Yes, I stayed at Sir Bani Yas quite a few years ago. It is a really weird place - created by a Sheikh who wanted to turn the desert into an African safari park. They planted lots of moss to make it green and shipped in giraffes, peacocks etc. The peacocks multiplied like crazy and virtually took over.

It felt like a very sad zoo.

The hotel did not appeal at all - just an OK experience with so-so food.

This was several years ago and since then they have added another resort, but from what I saw, the beaches were very poor indeed. When I look at the current website I do not recognise the place, apart from the original hotel with its tented porte cochere.

Maybe Anantara has worked wonders. I doubt it though, as the island itself was very unappealing.