Garden Millennium Hotel - Al-Salamah

I booked four nights and paid by card on arrival. After a disappointing stay, I asked to leave early and they agreed. The first room smelled of cigarettes, which I was told is apparently common in Saudi apartments, and the apartment didn’t have enough cutlery or utensils. We ordered breakfast the next morning, delivered to the apartment. They said five minutes, but after I chased them a couple of times it took 25 minutes. There were two breakfasts for two of us, but only one knife and fork. At that point I felt they couldn’t handle simple things properly, so I checked out. At checkout they said they couldn’t refund the three nights to my card. After a long time walking around and calling people, they said they’d send the money to my UK bank within a few days, less a bank charge of about 200 SAR. I was fed up and just wanted to leave, so I accepted the charge. The lack of English speaking also made things harder, which was disappointing for a place that must have international visitors, including people from the UK. The refund of about £500 never came. I contacted the hotel repeatedly through Booking.com, Whatsapp, and email, but they didn’t respond. I escalated it through Booking.com, which has a lengthy process, and they told me the hotel wasn’t replying. Before the final deadline, the apartment got in touch and insisted they had sent the refund. When Booking.com called, I said the hotel was lying to them as it had lied to me. Booking.com asked for proof of the transfer and heard nothing back, then refunded me themselves. The management had never refunded me. So they repeatedly claimed they’d paid me back, and were caught out. They don’t communicate properly, they say five minutes when they mean 25, and they lie. Find somewhere else. You’ve been warned!