Review: Siro One Za'abeel, Dubai

Why book?

For a complete health reset—and not in the typical juice cleanse, yoga retreat way. Siro is a five-star city hotel with fitness, wellness and biohacking at its core. Here, everything – from the rooms to the macro-counted menus to the high-tech gym – has been designed to elite athlete standards, but you certainly don’t need to be one to benefit from a stay here.

Set the scene

Siro occupies floors 30 to 36 of new Dubai landmark One Za’abeel, which also houses the One&Only’s first vertical resort, as well as 11 big-name restaurants, many of which sit within the world’s longest cantilever, The Link. But despite its shiny casing, checking into Siro feels surprisingly low-key. There’s no swanky reception desk, no concierge in pristine uniform, no formalities at all in fact. Instead, I'm greeted by smiling faces in Siro-branded gym wear, the whir of a blender from behind a fruit-laden bar and the faint sound of rubber pounding treadmill somewhere in the distance.

The lobby is perhaps better described as a communal hub, a place where guests can relax on deep-set modular sofas with a protein shake post workout, tap away at their MacBooks from long wooden tables set beneath spiral LED strip lights and take in the views the city’s oldest neighborhood laid out in the distance. On the other side of this open-plan space is Siro’s sprawling 900-square-metre Fitness Lab, which looks squarely onto Burj Khalifa and the towering Downtown skyline in the near distance.

The backstory

This is the first hotel to open under the new Siro brand from Kerzner International – the company behind Atlantis and One&Only hotels. The brand is centred around the five biohacking pillars of fitness, nutrition, recovery, sleep and mindfulness, and has been launched as a “direct response” to the “new normal” of self care, according to Kerzner chief executive Philippe Zuber. Dubai may be the first, but Siro properties in Montenegro, Tokyo and Cabo are all in the works.

The rooms

While the pale, minimalist rooms at Siro may look basic at first, they are anything but. Every element of the 132 rooms (including six Fitness Suites and six Recovery Suites) serves Siro’s specific mission of enhancing rest and recovery, designed with the help of Danish sleep expert Ana West. Mattresses are thermoregulated, the pillow menu has 11 categories, the integrated Siro app controls the blackout blinds to wake guests up in natural synchronisation with their circadian rhythm and – at the recommendation of elite runners who test-drove the rooms ahead of the Dubai Marathon – ceiling fans have been installed to prevent a dry throat after a night of heavy air conditioning.

Rooms are fitted with projectors, from which virtual TechoGym classes can be taken in room, and in place of a regular closet, a recovery closet is stocked with resistance bands, a yoga mat, a meditation pillow, exercise ball and foam roller. What looks like an aesthetic rocking chair is actually an anti-gravity chair, to help with spinal decompression. Traditional minibar snacks are swapped with punnets of fresh blueberries, protein balls and kombucha, and if you’re planning a soak in the deep tub overlooking the city scape, expect Epsom salts in place of luxurious bath oils.

Food and drink

Food and nutrition are a huge part of Siro’s offering – but also very much optional. If you want to indulge in a meal at Dabiz Muñoz’s Street XO or Anne-Sophie Pic’s La Dame de Pic downstairs, for example, there’ll be no judgement. But for the full Siro experience, book a video consultation with in-house nutritionist Heeral Shivnani, who can put together a meal plan for the duration of your stay that can be tailored to your specific needs, from muscle gain to fat loss to fertility-focused foods.

All dishes on Siro’s in-room dining menu have been conceptualised by Shivnani, and all are calorie and macro counted, and come with a detailed breakdown of ingredients, as well as several customization options. I am not sure I have ever seen so many milk, bread or pasta variations. The salmon don, with quinoa, shimeji mushroom and wakame salad is particularly good, and the build-your-own bowls are to health food lovers what pic ‘n’ mix is to children.

In the lobby, there are grab-and-go health bowls in refrigerated vending machines, and the Refuel Bar has an impressive smoothie and shake menu.

The spa/facilities

On the 31st floor, you’ll find the Recovery Lab but this is far from your typical spa. While there are sauna, steam and cold plunge pools on offer in both the male and female changing rooms, inside the 12 recovery rooms, things get a little more high tech. From high-frequency therapy to stimulate cell renewal to electro-muscle stimulation and infrared treatments, Siro has more gadgets and gizmos than I’m able to wrap my head around. I bypass cryotherapy, compression and IV therapy in favor of a skin workout, in the hopes of leaving with Bella Hadid-level cheekbones. While that dream fell by the wayside, my skin certainly looks firmer and better lifted by the time my therapist is through. I also spend exactly 22 minutes on a waterbed trying out vibroacoustic therapy, which combines binaural acoustics via headphones with vibration frequencies via the bed for deep relaxation. From what I recall of it, it works – I must spend at least 18 of those minutes asleep.

It’s not all relaxation though. During my stay, master trainer, Kenzo, puts me to work in the reformer pilates studio and I’m still feeling the after effects of my one-on-one personal training session with Runet. Away from the free gym, there’s a yoga studio, cycle studio and “experience box” – fitted with teardrop boxing bags, skillmills and strobe lights. Across these spaces, more than 50 classes will be offered each week to both guests and external Siro gym members.

And when you’re through with all that, head to one of the relaxation rooms to kick back in a massage chair with a herbal tea to watch the sunset over the city beyond.

The neighborhood/area

Thanks to its impressive roster of restaurants and show-stopping infinity pool – not to mention a raucous opening party that saw J-Lo perform atop a bar and Idris Elba take to the decks – One Za'abeel is Dubai’s hottest new address. But, if you are planning on venturing out, you’re well positioned to do so. Siro is just a short drive from DIFC, home to some of the best restaurants and nightlife in the city, and just beyond, the bright lights of Downtown, Dubai Mall and Business Bay are all within easy reach. In the other direction, Satwa and Bur Dubai offer a taste of the old city, before all the bright lights and superlatives took over the skyline.

The service

Is friendly and welcoming. I check in during the first fully operational week, and everyone is keen to showcase what Siro has to offer. The vertical resort is tricky to navigate at first. One lift to the One&Only reception on the 25th floor, before changing to another to reach Siro on floor 30. Another for the rooms and, for the garden pool, another again. But there are plenty of staff on hand to help, and (on more than one occasion during my stay) take you around should you get lost.

Eco effort

Guests are given Siro-branded refillable water bottles to take to the gym to minimize plastic use, and ceiling fans help guests cut back on air conditioning use, should they wish.