Aljewar Tower

The room was set up for six people, with six clean, well-kept single beds, a living area with sofa beds and a coffee table, and a kitchen cabinet. The stove was unplugged and so was the flat TV, but I didn’t need either. The hotel seems to be a main choice for Indonesian pilgrims, and both the guests and menu mostly cater to Indonesian preferences. The dining area is narrow and has limited space. An Arab man made me show my visa before letting me in. If guests need to be monitored, they could use a coupon system instead of hassling them. The lobby looked gloomy and didn’t feel like a hotel. The location, about 400 meters from Masjidilharam, was convenient, and that was its main selling point for me. There are only two elevators serving the ground floor, so large pilgrim groups face a challenge and waits get long at peak times. The man I guess was Bangladeshi who controlled the elevator was very rude. Each room only gets one access card. When everyone went out, we left it at the desk, but nobody was there, which made me worry about room safety. There was no wifi.

The room was dirty and uncomfortable, with rubbish like cotton buds and food waste left around and no cleaning. The mattress felt hard when I tried to sleep, and I found it was filled with wood. There were bed bugs too. The refrigerator was broken, and switching it on gave me an electric shock, though I wasn’t badly hurt. Service was poor. There was no receptionist and no phone in the room. The lift queues took so long that people started fighting because they didn’t want to wait.

The biggest problem was the staff. They had a bad attitude, were very slow to respond, and communicated badly. They need to change their mindset about helping visitors. The facilities are very limited, most rooms were dirty, and the bathroom was untidy. Some of the beds were broken.

I was booked here for 14/11/24, but after reaching mecca I couldn’t get anyone to point me to the hotel. I asked at other hotels, businesses, among cab drivers, and members of the public. After 6 exhausting hours, and with a fever coming on, I gave up and went to another hotel. I’m truly disgusted. I learned a valuable lesson: pay more and book with a reputable hotel.