Waterfront Hotel Apartments — Hotel in Al-Daayen

Appalling Experience – Unsafe, Mismanaged, and Deeply Disrespectful Stay

Review:

I stayed at Waterfront Apartment Hotel with my family and had one of the worst hotel experiences we’ve ever had. We had booked 3 rooms, and what followed was a series of service failures, false accusations, and a complete disregard for guest safety and comfort.

Here’s a breakdown of what we experienced: • Housekeeping completely ignored repeated requests (3 times in a single day), and our room was left uncleaned. Later, our keycards stopped working, causing further delay. • When we finally entered, the staff blamed us for denying access—which is absolutely false. We had signed access permission during check-in and reconfirmed with the front desk. • Our maintenance requests were ignored, and there seemed to be zero internal communication between staff members. • We waited all day for basic room service that was only delivered at 12 midnight, after repeated follow-ups. We were told there were no rooms to move us to, even though availability magically appeared the next day. • The front desk staff were rude, dismissive, and consistently tried to shy away from taking responsibility. • A deeply disturbing incident occurred when my 70-year-old mother had someone knocking and attempting to open her room door at night. She called reception and was told a security guard would check in, but no one ever came. • The next morning, we were promised a room change for safety. But when we returned at night, no one had a clue and again said rooms were full. • We were finally given a 2-bedroom suite—but only after repeated lies and escalation to a so-called “manager,” who was just a supervisor we had spoken to before—again rude and dismissive. • When I requested to email the manager, I was given an invalid email address. Later they said the manager had just changed. I was then handed a business card for someone else and told to call them instead. None of the staff seemed to be aware of who was responsible. • Regarding the security issue, we were told the knocking was from a “Spanish family” next door who’d lived there for over a year—but another staff member had previously claimed the room next door was vacant. • The pictures on their social media are misleading. The property does not look like what is shown—it’s purely marketing without maintenance. • What’s worse, I later discovered many similar complaints from other foreign travelers on Google, showing a clear pattern of poor treatment and neglect.

Safety, cleanliness, respect, and honesty were all lacking. This hotel does not reflect the hospitality standards Qatar is known for. Most locals we met during our trip were warm and welcoming—unlike the staff here.

Absolutely would not recommend this property to anyone, especially international visitors. Avoid...

I have read all the bad reviews here in Google about this place before booking, and yet I still decided to give it a try as this hotel is the most affordable place I found that's close proximity to the Meryal Waterpark. I believe people give reviews as per their personal experiences, and so I am writing mine. The beach front of this hotel has a beautiful view of the sunrise, I just wish they can do a lot of modern revamping to make it a more memorable experience for the guests. The neighboring areas still has a lot of ongoing constructions presently so probably in a few months or years there'll be good developments here.

About the check-in procedure, I wish they can do something on making this experience a less hassle one. When you book here, please make sure it's paid before you arrive to secure it. You do have to wait 20-40 minutes just to get to your room. I myself did not get the correct one bedroom that I booked, however, I did got a room upgrade as to what's available. I stayed alone in a two bedroom unit with a huge wide balcony :)

Regarding the flies in the reception and restaurant areas, I wish they can do some pest control or install insect repellent machines or lights or whatever to control those. I did half board for my meals and it's not bad. The grilled options for dinner was tasty, and the breakfast buffet was not the best but it's presentable. Even the restaurant manager is dedicated enough to help fill the items in the breakfast buffet area just to ensure good service, and that's highly appreciated. But again, I just wish there's something that can be done with the annoying flies.

It's a hotel built not very long ago and yet it looks old and deserted probably because of the disconcerting guests' experiences. If only the hotel owner would at least make the reception area welcoming with fresh flowers, this simple effort alone, would already make a huge difference.

To conclude, if you do have the very good budget and your expectations to a "5 star apartment hotel" is a spotless service, probably check somewhere else as they presently do have a lot to enhance here to rightfully claim the five...

I recently stayed at this property over the weekend, and unfortunately, it was a disappointing experience. I booked a two-bedroom apartment specifically for its spacious living room, as shown in the pictures on the website. However, upon arrival, I realized that the apartment was nothing like the images. It was significantly smaller, with a living room about half the size of what was advertised.

Before checking in, we were asked to inspect the apartment first, which seemed strange—what hotel asks you to verify the room before confirming check-in? This felt like a red flag, and my suspicions were confirmed. The apartment they gave us was a small, cramped version of what I booked. I went back to the reception, informed them, and was shown another apartment, which again did not match what I reserved. The front desk then asked us to wait an additional 30 minutes for another option.

We escalated to the reservation supervisor, hoping for a resolution. However, she repeatedly showed us the same undersized apartments and went silent when asked if they matched the square footage updated on the booking.com. Eventually, we realized they were overbooked and simply couldn’t offer us the apartment we’d reserved. When we requested any form of compensation—late checkout or otherwise—she refused, saying we would have to check out on time, even though our apartment wasn’t ready until 4 PM. After some persuasion, we were reluctantly given a 2 PM checkout, but this was hardly adequate.

Once inside, we didn’t have time to thoroughly inspect the apartment as we had guests coming over. However, we immediately noticed an awful smell, which upon closer inspection turned out to be MOLD—on the walls, ceiling, and AC. There were cracks, peeling paint, filthy chairs, a stove covered in grime, broken window handles, and stains everywhere. (Photos attached for reference.)

Overall, this stay was far below what was advertised, and the lack of transparency and poor condition of the apartment made it an experience I...