also dominates, with Rhodes 44 becoming the first restaurant in Abu Dhabi by the famed Michelin-star chef Gary Rhodes, himself in the kitchen for the pre-opening and first month or so of business, with regular active visits to follow. His partnership with St. Regis is actually Rhodes’ largest operation worldwide, as he is also in charge of The Tea Lounge and aspects of the room service menu.
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“[What makes the hotel special is] firstly the partnership with Gary Rhodes, having him on site, he’s here on site now training his team for the next six weeks, he’s very hands on, this is his first operation that will be his biggest operation in a single unit with the three-meal-a-day Rhodes 44, he will offer the food for the tea lounge, the St. Regis Bar and room service.
The room service menu will feature food from our other outlets as well, obviously there will be an Arabic section of the room service menu, so it’s not just Rhodes 44 but I think that’s fairly unique,” says Key.
The hotel also features a signature Italian, Villa Toscana, St. Regis Bar and Crystal Lounge and Key reveals an additional Japanese restaurant is on the cards, too.
When it comes to leisure, there’s the Remede Spa for ladies and the UAE’s first Hommage Gentleman’s Grooming Atelier, while business is taken care of with five meeting rooms and the ballroom, which is elegantly decorated and really rather pleasing to the eye.
The 283 rooms, including 55 suites, all feature panoramic views and certainly a glimpse of an Abu Dhabi I’d not seen before. They all benefit from signature St. Regis 24-hour butler service, with pantries located on every floor to enable fast delivery of hot beverages.
“You’ll have the beverage service on arrival, the pressing facility available to you straight away, when you order room service, we toast your bread upstairs so it comes piping hot, we bring your teas and coffees upstairs piping hot, so we’ve got facilities that mean we’ll really be able to offer a very bespoke level of service and not just what you would expect to find in every other hotel,” asserts Key.
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