Quality

To be honest, quality in Abu Dhabi is a mixed bag. There are five star (or even "seven star" hotels) where you'll be treated like a king. There are restaurants with fine cuisine from around the world. However, if you want your internet hooked up in a timely manner or that leak in your ceiling repaired, you might have to wait or have someone come back a few times to do a proper job.

You never know what to expect. Things could be done with care and diligence or they could be done in a slipshod manner that gives the impression of negligence. A good example of this was when we stayed at the Meydan Hotel in Dubai. The interior of the hotel was amazing. Beautiful design and spacious layout. Yet, we had to deal with something stupid like loose bathroom fixtures on the verge of falling off.

In Abu Dhabi on the Corniche, there are beautiful brick walkways with the occasional deep pit that will be there for weeks at a time. The problem has to do with maintenance. When something is initially built in Abu Dhabi, appearance is everything, yet no thought is given to the practicality of maintaining the elaborate pattern of bricks on the sidewalk or the super spongy surface at the playground that needs to be replaced annually.

Another issue is that the level of quality expected differs between the customer and the person doing the repairs. Many people in Abu Dhabi expect things to be repaired to developed world standards while the people doing the repairs have never lived in the developed world and have no idea what those standards are. If the water turns on when you turn the faucet, so what if the fixture is a little loose? In the UAE, laborers are paid developing world wages to do work at a developed world standard. Until that changes, quality will be variable.