What is cost to use sleeping pods in F lounge in AUH?

ozstamps

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We are flying paid Biz LHR-AUH-SYD in 2 weeks.

I am Virgin Platinum so have access to F lounge and presumably my wife also in paid Biz. Have been there before, but only for short transits as on way over for 3 hours so no need for a nap.

This time we arrive AUH at 7.25pm, but depart on a 10.40am flight next day, so a good sleep will be handy.

No idea what the free hotel night deal is .. but recall it needs to be 2 nights minimum?

The F lounge website says this -


Cosy semi-private cocoons
· Relaxing chaise lounges
· Private suites with ensuite shower
(complimentary for guests of The Residence
and available to book for other First Class Lounge guests)

Pretty odd to be charging for a sleeping pod - anyone know what the cost is? Getting to a Hotel is always a hassle.

Or, are the Cosy semi-private cocoons OK for sleeping?

Thanks for any recent input. :D
 
There is the Premier Inn AUH, connected to the terminals. Might be an option for you. Less than 5 minute walk from the exit apparently. Was booked to use it a couple months ago but our flight was cancelled due to the war in the ME :(

Edited, as per post below, this is for the old airport terminals. In case anyone is still flying via there. Other hotels now available in the new EY terminal..
 
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Thanks ... like all of us, I hate all the departure and hassle of re-entry to terminals and check in, and security and immigration etc if it can be possibly be avoided. :D

Depends on what cost they levy in F Lounge, and whether it is time based, and more important whether it can be pre-booked and confirmed. Anyone know an email I can use to set this up in advance?
 
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There is the Premier Inn AUH, connected to the terminals. Might be an option for you. Less than 5 minute walk from the exit apparently. Was booked to use it a couple months ago but our flight was cancelled due to the war in the ME :(
No longer connected. Hourly shuttle bus. Remember new AUH airport opened in December. But still a good option.

I think the dark room is just first come best dressed. The price of the rooms is on the same page you found the other info. Scroll down. Says 580AED for up to 8 hours - per person I think.

Look up AUHotel Transit area - this is airside and I believe recently opened. No idea on cost. Otherwise Premier Inn or Ibis Abu Dhabi Gate.
 
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I have an overnight layover in AUH coming up (around midnight to 9am), also Virgin Platinum flying Etihad. I was also wondering what the best option would be but would most likely book a hotel. If the transit hotel is good value I could give that a try.
 
No longer connected. Hourly shuttle bus. Remember new AUH airport opened in December. But still a good option.

I think the dark room is just first come best dressed. The price of the rooms is on the same page you found the other info. Scroll down. Says 580AED for up to 8 hours - per person I think.

Look up AUHotel Transit area - this is airside and I believe recently opened. No idea on cost. Otherwise Premier Inn or Ibis Abu Dhabi Gate.
Ah, yes, new terminal!
 
Appears to be a new 2024 opened Hotel airside -


No desk or work area it seems - just bed and shower at $A215 for 12 hours.

Still prefer to stay camped in F Lounge depending on cost and whether they can GUARANTEE space there. How to do that, and the likely cost, seems the great unknown.

Had an overnight in SIN recently in the SQ higher end Silver Kris lounge and they have sleeping rooms, with lie flat beds and blankets and pillows etc. Surely EY can match or better that for F lounge guests!
 
OK .. read a recent review on the new F Lounge which oddly seems severely lacking in any snoozing options! AND is very noisy with exterior PA announcements being boomed it seems.

What sleeping options does Bus Lounge offer?

Top end food and booze is assumed of course, but all we want to do is sleep!

'However, don’t expect much in the way of amenities in this lounge. The lounge has no bar, no nap rooms, no smoking area, no gym, etc. Now, many of these amenities are available in the Etihad Business Class Lounge, which is easy to access from the first class section. But still, frills are kind of lacking here.'



 
I have an overnight layover in AUH coming up (around midnight to 9am), also Virgin Platinum flying Etihad. I was also wondering what the best option would be but would most likely book a hotel. If the transit hotel is good value I could give that a try.
Etihad might offer you a free hotel as part of their new promotion to try and get people out of the airport and exploring the city. I have a free night as part of a 14 hour transit. I'll also be planning on using the F Lounge on arrival and departure to AUH.
 
I have an overnight layover in AUH coming up (around midnight to 9am), also Virgin Platinum flying Etihad. I was also wondering what the best option would be but would most likely book a hotel. If the transit hotel is good value I could give that a try.
Call Etihad, they are now offering complimentary accommodation as part of a tourism push to get people out of the airport.

I am staying overnight at a local 5 star hotel as part of a 14 hour transit, complimentary.

I also plan to use the F Lounge when I land and when I depart AUH. I am Velocity Platinum.
 
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I ended up booking a room at the AUHotel transit hotel for 6 hours (from 00:30-06:30) then went to the F lounge for some breakfast. Flight boarded at 08:30.

I would definitely do this again. The transit hotel was AUD117 for 6 hours (booked on Booking.com - the hotel doesn't seem to have its own website and the walk-up rate if you don't have a booking is USD130).

This was the transit hotel room:

IMG_8921.jpeg
IMG_8924.jpeg

You could have a light nap in the cocoon lounge chairs in the F lounge but I wouldn't want to sleep the whole night there. The F lounge was at least pretty quiet though.

This is the “cocoon”:

IMG_8941.jpeg
 
Strange place this AUHOTEL in Abu Dhabi .. they STILL do not seem to have a website and absolutely no way to contact them direct I discovered.

Seems to be owned by same folks who run the business lounge next to it upstairs on the elevators.

Only two reviews in 6 months on Trip Advisor, one mine, seems to point to little patronage!

ONE plugged in Manager person there and they'd brain it -

Wrote a very detailed review of it here -


 
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I ended up booking a room at the AUHotel transit hotel for 6 hours (from 00:30-06:30) then went to the F lounge for some breakfast. Flight boarded at 08:30.

I would definitely do this again. The transit hotel was AUD117 for 6 hours (booked on Booking.com - the hotel doesn't seem to have its own website and the walk-up rate if you don't have a booking is USD130).

This was the transit hotel room:

Thanks for sharing - I'm doing this in a few weeks and also have the 6h slot. I am wondering - how strict are they with the 6 hours? Do they count from the minute you check in or something? I will likely get there around midnight local time.
 
Thanks for sharing - I'm doing this in a few weeks and also have the 6h slot. I am wondering - how strict are they with the 6 hours? Do they count from the minute you check in or something? I will likely get there around midnight local time.

I checked out pretty much exactly 6 hours after I checked in. I don't think they would care about 5 minutes but I suspect if you checked out 7-8 hours later they'd try to charge you extra.

FWIW I did ask for a wake-up call at the 6-hour mark while checking in. That call never came.
 
I'd have my doubts the phone worked at all - we could not get it to work - no connection to anyone was possible.

As to checkout - as per my review, ours was totally screwed up and mangled, so who would know with these folks?

The BONES are OK - needs some BOG BASIC tweaks if Management ever reads reviews.

Almost new, and being airside, no security check issues going out and back in etc. Quite well signposted internally in Terminal, and in Zone E ... escalators upstairs to it - next to Pearl Business Lounge, who I assume own it.

WAY more expensive than nearby airport hotels, but we could not be bothered with security and taxis etc.

They have a check in desk downstairs before you go up escalators.

We were tired, so the hassle of 5 mins waiting for them to photocopy passports and boarding passes was not appreciated. I see no reason why a boarding pass is not totally sufficient. They have my credit card in case I trash room etc - no need for my passport.

These days ANY staffer selling all passport details to the dark web operatives etc is a ***REAL*** threat There is no valid reason to have copies of my photo, and date of birth, and place of birth etc, and all passport details - it is a short few hour stay hotel room for goodness sakes. I was at Sheraton London last night and they do not ask or need them.

Staffer finally brings us the form to sign. It says checkout was 0300am. Huh? We booked 12 hours, 2200 hours in, to check out 1000am. She giggles and says it really means 3pm. I say 'no that is written 1500 hours'. Then she finally ‘gets it’ and goes away. More delays. Then she says the other form was for another guest.

Staffer walks us up to room. Had booked a deluxe large bed room, and they gave us a room with extra small kids bed as an 'upgrade'.

Room bigger than expected - their own online pix undersells the size - pretty weird, and VERY dumb really! We almost did not book, as it looked really TINY on web, just a little ‘capsule’ with a bed and shower type deal like we had in Singapore Changi last month.

It looked like on webpage there was no writing desk in room, and we need to send emails etc. So almost booked a Hilton or Marriott nearby and cabbed it - their room rates were less.

So what we got was like a Holiday Inn type room in most cities. Fair size, small writing desk area, quite big TV, and decent shower and toilet area. Zero windows, but for an airport understandable. ZERO central room light - dumb. VERY dark in there with no windows.

Went to turn on TV. Impossible. Kept getting message 'connect your aerial'. We both spent 5 mins on this nuisance. Got nowhere. Picked up phone to ask reception .. . nothing doing - phone does not work - just a dial tone. ANNOYING. Fix it.

Go to plug in computer on work desk. Just ONE power point under desk and lamp is plugged into that. STUPID in this day and age - we need to charge 2 phones and the computer, and another item in each room - all new builds have 3 or 4 power outlets these days.

Also the AC outlet was under desk at very top back corner and a metal bar was stupidly right in front of that. So needed to get on my back under the desk in darkness (I am 70, and this is not easy) to uplug the desk lamp (that I needed to see the computer screen!) and get my thick travel adaptor plugged in somehow. Near impossible. DUMBER THAN DIRT for a new build hotel.

A CHIMP designed this mess.

So my wife instead of getting some sleep angrily gets dressed again, and trudges down the escalator to the desk, to ask about TV and getting a double adaptor, so that desk light AND computer can work at same time. Not rocket science.

Some smiling young Indian houseboy arrives soon after, and gets the TV working. (After we turned it off, it did not work again!) He carries an standard single adaptor that we already had - he had no idea what a DOUBLE adapter was.

All in all, this silly nonsense chewed up an HOUR of the limited time we had in there, and raised our blood pressure.

This is a BRAND NEW BUILD.

Phones that work, TVs that work fast and simple, and a central light in a large windowless room, and at least 3 outlets on a work desk (PLUS a couple of USB outlets too) are all BOG BASIC essentials that someone totally overlooked.

They need to address these things fast.

In short - the bones are there - location is good, room is new - they need to update their own website with far better pix to get MORE bookings.

If this were any Hilton, under their 'Make It Right' promise, I'd get 20,000 HHonors points, but this place is in no chain - despite charging Hilton rates! If they have any PR sense they'd credit me $50 as a goodwill gesture, for helping them with identifying BOG BASICS that have totally overlooked, but not holding my breath on THAT!

We shall see.
 
Um, pretty much every hotel I’ve stayed at outside of Australia in the past decade has asked for my passport. Many have taken a copy. That’s not new.

I agree with some of your other complaints and do find it bizarre that the hotel doesn’t have its own website.

Anyway, I got a decent sleep, the wifi worked and the shower worked. That’s all I wanted so I was happy enough with the hotel.
 
Um, pretty much every hotel I’ve stayed at outside of Australia in the past decade has asked for my passport. .


Maybe you look suspicious in some way? :)

In the USA and Canada it is basically unheard of, and may well be illegal there actually, and I've stayed 100s of nights there. NEVER been asked.

Was In the UK and Wales the previous month, in an dozen Hotels - not an issue.

Likewise, most First World countries.

Libya, Bolivia, Tibet, Brunei, Mongolia, Russia etc, yes they do ask.

But a high end airport Hotel in Abu Dhabi, where they have my credit card and a valid. current boarding pass in same name, (they insist on that) should be all they require.
 
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But a high end airport Hotel in Abu Dhabi, where they have my credit card and a valid. current boarding pass in same name, (they insist on that) should be all they require.
Why is it such an issue for you Glen? Just show your passport if asked and all will be well.
 
Again, for those who prefer not to read clear English - :D

We were tired, so the hassle of 5 mins waiting for them to photocopy passports and boarding passes was not appreciated. I see no reason why a boarding pass is not totally sufficient. They have my credit card in case I trash room etc - no need for my passport.


These days ANY staffer selling all passport details to the dark web operatives etc is a ***REAL*** threat. There is no valid reason to have copies of my photo, and date of birth, and place of birth etc, and all passport details - it is a short few hour stay hotel room for goodness sakes.
 

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