Snood Al Marowa Hotel

Clean and neat, with good service and a reasonable price. It’s a little far from the holy mosque.

I booked two months ahead, and my credit card details were correct and confirmed at the time. As the reservation date got closer, I was told the card wasn’t accepted, even though the same card was accepted for another date. That felt unfair and very unprofessional. The hotel needs to make its reservation process and customer service more transparent to avoid this kind of frustration. I’d advise double-checking your booking and being prepared for possible issues with the hotel’s reservation policies.

We booked through Booking.com, but on arrival they said there was no booking and told us to go to their other hotel. The “agent” guy had already booked 10 rooms and gave us one of them. The room smelled very bad. It was bearable with the AC on, but stank without it. The bus driver parked in a different place every day, so we had to search for the bus for an hour. Then he’d take another hour to start it and head back. Isha'a prayer and taraweeh finished around 9 or 9:30, but he didn’t start the return bus until around 11:30 or 12. Nobody there speaks English, so it’s hard to communicate if you don’t speak Arabic.

There are shops, a mall, and restaurants nearby, and I didn’t notice any other problems. But the bus service was really poor. The reception information said buses left 40 minutes before each prayer; when we arrived an hour ahead, we were told ours had already gone, so we missed the prayer. Not a good fit if punctuality matters to you.