Stunningly Beautiful Architecture: My Andaz Capital Gate Abu Dhabi Hotel Review

Andaz Capital Gate Abu Dhabi Review

I recently stayed at the Andaz Capital Gate in Abu Dhabi with my mother, and both of us had probably one of our top 3 hotel stays that we have ever had. The building itself was amazing, and the room as well as the staff couldn’t have been better. I am really looking forward to visiting this property again in the future. I will cover all the details in my Andaz Capital Gate review.

Be sure to check out my experience flying from Las Vegas to Dubai in economy and the issues we ran into along the way.

This is a guest post by John Ryan, The Vegas Teenager.

Booking Process

I originally set out to book this reservation as I normally would’ve, which is through the World of Hyatt app. However, I remembered hearing about a program called Hyatt Privé on One Mile at a Time. For this rate, you simply pay whatever the flexible rate is and you are provided with a guaranteed one category upgrade that is either room to room or suite to suite, as well as early check in and a $50 or $100 credit.

For our stay, we got this rate for $130 per night. This was only 10 dollars more than the World of Hyatt member rate. Best of all, these stays are eligible for points and qualify for nights stayed and the benefits that your status may provide will be provided on top of the benefits of this rate. I think this is definitely something to look for if you are staying at a Hyatt property in the future, and this can especially be helpful if you are not an elite member. 

Communication

I communicated with my travel agent up until the stay, and he told me about the hotel upgrading us from a normal 2 twin room to a deluxe 2 twin room. I was expecting this, as it is one of the benefits of the stay, but I am glad that this was confirmed before we checked in. One thing I would note is that while the hotel may have upgraded you before the stay, it may not reflect on the World of Hyatt app.

I also had a question about transportation around the hotel before our stay, so I found the hotel’s WhatsApp number. They responded back to me in a couple of hours.

Location

This is the one major drawback with this hotel, and it is really something that can’t be fixed. The hotel is connected to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center, and that is pretty much the only thing in the area. We found a very good Italian restaurant that is in the Rotana Capital Center about 0.5 miles away.

There are a few dining outlets in the hotel, and we did try the breakfast restaurant, which is below. But the hotel is sort of “central”, because it is between both the Abu Dhabi Airport and downtown Abu Dhabi.

Check-In

My mother and I arrived from the Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station after arriving from Dubai earlier that day. We took an Uber to the hotel and were approached by a friendly bellman, who took our bags up.

Right by the entrance was a Guinness World Record, because the hotel is the world’s most leaning building with an 18 degree slope. I was looking forward to our stay here, since it looked like a very cool building. We then got our temperatures taken, which I am pretty sure is mandatory when you walk into any indoor building in Abu Dhabi right now. We then found a nice looking art gallery as well as a coffee shop.

The front desk is on the 18th floor, which I am pretty sure is due to the angle of the building. I think there needs to be two separate sets of elevators. We then took those up and were greeted by a friendly front desk agent. The front desks at Andaz properties seem to be different. Rather than a typical desk setup, there are smaller desks with hosts. I personally don’t have a preference, but overall the front desk staff couldn’t be more helpful.

They explained to us the Hyatt Privé benefits and sent us on our way. We took the second set of elevators to the 31st floor.

Room

Rather than typical hallways, the hotel had an atrium going up the 13 floors that it occupies in the Capital Gate tower. This is mainly due to the design of the building, because there needs to be a lot of support for the building, since it leans at an 18 degree angle.

Guest Room

My mother and I were very happy when we got to our room. This was probably the largest hotel room that we have ever stayed in that wasn’t a suite. The room featured two chairs, a large desk, as well as 2 twin beds.

We faced towards downtown and had a pretty good view. The internet was also very fast at 36 megabits per second.

The room also featured a minibar; however, likely due to Covid, the refrigerator was empty.

Normally, Andaz hotel rooms feature a minibar with complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. I wish that the hotel did have this, because, due to the location, I wish there were a couple of small snacks in the room. But, we received new water bottles daily, and this was very helpful when we woke up each morning. There was also a coffee maker that we did not use.

The television in the room also was quite bothersome the first night, because we couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. We did figure it out the second night. 

Bathroom

The room also featured a very large and nice bathroom.

The toilet was in a separate room and featured a bidet.

The bathroom also had a very nice bathtub and shower. While the shower featured great water pressure, the pressure in the bathtub was quite slow, and it took a while to fill up the tub.

The bathroom also featured La Betente amenities, which were overall pretty good. It seems that these are the standard Hyatt bath amenity brand in the UAE, as these were also at the Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek, where I stayed this past June.

This is also a very little issue, but I did notice that the sink bowl was a bit high compared to the faucet, but this is a very little issue.

Overall my mother and I were big fans of this room and we liked it a lot.

Parking

My mother didn’t really want to rent a car in Abu Dhabi, so we just Ubered everywhere. I can’t think of a better city for Ubering. It was super cheap, and the drivers were friendly and came in minutes. However, valet was available at no cost at the hotel.

Service

I really can’t think of a hotel with service as good as the Andaz Capital Gate. When we checked in, the front desk agent was super friendly, and the front desk agent at checkout even remembered our room number.

Amenities 

I think that the Andaz Capital Gate has very good amenities. It features a steam room in both bathrooms near the pool and fitness center. The pool is one of the most unique pools I have seen.

These are super minor, but I wish the smaller pool was a jacuzzi, since that is certainly something I would’ve used. However, when I swam in the pool, it was quite warm.

Andaz Capital Gate Review: Restaurants

Since we booked through Hyatt Privé, we received free breakfast. We went to Cyan Brasserie each morning, which is on the 18th floor. This was a very good restaurant, and it did have an interesting buffet setup.

If you wanted waffles or pancakes, you just ordered it from your waiter.

But, due to Covid, when you walk up to the buffet, you walk through it and you tell the server what you would like, and they give it to you. I am not personally a fan of this, and I am sure the hotel probably doesn’t really like this method, either.

Final Things to Add

There is a Tapas restaurant at the hotel, and we were planning on using the credit there, but my mother and I were both really tired, so we decided to wait until the next morning. Upon checkout, we were informed that the credit could only be used on room service. Overall, I am not really annoyed by this, because I think the Hyatt Privé rate proved to be very helpful — especially because of the lack of restaurants nearby, and it was very helpful for breakfast. But just keep that in mind if you plan to use that credit.

On the second night, when we returned to the room, we had a note informing us of an upcoming fire drill. It mentioned that guests wouldn’t need to evacuate. We weren’t there for that, but I just found that to be a bit interesting, and it is something that has ever happened to me before.

Also, for breakfast and all other dining outlets in Abu Dhabi, you are required to show green status in the Al Hosn app. Ryan wrote a very helpful guide on this as well. But it was easier for my mother to just show her CDC card and a negative PCR test. And for me, I didn’t need to show anything, since children under 16 don’t need to.

Andaz Capital Gate Review: Conclusion

I know I had a few complaints; however, I really don’t think I could’ve asked for a better stay. The food and room at the Andaz Capital Gate were great, and the staff couldn’t have been more friendly. As long as you are aware of the location being a bit mediocre, the Andaz Capital Gate is a great place to stay, and I would highly recommend it.