Rixos Bab Al Bahr

The staff and holiday could not have been better

We stayed at this hotel after looking at a few reviews, which were mainly positive. We have been to this area before and are quite fond of it considering it’s a little bit further out than normal and about an hour and a half from the airport. The journey to the hotel from the airport was a pleasant one as we landed around about 730 in the morning and we had a deal as part of our package with the hotel supplied the complementary transfer. On arrival at the hotel, the concierge greeted us very nicely and put our bag safely into storage while we waited our room. The reception staff were mostly accommodating and polite and informed us exactly what we have paid for and what we were entitled to and explained how the hotel worked, they informed us that unfortunately our room wasn’t ready at this time as it’s normally a 3 pm check-in and we arrived around about 930 in the morning. They said we could go and have hot drinks or cold drinks and pastries in the café while we waited and also we could use the facilities and store our clothes in the spa area whilst our room was being made up. They didn’t inform us that the room could be ready by midday and we should go back and check, which we did and the room was ready by 12pm. We have room 3211 which was a nice room however slightly outdated and the furniture was also outdated and damaged in areas however the room sizes to cater for a family of two adults and one 18-year-old and one 15-year-old was adequate for what we needed. The room layout though was slightly confused as where we were sleeping. We did not have access to the balcony as this was the double bedded room however the kids had access to the balcony as they were in the two single bed rooms. It would’ve made more sense for the double bed to be where the balcony was in order to not worry about the children access in the balcony especially if you had your own children, thankfully we can trust our children. The door had two locks though to stop anyone potentially going out onto the balcony, especially small children trying to reach up as they wouldn’t reach it due to the height of the safety locks. The room itself. Was clean daily and everything was replenished when we needed it. The buffet restaurant was exceptionally nice food so as far to say having stayed in Dubai numerous times this has to be one of the best buffet restaurants with such a large selection of food that way of come across. The restaurant staff themselves are such lovely, kind and courteous people who will go above and beyond for you. Although they get treated not very kindly from some of the guests they still continue to do their work with a smile on the face. We met such wonderful people there who made us they truly welcoming especially after we had an instance with a lady who was particularly rude and obnoxious and was saying offensive remarks to my wife and daughter whilst I wasn’t there. The stuff quickly diffuse the situation as I was not particularly happy with how she was which then involved a manager being called as I would not tolerate people being rude and offensive to my family. Having said that the lady did come and apologise the next day and used Google translate to do the apology, which I thought was a kind gesture. I cannot mention. All of the names of the ones who are particularly outstanding as there were so many, and unfortunately we could not get all of their names but they all deserve the credit in the buffet restaurant. The only photo we couldn’t get was with burkha in the buffet restaurant who again was so kind and courteous. I think special mention has to go to Namal the sous chef who did everything he could to make sure our culinary experience was of the highest standard, Mohammed restaurant manager who greeted us most days in the waiting area, Tony who remembered all our drinks orders all holiday not matter which restaurant we were in, Farooq & Burka, madushi who also greeted us most days and asked after us all all the time and extremely professional and ashak (our waiter) who served us quite a few times and when he wasn’t serving us made it his task to make sure we were ok and gave us what ever we needed. Again though everyone was superb and pictures show the staff were so welcoming. My son especially liked the magic tricks from Mohammed which were very funny and had us in stitches. We also visited the Italian restaurant, which is also a very nice restaurant with some very nice food and again friendly attentive staff which served us some afternoons and some evenings. The meat point restaurant we visited once however it wasn’t to our taste as it had very little choice on the menu however once again the restaurant staff was so welcoming and tried everything to make our experience more enjoyable. The Asian restaurant had to be our favourite cuisine, the food was exceptional. My only criticism of the à la carte restaurants is the varying lack of choices across the menu. Other hotels we’ve been to there is far more selection for you to choose from, especially if there are certain foods you don’t like. Across all the pools once again the staff were amazing. A friendly smile goes a long way both ways and I’m sure makes their day go fast when people speak to them. Having used all the pools I would have to say they are very clean tidy with no drinks or food allowed around the pool which makes it a bit more pleasurable when playing in the pool. There are some tourists however who don’t like to abide by the rules which makes the lifeguards job even harder when they have to keep whistling and getting people to take their drinks away, while some just completely ignore them. Special mention to Mohammed, Eric, Saman, naim and patham who were extremely friendly every day. Again apologies didn’t get to get the other lifeguards names. The towel lady with glasses(sorry didn’t get name) in the main pool was sorry lovely and friendly to us all especially my daughter. The beach is extremely clean and the sea is lovely and blue and the section of area for you to swim in to avoid the jellyfish coming in Is very pleasant. The nighttime entertainment was very good also and very pleasant surprise for Dubai as we’ve never had that where we stayed. The entertainment team were very good. The main bar by the beach also had extremely good staff and Mohammed made the best cocktails. The lobby bar we used towards the end of the nights and both Brayan and Allan were so kind, courteous, professional and very attentive and Ayman who challenged my son to an arm wrestle most days. All in all it made the stay at the hotel a very nice one with the staff we met along the way. The fitness suite is also a very nice place clean tidy and a good selection of machinery. The staff here could be a little more polite and courteous however the lady who works there was extremely polite and welcoming when we arrived and whenever I used the gym. The poolside games were extremely fun and competitive and Sou who runs it is such bubbly character who is very polite and good at keeping the fun tempo. My only criticism of the hotel is of some of the reception staff who weren’t the most helpful and one who came across quite rude when I approached her about the transport back to the airport and she said that the hotel don’t provide the transport even though I explained that it was a complimentary transfer as part of the hotel’s package and I had it on my booking documents however she didn’t seem to believe this and sent me to concierge who again weren’t the most helpful and just gave me a letter once they found it of all the details for the pick up. This has to be the one part that disappointed me across the whole day when it concerns the hotel staff because honestly the hotel staff themselves really make this place what it is. Some tourists who come can be quite rude and obnoxious having said that it does not apply to all of them just some of them don’t like to wait any time for a drink or food.

We had an amazing stay. The staff were very friendly and the whole experience was fantastic

Having stayed here in 2019 we were very much looking forward to returning to an exceptional hotel however it didn't live up to expectations standards have dropped across the board apart from 1 key area . The food was excellent absolutely first class just a pity the rest didn't quite hit the mark.

Excellent nothing was too much trouble for any members of the team