For travel before March 14, 2024, gulf carrier Etihad Airways offers up to two free nights as part of their stopover program. If you have bought a ticket worth at least $500 (oneway) or $750 (roundtrip), you can get either a 40% discount on luxury hotels or free nights in a more basic hotel.
Since all their itineraries require a change of planes in the United Arab Emirates’ capital, this is a great chance to make your time there worthwhile.
As of March 15, 2024, Stopovers in Abu Dhabi are no longer free of charge:
In some instances, hotels showed no availability despite all requirements being met – and you can’t check availability before completing your booking. Because of this, it is very risky to actively plan benefitting from the offer.
Sadly, the stopover can only be applied to completed bookings. Even worse, sometime hotels display no availability despite your booking matching all requirements. This means, you cannot plan ahead to add a stopover to your booking. The only thing you can do is completing a booking and then hoping there is availability during your travel dates.
To book the stopover, you need to use Etihad’s multi-city search. At least in one direction, you need to spend more than 24 hours in Abu Dhabi.
After completing your booking, you can enter your name and bookings reference on Eithad’s website.
A number of eligible hotels will be presented to you. It may happen that no hotels are available at the time of booking. There is no way to check if the hotel of your choosing is available during your intended stopover – only after the booking process. You can add a discounted hotel to your booking up to three days before your arrival in Abu Dhabi.
Participating Hotels
A free stopover is possible when booking one of the following hotel through Etihad’s website:
- Aloft Abu Dhabi
- Centro Al Manhal
- City Seasons Al Hamra Hotel
- Golden Tulip Abu Dhabi Downtown
- Millennium Al Rawdah Hotel
- Premier Inn Abu Dhabi Capital Centre Hotel
- Premier Inn Abu Dhabi International Airport Hotel
- Southern Sun Abu Dhabi
- Traders Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri
If you prefer a higher standard during your time in Dubai, Etihad takes over 40% off the nightly price for the following hotels:
- Aloft Abu Dhabi
- Anantara Eastern Mangroves Abu Dhabi Hotel
- Andaz Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi – a Concept by Hyatt
- Bab Al Qasr Hotel
- Centro Al Manhal
- Grand Hyatt Abu Dhabi
- Park Rotana Abu Dhabi
- Premier Inn Abu Dhabi Capital Centre Hotel
- Premier Inn Abu Dhabi International Airport Hotel
- Shangri-La Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri
- Traders Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri
You can add these hotels to bookings that included a stopover before December 31, 2024. In most cases, breakfast is included in your discounted stay.
Cover Picture: © Pixabay-user neildodhia und Pixabay license
Comments (4)
Its a borderline scam. I know several people who booked flights hoping to get this “free” stopover but had to pay hundreds for their 2 night stay. I emailed their customer care prior to booking and they refused to tell me if the hotels are available on my travel dates. So basically it is not free, it is a lottery where chances of winning are very poor.
It seems that with this advert Etihad Airways wants to discourage customers from flying with them. It is absurd to propose something they cannot guarantee.
Das ist Scam, weil man erst buchen muss um dann herauszufinden, dass es keine verfügbaren Hotels gibt. Gibt viele Posts darüber bei Reddit. Ihr solltet das nicht supporten.
Hello Christoph! The warning banner actively discourages people from adding a stopover to their itinerary during the booking process. It’s still a useful bit of information for people with an already existing booking.