Marina Hotel

I’d give this hotel -10. It was the worst place I’ve stayed, and everything felt like a scam. The photos online look nice, and some websites have nice reviews, but the reality was dirty rooms, mold on the walls and in the bathroom, bugs all over the floor and bathroom, and no hot water. A good setup for a scary hotel movie.

There was no hot water or Wi-Fi in the room. Reception first quoted a higher price, then lowered it when I pointed to their own website.

I’d booked for a longer stay, but left in frustration the next morning and won’t set foot there again. A noisy party on an upper floor carried on through the night, with Indian drums pounding until dawn. Then the drunken partygoers left, revving their engines in the morning air. The room smelled of insecticide mixed with stale cigarette smoke sunk into the walls. I couldn’t find a usable outlet without worrying about touching the grimy sockets. The window was almost sealed with pigeon droppings, so fresh air barely came in. Through its holes I could just make out the harbor, royal yachts, old town, minaret and surrounding mountains, a faintly beautiful view amid the mess. Cockroaches came out from under peeling wallpaper in a dark, cell-like restroom. I’d been drawn by the location and treated price as secondary. The entrance hall looked like a run-down Wild West brothel, though I tried to tell myself it was deliberate local-color scenery. The rooms outdid even that dubious lobby. This ranks among the most lamentable places I’ve stayed.

The only decent bits were a clean bottom sheet, soap and shampoo, a complimentary bottle of water each, and morning papers downstairs. We stayed in a twin room in November 2022, and given the price I wasn’t expecting much, but it was generally awful and I would NOT recommend it. The AC didn’t work, loud music went on until 3am both nights, and I found a cockroach in the bathroom. The balcony/window was covered in pigeon poo, so we couldn’t get fresh air. Some power sockets made the lights flicker. There was no toilet paper, only one towel, a broken wardrobe door, and the only bedding was a stained fluffy blanket with no top sheet. The TV didn’t work either. On the second night I asked the manager to turn down the music, but they didn’t bother.