Coral Palace Hotel

The garden seating gives the place a lovely, relaxing feel, and the restaurant serves great food. There are spacious halls for gatherings, parties, and birthdays. Coral Palace is elegant and well maintained, and the staff were polite and professional. I had a wonderful visit and highly recommend it.

The situation began at check-in, when a staff member named Haider gave us what I believe was a false exchange rate and misstated the total cost. We only noticed halfway through our stay, after checking our bank account and seeing we’d been charged 20% more. We took printed bank statements to the front desk, expecting the apparent mistake to be corrected. Instead, the manager smirked, laughed, and said we were lying about the charges, even with the proof in front of him. After an argument, they agreed to refund the overcharge. The next day, when we asked about the promised refund, they went back on their word and called security to remove us from the hotel. Security pushed us and acted aggressively. When we said we’d call the police, they laughed and said, “this is Iraq.” Staff, especially Haider and Nisreen, were rude, and we felt we were treated differently because of where we’re from. The whole thing felt like a bait-and-switch scam, and it was a frightening, demeaning experience. I’ve never been treated this badly by a business. What should have been a simple stay became deeply stressful. I wouldn’t recommend this hotel to anyone. Booking.com should look into this property. It’s distressing that a hotel calling itself reputable can operate this way, and it shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.

The hotel was clean and comfortable, and the staff were friendly. Rehab went out of her way to meet our request. We’ll book here again on our next trip to Baghdad.

The hotel was below par. Management needs to be more effective, service needs to improve, and the staff situation needs major changes to make the guest experience better.