3 months ago
I stayed here for 5 nights and will definitely stay again - this will be a spectacular hotel once the staff work out all the kinks as they are still in pre-opening stage.Importantly, the senior staff from GM, to Exec Assistant Mgr to Director of Revenue are all excellent, welcoming and resolved the many issues we had - some big and some small. They are true hoteliers and are why I will come back again (the owners of the property too are excellent people with great vision).The team was so friendly and fixed things - that's how it should be. Problems arise but how they are fixed are important. Here's some of the good (and bad).1) the hardware of the property is gorgeous. If you can afford it, definitely stay in a St. Regis Suite. It's 100-110 sqm and worth the money. My son said it's one of the best designed suites he has ever been in2) the food and beverage team are excellent. The quality of the food is good and they remembered everything my son and I eat - from extra nuts and berries to avocado. Food is tasty and service in all of the restaurants we dined in was excellent3) location is good and attached to Via, a new happening mall with lots and lots of great food choices. We ate in the mall from french to Indian to salads. Easy to get into the city and get to the sites so a great location. 4) Housekeeping was great. I never noticed housekeeping In a positive way but the housekeeping here is excellent Mid1) gym is ok, not huge. It's reasonably good with lots of fruit and water which is great but the dumbbells are weird. They go 4 kgs, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 and skip the 10 etc. That was hard for me to progress with weights properly. They also didn't have heavy enough plates for the barbells or a rack to put the plates when not using. They had an odd storage bin. I could get a decent enough workout but not an excellent oneBad1) Butler service and concierge are mixed into one team and do everything - from recommending tours to fixing IT issues. Too many of the butlers don't have enough Saudi experience. Thus, they had too many things to do and not enough local experience which made it difficult sometimes for them to help us, from recommending a restaurant to booking a tour. I ended up asking the front desk staff most of the time for recommendations as they were all from Saudi and knew the local market better Every butler was friendly (except one who I actually fought with. I don't think I've ever fought with a hotel colleague before) but didn't have the right training to recommend restaurants, sites and fix IT issues. But in a few months, with practice, they'll be great. I had terrible internet connectivity issues and one butler said originally said everyone has this issue (not true) and then said the telecon company said it was my phone and thus "out of his hands". That's not the right answer. Eventually after 20 hours the internet issue was fixed but after far too much anger. The butler even told me to leave the hotel and find another place. In over 1000 nights at a Marriott, I've never had a problem like this with a hotel colleague. 2) the butlers woke my son up 2 of the first 3 days even though I had specific do not disturb signs/ instructions not to wake us up. This was a real problem. We had a 9pm wake up call which they made but then inexplicably called us at 9am the next day. 3) it could take forever to get a Careem or Uber because they use a map that takes you to the Ritz and the gate guards won't let taxis or pedestrians pass the gate. This is not the fault of the hotel but this is a real issue that needs to be resolved. One time it took 7 careems and 65 minutes before a car picked us up. We waited a minimum 25 minutes every car. Until this is resolved (or if I was willing to book a hotel car) is the only reason why I'd hesitate to stay here. Overall, lovely staff. Senior mgt great. Junior staff great. Gorgeous hardware.This will be a jewel of the Marriott empire once they fix a few things in the butler set up. But I'll definitely stay here again. Two thumbs up
