Rixos Premium Saadiyat Island

Our experience at Rixos Premium Saadiyat Island was, without question, the worst hotel experience we have ever had.

We travelled there specifically to celebrate our son’s sixth birthday. On the very first day, he suffered a deep cut to his foot from a sharp, jagged metal edge in the children’s splash pool. This was not the result of him behaving recklessly or simply falling over. He was running and playing normally in an area specifically designed for young children.

The wound would not stop bleeding and was too deep for a plaster. It required pressure, treatment by the paramedic and proper bandaging. As a direct result, our six-year-old son could not swim, use the beach, play football or properly participate in the holiday for the remaining five days.

For a child who loves swimming and sport, being forced to sit on a sunbed watching other children play was miserable. For us as parents, watching him go through that on a holiday arranged around his birthday was heartbreaking.

What makes this far more serious is that the injury appears to have resulted from an entirely preventable maintenance failure. The following day, a lifeguard clearly told us that someone had been brought in to file down the metal around the drain because it had become jagged. On our final day, I returned to thank the lifeguard and discovered further obvious hazards: rusted screws protruding upwards inside the children’s water-play area, where another child could easily have stepped on them.

This was not merely poor service. In my view, it was a fundamental failure to maintain a children’s facility safely.

The hotel’s response was almost as disturbing as the injury itself.

A manager stood in the background while our son was bleeding but never approached us, asked whether he was all right or offered any assistance. The matter was simply left to the lifeguards and paramedic. We then waited 24 hours to see whether anyone from management would contact us. Nobody did.

When I eventually approached Guest Services myself, there was no meaningful sympathy, accountability or apparent understanding of the seriousness of what had happened. Incredibly, we were told that there would be a funfair that weekend where our son could play. His foot was bleeding and heavily bandaged. Suggesting that he could run around, jump on a bouncy castle or enjoy a funfair showed a staggering lack of awareness and compassion.

I asked to escalate the matter to senior management and arranged a meeting with General Manager Pradeep Bijlwan. When I arrived, I was instead met by Binoy Francis and told that Mr Bijlwan had gone home because of a family emergency. A second meeting was arranged for the following day. Once again, Mr Bijlwan did not attend, reportedly because of another family emergency. On neither occasion did anyone have the basic courtesy to contact me beforehand.

Two consecutive no-shows, both attributed to family emergencies, naturally raised serious doubts in my mind—particularly when there appeared to be no difficulty maintaining an active presence on LinkedIn. A family dealing with an injured child apparently did not merit the same level of engagement. When speaking to other guests about our situation, they had all experienced the same when reporting any negative feedback or criticism.

My request was simple and proportionate: allow our son to return at the same time the following year for the five nights of the holiday that he had lost. I made it clear that had the incident occurred on the final night, I would have asked for only one replacement night. I was even willing to absorb the separate cost of theme-park tickets we could no longer use.

Instead of making a prompt and compassionate decision where a child’s safety was involved, management stalled until we had left the country and said they would contact us afterwards.

Given that five nights of our seven-night birthday holiday were effectively ruined by what I believe was the hotel’s failure to maintain its children’s pool safely, that offer felt like a slap in the face.

I delayed escalating the matter publicly because of the regional conflict and tensions at the time. Despite showing that consideration, I have since had to repeatedly chase both Binoy Francis and Pradeep Bijlwan and have still not received a proper response or meaningful resolution.

For a resort operating under the Accor and Rixos names, the lack of accountability, urgency and basic compassion has been astonishing. The hotel did not merely fail to prevent a serious injury. Its senior management then failed to respond appropriately, failed to attend agreed meetings, failed to communicate and failed to offer a fair resolution.

The wider hotel experience did little to redeem the situation.

Unless your priority is consuming unlimited alcoholic drinks—which was irrelevant to us as we do not drink—the resort is severely overpriced for the standard offered. In my opinion, neighbouring properties such as the St. Regis, Saadiyat Rotana and Park Hyatt provide far better alternatives.

Our room was average and positioned close to a sewage drain, making the terrace effectively unusable because of the smell. There were bird faeces which were not cleaned for the entire stay. The bathroom sink was blocked and remained unfixed after being reported. I eventually had to stop a handyman in the corridor myself and personally take him to the room before it was repaired.

I have attached photographs of my son’s foot taken five days after the dressing was removed. I could not photograph it immediately because the wound was bleeding heavily and had to be bandaged while I applied pressure. I have also attached photographs of the rusted, protruding screws that were still present in the children’s water area at the end of our stay.

Parents place enormous trust in a hotel when allowing their children to use its pools and play facilities. Rixos Premium Saadiyat Island failed that trust, and its senior management’s dismissive response only magnified the seriousness of the original incident.

Based on our experience, I could not recommend this hotel to any family with young children.

Rixos Premium Saadiyat is an absolutely stunning place — we highly recommend it. From the moment you arrive, you truly relax and forget about everything. The surroundings are beautiful, the food and drinks are delicious, and the whole atmosphere feels luxurious. A very special thank‑you to Laila at the reception. She is such a wonderful person — kind, welcoming, and incredibly helpful. She arranged a gorgeous room for us with direct pool access, and her warm attitude set the tone for the entire stay. The rest of the staff were just as amazing. The guys on roller skates by the pool were such a fun and unexpected touch. And the kids were over the moon with the endless ice cream. Thank you for a fantastic experience — we will definitely be back.