Golden Tulip Bahrain

Would I book it again? Probably not. The room was okay for a transit stop and the bedding was clean, though things felt dated. Breakfast came cold. Lunch and dinner were better, but there wasn’t much choice. I’d pay a little extra for one of the better hotels.

After three days without proper sleep, I finally got a good rest here. Dinner was a delicious buffet, and there was a wide selection at breakfast too. We could take whatever we wanted, then were driven back to the airport around 9:30. I also walked to The Avenues Mall in Bahrain in the morning. Many staff members were Bengali, and people locally were friendly. The Gulf Air transit hotel arrangement came as a surprise: I was initially disappointed by the nearly 23-hour layover and worried after hearing rumors that no hotel would be provided. Our flight from Dhaka took about 6.5 hours, followed by a wait of roughly 2-3 hours after landing. Airport staff handed us the hotel details and directed us downstairs. After around 20 minutes, a friendly Pakistani man arrived to take us to the hotel. I was impressed that so many people in Bahrain understood Hindi and Urdu. We rested before dinner at about 9 PM. The stay had proper five-star facilities, and I won’t forget the journey.

Our airline arranged this place so we could rest before the next flight, but we left feeling miserable. The shuttle was an hour late, and the check-in person was just okay, not welcoming or friendly. I wondered if the airline had some deal for the cheapest rooms, though I don’t know. I complained to a manager about how disgusting the room was and said there was no way it felt like a five-star hotel. They insisted it was five-star. The first room, in a building attached past the pool, had badly stained carpet, rusty bathroom fixtures, a foul smelling bed, and a terrible smell throughout. The replacement in the main building was still awful. I’d rate the first room 1 out of 10 and the second 2 out of 10. Before that, we were told to leave our passports with the hotel. I refused because they could be lost or damaged, and I’d never had a hotel try to hold them before. Breakfast was in the basement rather than the restaurant above ground. The place smelled, and the food didn’t seem fresh or edible. We took only a piece of bread to avoid getting sick, and skipped the airline-paid lunch and dinner too. At the end, the night manager had told guests to come to reception by 11:30 for the airport shuttle, but it didn’t show until 12:15. When I asked who made that rule, the man said he had. I told him my wife was pregnant and there was no reason to wait in the lobby for 45 minutes. He didn’t seem to care. This isn’t what a tourist should first experience in Bahrain. Thankfully, we found the beautiful Avenue Mall. I can’t recommend this hotel to anyone who wants a clean room or decent hospitality. Avoid it.

Breakfast was a major disappointment: the buffet was full, but nearly everything was cold. Even the scrambled eggs and tea were cold, and only the hard-boiled eggs were a little warm. For a hotel at this level, that’s not acceptable. I also found hair all over the bathroom when I first entered the room, which made me question how carefully it had been cleaned. Between that and breakfast, the stay fell far short of expectations. I hope management fixes these basic standards.