Tucked away at the glossy new One Za’abeel, SIRO feels more like a trendy gym with rooms – and is the place to stay for fitness or wellness aficionados
Isabella Craddock
SIRO One Za’abeel review: 8/10
Why stay at SIRO One Za’abeel
It is evident from the moment you step into the ‘lobby’ of SIRO One Za’abeel that this isn’t a normal hotel. The lobby feels more like the reception of a chic fitness club, where young staff in the gym tap away on iPads, and a blender whirrs in the background – (vivid hues from blue spirulina and green matcha catching the eye). This is how the hotel wants to be – the discreet, younger sister to One&Only One Za’abeel next door – aimed at CEOs on the go, health lovers, residents looking for wellness-focused, yet still luxe and five-star staycation, or those looking to reset and get their health on track.
SIRO One Za’abeel occupies 132 rooms spread across floors 30 to 36 of One Za’abeel, including 12 completely unique Fitness and Recovery suites – experiential rooms with either gym equipment or specially designed equipment to aid recovery. SIRO One Za’abeel’s facilities are second to none in the city – a dimly lit dedicated floor hiding room after room of high-tech domes, beds, cryo chambers, and Scandi-chic yoga studios. The hotel is built around five core biohacking pillars: nutrition, fitness, sleep, recovery, and mindfulness, and aiding guests in each respect is deeply entrenched into the experience. The real pull is the expensive gym – enough to make any avid gym-goer squeal in excitement and convert non-goers, too, and the state-of-the-art Pilates, HIIT, boxing and spin studios – with a full roster of classes (devised by the likes of SIRO ambassador and champion boxer, Ramla Ali) available to hotel guests complimentary throughout the stay. Guests at SIRO One Za’abeel also have access to the Garden Pool of One&Only, an urban jungle with Burk Khalifa views, and Tapasake – One&Only’s cantilevered infinity pool – (until 10am each morning).
Location: 7/10
Visible across the city, the One Za’abeel is one of Dubai’s most talked-about new developments – home to SIRO, One&Only, The Link, offices and trendy new restaurants like Street XO (from the World’s Best Chef, David Muñoz) and offices. While a little out of the way, it’s super easy to jump in the car and head to Trade Center (actually just a walk away), Downtown Dubai, DIFC and other central locations, and it’s one of the closest luxury hotel developments to Dubai International Airport. Beach lovers will have a bit of a trek on their hands, but this is a city hotel and beachy escapes are not the modus operandi.
The vibe: 8/10
Zen, elevated, chic and making you feel like you want to be your fittest and healthiest self. Siro One Zabeel has a magnetism that permeates through corridors and public spaces. The energy makes you want to take care of yourself, head to the gym, book into the classes, and pull up a chair (with your laptop or a smoothie) in the public spaces and people watch or enjoy the beautiful city views. There’s a buzz in the gym, but classes are nice and quiet, along with the wellness facilities and facilities like the sauns, relaxation rooms, steam and plunge pools – a real treat in such a busy city.
The rooms and suites: 9/10
Siro One Za’abeel is small in size compared to neighbouring One&Only, with half the rooms adding to an exclusive and intimate vibe. 132 guest rooms and 12 experiential fitness and recovery suites – accessed by long, dimly lit, greige-hued corridors evoking a powerful sense of zen. If you have the means, book into a fitness or recovery Suite – one of the most unique offerings this reviewer has ever seen and an absolute delight to stay in – to sleep, work, relax, or, indeed, work out or recover. We checked into a fitness suite – a trendy apartment-style hangout with its own corner gym complete with a Technogym treadmill, exercise bike, weights, a punching bag and boxing gloves, resistance bands, exercise balls and more. While high-tech and functional, it doesn’t feel like a gym – thanks to the warming boucle sofa, designy leather armchair and soft colour palette of blonde wood, greige and warm brown tones. Also in the lounge area is a mini bar, complete with a delightful hot and cold filter tap – a rarity even in a newly built hotel – coffee machine and healthy snacks like protein and wellness powders and detox teas (plus complimentary protein balls and reusable water bottles). Completing the pioneering space is a projector, transforming the suite into the ultimate movie screening space, which comes loaded with fantastic technology programmes to guide in-room workouts.
In the bathroom, a separate room has a soaking tub and rainfall shower stocked with natural and organic Proverb products – the baby of English rugby player Luke Sherriff – and the bedroom has been specifically designed to optimise sleep in every way, from the thermoregulated mattress and pillow menu with 11 choices to the blackout blinds and sleep kits with eye masks and pillow spray. Throughout the suites, floor-to-ceiling windows stream in natural light and offer views of the iconic Downtown Dubai skyline and the Burj Khalifa. Recovery suites come with a high-tech recovery chair, while standard rooms have the same soothing Japandi interiors, filter taps, Proverb products, exercise mats and focus on great sleep.
Food and drink: 8/10
SIRO One Za’abeel benefits from having an in-house nutritionist who has worked tirelessly to curate a series of menus on offer to guests, helping to improve gut health (often affected during travels) and, of course, aiding individual wellness and health concerns. The lobby is home to a high-tech smoothie bar with an incredible range of potions, powders, elixirs and collagens that can be added to an inventive offering of juices, power and protein shakes, booster shots and more. There’s no on-site restaurant, which is a shame due to the focus on nutrition and innovative menus, but power bowls and healthy breakfasts can be ordered to the room (packaged in slick Siro-branded boxes, making it also easy to take down to the garden pool and enjoy). Breakfast is served in Aelia – shared with guests of One&Only – a large open-plan space in The Link with an extensive buffet and a la carte offering. However, It would be great to see Siro One Za’abeel develop its own breakfast or dining space, champion its unique and wellness-focused food offering, and keep guests on-site.
Spa and facilities: 10/10
This is where this hotel shines, and it would take a lot of work to come by a hotel with better fitness and wellness facilities than Siro One Za’abeel. The spaces are spread across two floors – high-octane fitness on the grounds and well-being and more zen-like activities on the first. The main gym is seriously impressive – long with separate areas and every Technogym machine you can imagine. Next door are the fitness studios, dark and playful – reminiscent of the boutique gyms of London and New York, with the studio for boxing classes, HIIT, spin, sculpting and more.
There’s a neutral and modern studio with reformer Pilates machines designed for small-group training. The 31st floor is a hub for wellness – with a Japandi yoga studio with city views, a seemingly never-ending row of treatment rooms hiding high-tech machines (like the iDome and cryo chambers) and a maze of wellness and relaxation rooms. Changing rooms lead to spaces with infrared saunas, plunge pools, steam rooms and heated relaxation beds, while the floor also hides many zen spaces with complementary detox teas, massage chairs and relaxation pods. Filter taps are available throughout, so you can fill up your bottle and access clean filter water for free anytime. All the wellness and fitness spaces are shared with members, but there’s never a feeling of being crowded or without; members just add a little more of a buzz.
Insider tips
Up to three pieces of sportswear a day (per room) can be laundered free of charge – a thoughtful addition and a real lifeline for travelling gymgoers.
Doubles from AED1,400; sirohotels.com, @siromena
