Hotel review: Sir Rocco Forte opens his brand new Abu Dhabi hotel

Celebrated British hotelier Sir Rocco Forte is returning to the Middle East for the first time since losing a 1996 takeover battle with the Rocco Forte Abu Dhabi hotel, a glass-clad shrine to modern minimalism with some interesting design twists courtesy of his creative director and sister Olga Polizzi.

Sir Rocco recalled his first visit to the region in 1978 when Forte ran the Dubai airport Le Meridien. Now he is planning a further five hotels in the Middle East: Shepheard’s in Cairo, The Luxor Hotel, Jeddah, Marrakech and one soon to be announced in Beirut.

Room oversupply

‘There are a lot of luxury hotels opening in Abu Dhabi,’ he noted. In fact 860 rooms in three hotels this month. ‘So we anticipate a difficult year or two until demand and supply are in balance.’

Sir Rocco told ArabianMoney that in 2009 sales fell 40 per cent after the global financial crisis. Business is only now back to pre-crisis levels, and he is worried that another crisis might yet follow the Greek referendum on the sovereign debt deal. ‘We are a very operationally geared business and profits get hit immediately’.

But hotels are a long-term business and 66-year old Sir Rocco has considerable experience of the downs as well as the ups. The Rocco Forte Abu Dhabi is a jewel to add to any hotel portfolio with its strikingly clean modern design, highly impressive restaurants, conference facilities and the largest spa in the UAE capital. It’s located not far from the Sheikh Zayed Mosque and adjacent to the old airport now used for executive jets.

The 20,000 square feet spa with separate male and female zones has indoor swimming pools, lavish hammans, 15 treatment rooms and a massive gym. It’s a major attraction in itself.

Our favorite restaurant is the striking art-deco Oro Italian but then again the soaring ceiling of the glass-walled Rouge Chinese and Japanese restaurant also creates a really unusual ambience, although we would worry about the greenhouse effect at lunchtime.

Time for tea

There is also a specialty seafood restaurant the Oceana Grill and Brown’s Tea Lounge, Abu Dhabi’s first taste of a real London afternoon tea. For before or after-dinner drinks the skyline Blue Bar, actually more purple than blue is an amazing space with another soaring ceiling with glass walls directly above the Rouge restaurant.

The 281 rooms include giant royal and presidential suites, 12 grand and 10 classic suites and  eight junior suites, also with separate lounges. The contemporary styling is based on three colour schemes with wooden flooring and homely modern furniture as well as the usual flat-screen TVs, WiFi and Nespresso machines.

The Rocco Forte collection also prides itself on a high standard of personalized service and it will be interesting to see if this translates to Abu Dhabi when the hotel opens next week.