Marriott Hotel Al Forsan, Abu Dhabi — Hotel in Abu Dhabi

I stayed at Marriott Al Forsan for 22 Nights in Sep-Oct 2022 for a work-related trip. Being the first international trip post-covid, I was quite apprehensive, but Marriott ensured that all the appropriate safety standards were adhered to, with the quality, cleanliness and hygienic environment provided by them being beyond expectation.

The property itself is very well setup. It is conveniently located and easily commutable to all the important places I had to visit in Abu Dhabi – whether it was Work, Airport, Downtown, Sports areas, Malls, Shopping or Banks, they are all accessible within a maximum of 30 mins drive.

The facilities are ample. Great lap pool with separate swimmable bar section, 4 different restaurants to choose from. cycling and running tracks right outside, onsite parking, onsite security, rooms with balcony's, executive lounge and much more. On a work trip, I did not have the opportunity to explore many of the facilities, but there is a lot here and would be a great place for a family holiday as well.

The food is varied with an elaborate breakfast buffet, all-day dining options and much more. They are also very accommodating in catering to specific culinary needs and palates. They have multiple chefs for different cuisines, and you will not be left wanting.

Beyond all these aspects, the most important aspect of being with Marriott is the culture. The folks here are really the best human beings you will come across.

Just to highlight a few examples,

Let's start at the front desk, Monsour, Sachin, Sara, Julieta were all brilliant. These guys really know their stuff and were able to adjust bookings and help me navigate through my multiple stays without hassle.

The Security, Alan Joseph and Faasil are alert at the front gate, always on their toes and looking out for the safety and security of everyone entering the facility. Their covid checks are on point and very professional.

At the all-day dining - Aneesa, Kabi, Victoria, Joseph, Ditna, Mustafa (I call him Musafa :) ), went out of their way to make breakfast a great experience each and every day.

At the lobby lounge, which I frequented often, usually after my evening runs, Aika, Ayman, Sultan ensured that I had something refreshing to drink and something healthy to snack on. Ayman and Sultan tolerated my constant questions about Egypt and the history of the pyramids and were always forthcoming with information and knowledgeable titbits about their amazing culture. As for Aika, if you try just one thing in Abu Dhabi, it has got to be Aika's special Super Colada. She is a wizard and I have never had such a brilliant drink in my entire life. Especially after being out in the hot weather, this is very refreshing.

The Marriott Management is amazing and accommodating as always. I had the opportunity to connect with Alan Myers, who heads engineering here, and our conversations were insightful. I was able to understand a lot about the property and the history of the Marriott Brand. Being a veteran at Marriott, Alan was able to give me his take on how Marriott has evolved, how they managed to keep customers and employees prioritized during the difficult Covid period and how Marriott Loyalty programs have become world class over the last decade.

As I traveled for work, I had the opportunity to interact with Francois Groenewald from the corporate sales team. From the first booking onwards, Francois ensure that I got the best corporate plan with the right package recommendations, status upgrades and much more. Francois also ensured that for future bookings, I had a clear understanding of how corporate plans work. If you are travelling for work, I would highly recommend connecting with Francois and his team to best tailor your visit as per your corporate plan.

I got the opportunity of connecting and conversing with many of the wonderful team at Marriott Al Forsan, and I was struck by their human-ness and compassion more than anything else.

Thank...

Worst customer experience; is this really Marriott ? A short story, and some simple thoughts. arrived Marriott al forsan Abu Dhabi Sunday afternoon, 24th of August. Only 2-day visit, carrying a backpack with 2 shirts, one for every workshop, with very senior officials. Called service to send my shirt to laundry. They receive it 8.30 pm to return next day, Monday at 8.30 pm. Worked all day, returned to my hotel room 11.00 pm, no shirt. Called service, was told they will call back, a called again, took them 15 minutes till someone came. The gentlemen was from housekeeping, had the shirt messed up in a bag, with a note written on it: damaged. When asking the man what happened he said I have no clue, I’m house keeping and laundry team already left. Went downstairs so upset, the front office manager apologized and said they will take action first thing in the morning. Thank god I was prepared with an extra shirt, otherwise I would have been in big trouble. Told them to text me on WhatsApp first thing Tuesday morning, as I cannot answer my mobile. They didn’t. They actually tried calling me. I couldn’t answer. Returned to hotel. No action whatsoever so ever. 4.15 , a housekeeper comes and says it was probably damaged by trolley or by me. Nonsense. 4.30 housekeeping manager comes to my room. Tries using the classical words that bear no accountability ( I understand your point of you, there was an issue). Tells me the system is they receive laundry evening but they don’t touch it till morning. Weird. Says not sure where the damage happened. I told him the proper thing is that you check it before your work on it. He tells me they tried to call me Monday morning. Checked my phone. No calls. You didn’t call. Don’t you send WhatsApp messages? Is it too expensive as an Internet package? No answer. Gradually he starts conceding that they made a mistake. I ask him how will u compensate me. He tells me I promise in your next visit we will make it up for you. Do you think I will come again to same hotel? No response. Thank you very much. For me it’s clear. They damaged it through bad handling. A guy who is not from laundry collects all laundry from rooms and moved it on a trolley and throws it in the laundry room. Just imagine: once they receive the shirt they check if anything is wrong with it and inform customer immediately. Otherwise it becomes your fault. Coming back after 26 hours doesn’t give you any credibility. Different departments talk to each other. It should be full customer experience. If it is a business person staying for 3 nights then let’s check if there will be an issue. Maybe we should provide him with a shirt same size. Maybe we should really call him. Maybe we should text him. Maybe we should leave a note in his room to find it once he arrives. Maybe we should provide him with a list of late night open outlets to buy something. If we are sure it is the customer’s fault. When things go totally wrong, a more senior person should get involved, take ownership, admit responsibility and offer clear apology. This would be better than any promise or compensation. If they had done all the above things, maybe then I would have doubted myself, paid for the shirt immediately and accepted their logic. But they didn’t. Definitely this is not Marriott. You don’t lose a customer with average 40 nights a year, because of a shirt worth less than 50 dollars. Not going to this specific hotel again for sure. And will definitely assess my experience in every other Marriott Bonvoy hotel. Hospitality means taking care of you, not you taking care of them, or making up for this mistakes. Can’t trust any more. Deeply...

Full review on trip advisor When we arrived there was an extremely long line of cars, we pulled into the right lane and waited for someone to come, after about 10 minutes or so my husband parked the car and got it, the cars in the left lane all of a sudden blazed by. He finally got to the front and there was only one guy running back and forth. He asked what we were supposed to do, they stated we needed to pull up to the front on the left and they would eventually take our car from there. We did that to then walk into the lobby, where again we waited about 10/15 minutes to check in. We already checked in through the app, and only brought one small bag for the two days. By the time we finished everything, we were told the happy hour just ended in the lounge, but they could help us pick food within the hotel. We went to our room which was extremely nice and clean. Seeing this we felt a little less stressed. We went to the lounge where we met Joanna. She was extremely kind, and apologized for the food just being taken away. She showed us several menus, and asked if we needed any other help. We thanked her and stated we would simply go downstairs and eat. She offered to make a reservation, I told her I was starving I had not eaten since 12pm and it was close to 8:15pm. So I told her we would just go down now to eat. She stated it should not be any issue. Once we arrived no one greeted us or the couples that walked in after us. About 5 minutes later a guy came out and informed us there was a 30 minute wait. We informed him we were super hungry so we will go check all other options first. He said ok. We went to front desk to ask for help, explained our situation and my allergies. She took us to the restaurant with seafood night. Which is what I happened to have allergies to. The manager called the chef and told me there was nothing without gluten or seafood. So we went back to the steak place. We were told it was still a minimum of 30 minutes but now there were others in front of us. Defeated and Hangry we sat and waited. Once seated he apologized but seemed to be in a rush. We asked what the 505 was (we saw it in the lounge) he pointed out one and said it was the best. I informed him I wasn’t a big wine fan, but he told us it was the best option. We did end up choosing what to go with, he asked if we wanted water, we said yes local. After finishing, my husband had to basically drink the whole bottle by himself. The server brought over...