Embassy

Embassy Hotel is right in Hamra, close enough to shops, restaurants, and cultural spots to walk around, while still being quiet enough for a good night’s sleep. My room was clean, comfortable, and had a homey feel. The staff were the best part for me, friendly and helpful from check-in to check-out, with attentive, personal service. It already feels like good value, and I had a very enjoyable stay. The hotel doesn’t need renovation, though a few basic in-room items would make a difference: shampoo, shower gel, slippers, extra towels, a bottle of water, and Nescafé or a coffee machine or kettle. Those additions would help it reach the 4-star standard it comes close to now. I’d recommend it for comfort and affordability in the heart of Beirut, along with Lebanese hospitality.

There’s no elevator, just long old stairs, and the walls don’t block noise, so I barely slept. Other guests were so loud it felt like they were in my room. I arrived very late from the airport because I had important work nearby, and found a dirty room with a moldy smell. I asked for a change and was given the booked room instead. It was a little better, but the electricity went out after midnight, and I was sweating until 7 a.m. It was the worst night of my life. This place feels like a scam.

I wouldn’t recommend this room even as a prison. The place was filthy and smelled bad, the bed sheets were all torn, and the pillows reeked of cigarette smoke. There was a napkin left on the bathtub. No towels were in the room, despite the superintendent saying they were there. Staff took about 30 minutes to bring some, and one was torn down the middle. I’m not sure the others were clean either. At check-in none of the staff wore masks, and the superintendent asked my nationality without any clear reason. I’d already paid online by credit card, but they still demanded cash at check-in.

We paid $106 for a horrible room, and I’m totally disappointed that you work with this hotel. We travel often, and this is the worst place in our travel history. It was dirty and dusty enough to make us sneeze, the toilet wasn’t clean, there was no shower gel or free Wi-Fi, and the $5 per hour Wi-Fi charge was unfair. The light kept blinking after we turned it off, so we couldn’t sleep. The photos didn’t match the room, and we didn’t feel safe. Please look into why the hotel has a rating over 5, and consider refunding us. We couldn’t cancel at reception, or we would have booked somewhere else. When we arrived, the hotel asked us to pay cash even though they had already put a preauthorization on our card, so we could have paid by card. Without telling us, they later emailed that our reservation had been cancelled because of an invalid card, which wasn’t true. The receptionist also asked us to hand in the key whenever we went into the city, even though a notice at reception said they weren’t responsible for items left in rooms.