Al Khaleej Grand Hotel

I would absolutely not recommend this hotel. They claimed there was parking, which caused deliberate disruption and deception for guests. The reception area was tiny and extremely dirty. I’d asked for a non-smoking room, but they carelessly gave me a smoking one instead. The room and its furnishings were disgracefully unclean and unfit to stay in. 👎🏻👎🏻

The internet was nearly unusable, either failing to connect or dropping after a few minutes. I also couldn’t adjust the AC below 24°C. When I raised it, staff gave vague, illogical explanations and said changing the temperature wasn’t possible, which made the room uncomfortable. They only provided water, tea or coffee, and toiletries on the first day. After that I had to keep asking, and staff said this was the policy across all their branches. The hotel also kept guests’ passports at reception, which raised serious privacy and safety concerns for me. Room service staff would linger and keep talking until you tipped them. That felt very uncomfortable and unprofessional. The service, policies and management made this one of my worst hotel stays.

The room was satisfactory, but the lifts were a problem. We’d paid for breakfast because the Booking.com pictures showed something decent. The in-house restaurant looked nothing like that, and the stench was unbearable. We handed in our vouchers on the first day but left straight away without eating. They refused our request for a refund so we could get breakfast elsewhere. Senior management didn’t respond to our WhatsApp messages or calls, and the managers on call were no help. The misleading pictures on the booking page led us to pay for breakfast we never ate.

The service was poor, and the staff seemed to have no idea how to treat guests. Even the receptionist was rude. I’d tell future travellers to stay somewhere else.