Great location, superb staff, really good rooms an...

Great location, superb staff, really good rooms and quality food

We have holidayed in Dubai and Abu Dhabi many times and decided to try a hotel we hadn't visited before - the St Regis on Saadiyat island. What a find

Right from the start it had a great feel, in a quiet, relaxing setting. Our room was well laid out and very comfortable. The hotel had a great beach and was only a short taxi ride to get to Abu Dhabi centre one way and Yas Island the other (we enjoyed Warner Brothers theme park). The Louvre on Saadiyat island was fantastic - a beautiful building, well laid out exhibitions and well worth the entrance fee.

There were only 3 restaurants in the hotel and one of those was being refurbished so we only had the choice of 2 - the main restaurant, Olea, was buffet style and Sontaya was a Thai based restaurant. We thought this might be limiting but it was not. The quality and variety in Olea was exceptional (with 3 themed nights per week - seafood, Arabic and Asian). All dishes were checked regularly and if they were not up to their very high standards then they were replaced. We dined 3 times at Sontaya during our 2 week stay, which speaks for itself - excellent food and very accommodating staff (even though we were on half board and had a restricted menu to choose from, they were happy to tweak dishes to cater for our taste and for our allergies).

I left the best to last - the staff. So many helpful and outstanding members of staff. It is so hard to single people out because we could easily mention just about all the staff with whom we came into contact (including Duty Manager Pia on the front desk) but there are some we have to mention. Our original butler Anthony and our replacement butler Alina - they felt like friends as much as employees of the hotel. In Olea all the staff were helpful without being smothering. A big mention to supervisor Waseem (for looking after our restricted dietary considerations), all the waiters but especially Alvin, Moustafa, Manish and Raheem and to all the chefs (picking out Rami - for making fresh Saj for us in the morning, I loved the cheese ones and my wife loved the herb ones - and Haresh).

We have some minor suggestions that would improve our stay but it feels wrong to mention them here as the hotel helped so much to give us one of the best holiday's we have had - we will be going back!