We have been on their private beach in November 2010. Noise and fumes from the heavy caterpillars next to the property, but avoidable if you keep some distance. Service was excellent,cleanliness in the showers more or less oriental,not western standard.Mold grows quick in damp and warm rooms.Broken soapholder in the showers was not fixed for several days.If you plan a holiday there,take a room to the seaside and rent a car.Without you are lost.

Went after partying at itz nite club enigma.. Had a great time and chkd in at d hotel after party.. Gud rooms n nice srvice and bfast.. Only problem it is far from dubai.. Almost one hour from jumeirah.. Bt good option for people who wnt to go to both places.. Hd a small but vv nice stay..

I have just been with my 3 small children (5,3 and 1 yo) in this hotel and I find the relationship btw quality and price amazing.
We arrived early in the morning and we got the room straight away despite the checkin was from 14.00 and our standard room was upgrated to superior (40 mq at least)
Our kids stay for free and we got a complimentary baby bed for free, kids did not pay anything at the restaurant either!
Food was SUPERB, the BEST BUFFET I HAVE EVE HAD, different every evening and for all tastes, plenty of choice of meat and excellent fish, we did not feel eating anywhere else for the whole week (although we did at the end...)
Pools are great, indoor spa with all conforts and heated pool, great masseuse for those who like it ;-)

DOWNSIDES

noise....they are still expanding the structure and you you some noises from 8 till 19 in the evening but did not disturb us too much, we were to busy with our boys to lay down!

room keys.... they very often don't work if you leave it within 10 mt from you mobile and we had to change it 3 times a day!

beach...still under costruction, so only one small part was accessible, but they plan to finish befor summer 2012

after that time...WE WOULD DEFINETLY GO BACK!!!

A special thanks to the chief chef who tryed to accomodate my boys wished all the time and for cooking DELICIOUS FOOD every occasion!

My Husband and I stayed for 2 nights for the Grand Prix as everything on Yas Island was booked up. We chose the Al Raha as it was as close to the circuit as we could get. The location of the hotel is on a motorway with no direct access from the main road which means driving 2 miles in the opposite direction just to get to it, no matter which direction you approach it. This obviously racks up your taxi bill quite a bit.

The hotel itself looks like a bit of an 1980's throwback and upon arriving we were told that the hotel was full so for some reason they had chosen to cancel or ignore our booking despite the fact that I had made it 6 months in advance and confirmed the booking by e-mail (to which I got no reply) and by phone. They then claimed that they could 'upgrade' us at no extra cost to a Junior Suite which would be available in about an hour. The room itself was enormous but it absolutely stank of tobacco smoke, backed onto the very noisy motorway and was next to a ‘staff only’ room where the banging starts at around 6:30am. It did not contain anything different to one of the standard rooms that overlooked the beach (as I had a nosey into one while it was being cleaned) so I surmise that the room is possibly used as a boardroom or meeting room for most of the time as no decent hotel would put one of their better rooms at the end of the hotel smack bang next to a 24 hour noisy motorway. I always feel annoyed when I know I'm being fobbed off as it really insults our intelligence.

Whilst the staff are very polite and friendly they just lack the training or common sense. I asked for a feather pillow in our room which did arrive but the next day when the room was cleaned it was swapped for a foam one - WHY? The bar staff have absolutely no idea how to make a cocktail so when I complained about my Singapore Sling (or the fact that it wasn't one) I was asked 'how do you know it's not made right?' Errrr, because I've been to Raffles in Singapore. Tea ordered at breakfast takes ages to arrive and then they bring coffee? On the plus side we did find the food fairly decent.

There is also a lot of development going on which has been mentioned on here before however the hotels website claims that this work is 'entering its final phase' well from what we saw it's a good 12 months off being anywhere near finished and the work continues well into the evening (10pm and it was still banging away) so if you have a room close to this then you can forget having a good nights sleep.

On the whole it's very overpriced with substandard service and really is one of the worst hotels I have stayed in for a very long time. We would never stay here again nor would we recommend it to anyone.