I recently had a stop over of 8 hours in Abu Dhuabi. I emailed the Airport Hotel to request a room and received absolutely no response. There does not seem to be anywhere you can book this on-line. On arriving at the airport at 5.30am I went straight to the hotel and asked if there was any rooms myself and my son could have. The check in person who was very sharp said yes there are empty rooms but you cannot check in until 9 am. We would be leaving the room at 12 noon so it seemed pointless. He said that the rooms were available and free but he could not check me in early! After a round of pointless questioning as to why, if there is an empty we could not have it. Child playing up after 14 hour flight from Sidcup we decamped to the airport restaurant area and tried to while away the hours until our 7 hour flight back to the UK. Absolutely no facilities at airport, rather awful toilets, no showers to freshen up, nothing. Considering most people use this airport as transit and shower area, hairdresser, massage person would be welcomed. Install a Yo Hotel (pay by the hour) or something similar! It would be brilliant for weary travellers.

There is really nothing special about this tired, nasty hotel except for its convenient location in the Abu Dhabi airport. You may be so tired upon your arrival here that you do not mind but the rooms are quite depressing and unpleasantly decorated, so hopefully you will not do anything but sleep and shower here. The beds are not particularly comfortable and the common areas are faily ugly and institutional. The place seemed only moderately clean - there was a long hair on the floor in the bathroom when we arrived which I really found gross. The bathrooms themselves need a revamp - they look like they were put in in the early 90s. If you need to stay longer than several hours, stay in a proper hotel because this place is fairly depressing to spend time in.

Facing a 15 hour transit after a mammoth 14 hour flight from Sydney, I was in dire need of time out from this travelling malarky.

So after reviewing my options a month earlier, I had decided on the airport hotel which sounded perfect for my transiting turmoil. Mind you, I wasn't terribly excited by the price - $185 for a single person! However, whose to argue when you've been awake over 24hours and feel completely wrecked eh?!

The hotel is conveniently located in Terminal 1. So I basically hopped, skipped and hurdled my over to the hotel where I was swiftly checked-in and given access to my little room. The place was spotless, comfortable and there was a working shower! Result! There are a few watch-outs to consider though, like being closely positioned next to the airport grounds so you kinda feel like your sleeping on the runway a little....the walls aren't the thickest either so don't be taken aback if you hear your neighbour fart or something. But you'll be too tired to notice so just suck it up and enjoy the stay.

I was glad to have booked a room in advance as there are only 30 rooms. Many people had to sit and wait for cancellations so whatever you do book ahead and secure some short-term sanity.

Needless to say I felt human enough to board my next flight.

If you are ever unfortunate enough to have a long layover in transit at Abu Dhabi airport then do yourself a favour and check in to the airport transit hotel for a few hours sleep.

The airport itself is where fun goes to die but the transit hotel is clean and very quiet. The rooms are large and the bathrooms with both bath and shower are very welcome after a long flight.

The beds are a little hard ( for my liking ) but this is a minor inconvenience when compared to the alternative of walking an airport that is reminiscent of a George A. Romero zombie movie.

It's not exactly 5 star but it is perfectly acceptable as a place to sleep while waiting for your flight to leave the insufferable airport.