Melissa Hotel Riyadh — Hotel in Al Rawda Muncipality

Great location – fast and easy airport access; friendly staff in the lobby and at the desk; easy, efficient check-in.||||Excellent room – instantly comfortable bed and pillows; clean with no weird cleaning smells or room fresheners that can cause headaches; spotless bathroom; simple layout without clutter. ||||I had a King room on the first floor facing the road with a large window but there was no noise bleed so I was not bothered by traffic or the metro construction happening on Al Mansour Street. ||||The room had: large cupboard with shelves and lots of hanging space, small safe, bar fridge, coffee/tea station, complimentary bottled water, dressing table and stool, desk and office chair, love seat and coffee table, wall mounted HDTV, deep soaker tub, shower stall with rain shower head and body jets - all in excellent condition.||||The bed, pillows and bathtub would have been worth the affordable room rate but other touches I appreciated were the: ||- do not disturb/make up room buttons||- good quality bath amenities||- hair dryer with a long cord||- bar fridge that could be stocked upon request but was otherwise empty for you to fill as you wanted||- a/c vent did not blow directly on the bed||||Breakfast was included in the room rate and I went down a couple of times because it was easy but it wasn’t great. The hot dishes weren’t very hot, the cold dishes weren’t very cold, the baked goods were store bought, there was a limited a la carte menu but I didn’t bother. Both times I had bread, cheese, raw vegetables and a boiled egg.||||I ordered a club sandwich through room service – the price was average, the service was prompt and the fries were good but it turned out to be some type of minced chicken with lettuce and tomato on three slices of toast, not a club sandwich. I ate it but after that I didn’t bother with hotel food.||||A Google search for “restaurants in Al Hamra Riyadh” reveals dozens of local, ethnic foreign and North American chain restaurants in the vicinity. I ate out a few times but mostly did take out from the surrounding streets or shopping malls and stocked the mini fridge with snacks and beverages from Carrefour at the nearby Granada Centre shopping mall. ||||Previously I have stayed in hotels near the DQ and south of the Olaya St. downtown area but there was little or no access to food or shopping in those locations. The Melissa Hotel has a much better location but if you don’t have a car be sure to use Uber or some other taxi/car service app to manage your transportation. Due to construction on Al Mansour Street taxis don’t often drive past the hotel but there are always plenty of drivers...

Good points. Handy for the Grenada Business Park. Modern look to the hotel. My room was very big and quiet, on the ground floor. I was able to check in early and check out late. It’s easy for Uber and Uber Eats to find. And a soon-to-open metro line runs right past it, although it’ll be a walk to the station. That’s about it for the positives.|Less good points. Why so few sockets? None by the bed, none by the desk. Speaking of the desk, why no desk chair? I asked about this 30 mins after check in and was promised an express chair delivery. Never came. I had to work at the desk sitting on a stool, which obviously I kept on forgetting had no back to it. Why so dark? I could hardly read in bed and the bathroom was so dim that I almost cut my nose off shaving. Why, why, why are the shower controls at the back of the shower so that you soak your arm in freezing water when switching it on? Why such thin and weedy facial tissues? (I had a cold. I’ve never had such a bad cold. This was not a good place to feel ill in). The restaurant is a dark and soulless place seemingly abandoned during most of its opening hours. Breakfast is joyless, on my first morning I had a cup of good coffee from a sophisticated machine, the second morning it had gone. No labels by the juices - I was expecting orange but got pineapple. No smoked salmon, needless to say. Dinner service on an a la carte evening ( no bland buffet tonight!) proved painfully slow - 30 minutes for a bowl of soup. Then, of course, the soup and my main dish arrived at the same time (covered in cling film ready for room service delivery! I was sitting at a table in the restaurant! Didn’t someone think to say?). Earlier , the restaurant staff had seemed genuinely surprised by my request for a bottle of sparkling water, as if they had no idea that such a thing existed (Diet Pepsi is not a suitable alternative to recommend). |There’s a swimming pool and a gym, but due to my cold I didn’t even look. WiFi free and seemed pretty zippy at first (mind you, it wouldn’t have killed the check in staff to give me the name and password on arrival, rather than my having to pad back from my room), but by the end of my stay I couldn’t easily log on.|Still, the hotel did all the basics well, and was full of business people, not tourists, which I appreciate when I’m working myself. Would I jump at the chance to come back? Obviously, no, but I might have to, for work. A bread new Hilton Hotel is soon to open even closer to the business park, but I doubt that my client will think I’m important enough...

|Let's be honest, folks. The Melissa Hotel isn't exactly the Ritz-Carlton. It's tucked away in a part of Riyadh that makes even tumbleweeds do U-turns. You'll half expect a sandstorm to roll through your room and leave a complimentary camel for company.||The decor? Think Aladdin's bargain bin. We're talking flying carpet patterns on the floor (not magic, just suspiciously stained) and enough gold trim to make Liberace blush. I swear, I saw a lamp that looked suspiciously like it could grant wishes, but all it did was flicker menacingly.||But here's the thing: despite the, ahem, "rustic" charm, the staff were absolute diamonds. Friendly, helpful, and spoke enough English to translate my panicked shouts of "Where am I?!" into calming reassurances.||The rooms themselves were surprisingly comfy. Think plush beds, strong air conditioning (a lifesaver in that heat!), and even a balcony – perfect for people-watching the occasional stray goat (seriously).||And the gym? Now that was a revelation. We're talking hardcore iron heaven. This place could have hosted a Rocky training montage.||So, if you're on a shoestring budget and looking for an "adventure" stay, the Melissa might just be your oasis in the desert of luxury hotels. Just pack some hand sanitizer and maybe a blindfold for the decor. But hey, at least you'll leave with sculpted arms and a...