Intercontinental Ras Al Khaimah: Close, But No Waldorf

A private man-made beach, an all-inclusive package, and beach villas at a newer five-star on the Ras Al Khaimah coast. We came in with high expectations, set by the Waldorf Astoria down the road — the only other five-star we'd tried in the area.

The Verdict

Good bones, patchy execution. The property looks the part and the food is genuinely strong, but the beach and pool operation feels like a hotel still finding its feet. We wouldn't rule out a return, but only once the basics — sunbed enforcement, toilets, check-in prep — are sorted.

The Scorecard

• Sunbeds — 4/10 — Comfortable beds, helpful staff when asked, but reservations by towel go unpoliced for hours while genuine guests get bumped.
• Sand/Beach — 6/10 — Private, man-made, watersports on site, but umbrellas are tired and a few visibly damaged.
• Pool — 6/10 — Fine, but access and toilet provision around it is the weak point of the whole stay.
• Food — 8/10 — Consistently high standard across every restaurant tried.
• Service — 5/10 — Individually friendly, collectively disorganised — orders forgotten, communication between departments poor.
• Value — 6/10 — All-inclusive brings the cost down meaningfully, though drink choice is limited.
• Dress code / vibe — 7/10 — No real restrictions, which we prefer, though a touch more enforcement at dinner wouldn't hurt.

Overall: 6.0/10

The Good

• Staff are friendly across the board, especially in the main restaurant and on the beach.
• Décor is clean, modern, and reads five-star throughout.
• Food is high standard in every restaurant, no exceptions.
• The all-inclusive package brings costs down noticeably without cutting corners on food quality.
• Beach villas are large — closer to a hotel suite than a standard villa — and only a three-minute walk from restaurants, beach, and pool.
• A weekend-only Turkish restaurant opens exclusively for villa guests for buffet breakfast.

The Bad

• The rollaway bed requested at booking wasn't ready at check-in, despite advance emails confirming it.
• Beach umbrellas are tired, several visibly damaged — not what you want on show at a five-star.
• Ordering food to a sunbed or pool lounger is clumsy: QR codes go missing from tables and staff struggle to locate guests.
• Sunbed reservations by towel go unenforced for hours, sometimes all day, while guests who play by the rules get moved off beds after 45 minutes.
• Only two mixed toilets serve the entire pool bar area — wet floors, long queues, not what you expect at this price point.
• One instance of a genuinely unacceptable hygiene issue: human waste found on a cleaning hose in a toilet near the buffet restaurant.
• No sports bar on site — nowhere to watch a match.
• Beach villas aren't interconnecting, which is a problem if you're travelling as a larger group and need to book more than one.

The Detail

The dress code here is relaxed — no strict trousers-after-6pm rule, which we count as a plus (see our review of the One & Only Royal Mirage for the alternative). The odd football shirt at dinner is the only mild eyesore. Evenings are the flat spot: the main lounge bar tends to fill with local families keeping to themselves, and the smoking bar isn't an option if you're not a smoker. A dedicated family bar with a sports screen would fix a real gap.

Book the beach villas expecting a private, quiet stay with good walking distance to everything — but budget for more than one if your group won't fit in a single unit, since they don't connect. One of the hotel's directors was visibly engaged on the beach during our stay and mentioned improvements were already planned for the food-ordering system and toilet provision. Whether that's landed yet is worth checking before you book.