Desert Islands Resort and Spa by Anantara

Stefania Di Ciacca

We stayed at Desert Islands Resort for one night from 11–12 November. Although our stay was short, it was absolutely lovely. All of the staff were friendly and helpful, with a special mention to Sasandi, who checked us in and immediately made us feel right at home. The room was spacious and comfortable, and breakfast the following morning was excellent, with a great selection. The chefs kept the buffet well stocked and spotless, making for a very pleasant dining experience. We would also like to thank Gerard for driving us between the resorts and back to the ferry terminal. Thank you for a relaxing and enjoyable stay.

Mina Hamoodi

We were very disappointed with our recent stay at Anantara Desert Islands Resort on Sir Bani Yas. The boat transfer, which used to be a luxury experience, has turned into a shared public water taxi that also transports food deliveries and is no longer operated by Anantara. Breakfast was chaotic, with staff struggling to attend to guests. Getting coffee was a challenge, and often it arrived after we had finished eating. Staff are not trained to offer 5-star service (e.g. we sat outside for breakfast and none of the staff bothered to setup the table with plates, glasses, cutlery, offer still/sparkling water, etc). You have to follow up on every order several times - very frustrating Housekeeping was very poor, the rooms are not properly cleaned with very surface-level touch up. One of the toiletries in the shower slipped and broke and housekeeping just refilled the same broken dispenser, didn’t bother refilling the body shower dispenser, and left particles of the broken disposer on the shower room floor. Our 2.5 yr old grandson later slipped on the shower floor and injured his toe. We had asked housekeeping to come and replace the duvet during ‘turn down’ service as it was covered in blood but they didn’t bother. No attention to number of people in the room to offer enough water and towels. The safari drive is overpriced for what it offers—essentially just a drive around the island. Cycling around the island, which used to be a great experience, has been cancelled and is now only available with a guide, and is almost always fully booked. On the day of New Year’s Eve the children were hungry so we called in-room dining but they said all chefs were occupied with new years dinner and they shut down room service from 6pm so we couldn’t even order chicken nuggets This stay did not meet five-star standards. The shortage of staff is very noticeable, and the overall quality has declined. Anantara needs significant improvement to restore its previous standards. This experience raises concerns about whether this has become the new norm for Anantara standards, including at flagship properties such as Qasr Al Sarab. I wouldn’t return here unless Anantara made serious upgrades that are tried and tested by others to confirm this is the case and would be very reluctant to stay in other Anantara properties

H A

Extremely disappointed with our stay at Anantara Sir Bani Yas. For a resort that markets itself as luxury, the severe lack of staff was shocking and affected every part of our experience. Basic requests took far too long, were repeatedly followed up on, or were simply ignored. The food situation was unacceptable, especially for families. Dining options were very limited, with little to nothing suitable for children. On multiple occasions, our kids were left hungry. Despite this, the food was grossly overpriced and the quality did not come close to justifying the cost. Due to understaffing, frustration among guests was widespread, with arguments breaking out because there was no one available to assist or manage situations. This created a tense and unpleasant atmosphere throughout the resort. Being on an island made everything worse, as you cannot simply leave. Feeling stuck with poor service, limited food options, and no alternatives turned what should have been a relaxing holiday into a stressful and disappointing experience. This stay did not justify the price in any way. At its current level of service, Anantara Sir Bani Yas does not offer value for money and is not recommended, particularly for families.

Mohamed Salman

Stayed from the 23-26 December 2025 in Two bedroom villa. Paid AED 28000+. Aged hotel, the layout is old (too much wasted space with the master bathroom twice as big as the room!), interior is old (flooring, curtains, rugs,.., etc), finishing (such as faucets, ironmongery, doors, windows, AC,..,etc) old, the only that is new is the internet (wifi is surprisingly fast) and TV (modern flat screen TV), otherwise everything looks like it hasn't been replaced since the hotel opened in 2008 (if you don't believe me take a walk around and tell me if you can read any of the outdoor path signs). Service is atrocious, nothing and I mean nothing, was delivered on time or as specified. I realized something was the wrong when I was intially left to be checked in to the very end (someone who books the largest villa in the property, let alone with a family of 6 including two children should be checked-in quickly) instead of being kept to the very end after one room single occupants. After that the hits kept the coming! Food late! Transportation late! Breakfast requests from stations late! Requests to housekeeping late! Any call made to guest services is not answered unless made twice or more. Inroom dining is worse, with me making multiple calls, after which I had to endure the "Guest Services" delay rather than try to get a reply to god forbid make a food order to my room. Ordered 6 large bottles of water from inroom dining, got three cold bottles 30 minutes later, to which I told the person who delivered that this was not my ordered, he got me the 6 bottles 20 minutes later. The two bedroom villa has no Sofabed (only two single beds and one king bed), so if you want to get someone else to sleep then prepare for them to use the armchairs or "SOFA" as a bed! Or obviously pay for a foldable bed. We were only sent some of the activities ahead of time, I prebooked the main activity (nature drive), ahead of time, but the remaining activities were not mentioned until three days before the trip at which point they were fully booked! As a result we had to leave the island after the first day to find something to do because all activities were booked! All in all a mess. It could be justified by the fact that it was peak season and the hotel were overworked and understaffed, but notice that we paid AED 9000+ a night for this?! For that much I could have gotten a much better service in any hotel in the GCC! CHRISTMAS OR NOT! Now for the good part. Sir Bani Yas is a wonder of natural reserve in the midst of an arid environment, the fact that so much was accomplished and that the environment is so rife with life is an accomplishment of pure will and is visionary, if used to preserve the wildlife if Arabia or reintroduce more extict wild life to the peninsula it might bring back not only endangered wild life but entire ecosystems back from the brink of extinction. This might require an effort to concentrate the focus on Arabian species of which the Arabian Oryx was the past accomplishment but the Arabian Leopard might be the ultimate goal. For those of you not in the know, the Arabian Leopard is the critically endangered with less than 200 individuals left in the wild. If a program to raise and reintroduce such an animal and say the Arabian wolf and striped hyena to their native environment in the region this might do a great service to their environments. We had a glimpse of this possibility as we took a nature drive around the protectorate and saw the reality if accomplishments made in this amazing place. All in all an experience not to be missed by any nature lover visiting the UAE.

kamna A. Pandey

Worst experience in the name of a five star property I literally feel cheated because the Services promised to us were denied on the premises, apparently Al Shams Restaurant is seven authentic Arabic and international cousins and shisha but the staff told us that they never served shisha and arabic food at all. Next, we went to the Palm Restaurant and all the food served there were ready to eat frozen and the quality was absolutely non edible The next day we ordered veg biryani from room seevice and I am practicing hindu, they served me chicken biryani Every hour seemed like a punishment there, if we reported any issue then the staff would educate us as if all our concerns were silly. We were forced to prepone our check out because of the terrible experience we were literally left traumatized Even during check out we asked them for 2 more laundry bas but they gave us just one after one hour saying that laundry bags were finished, this seemed like a joke Never returning back and I'd rather suggest the readers to check out others properties of Hilton, Taj, Bab Al shams Those guys are super friendly and amazing service