MOMENTS — Hotel in Makkah Region

AVOID. It all started strangely with me providing credit card numbers at Booking.com, and then receiving a WhatsApp message asking to confirm the booking providing the card numbers again. I emailed the hotel asking why I needed to provide the card numbers again, to which they responded that their phone number was hacked and they would not communicate with guests via WhatsApp. This is fair and we understood, but then on departure they sent me a WhatsApp message saying if the review is Excellent they will post it on their website. Hello hello - that is a bit cheeky if not misleading, as what if the review is not Excellent? Well, to start with when 3 of us arrived to the hotel we were given a room with a king size bed, in a Superior King suite. I asked about a bed for my children - where was he supposed to sleep? In an appartment accepting a booking for 3 persons I would expect another bed being provided for a third person. Yet, here, the hotel has responded with providing a matress and pillows, which were dropped at the floor in the living room. That was not acceptable, which I raised with the receptionist. He responded with "upgrading" our room to another one, this time with 4 single beds in a single bedroom. That was fine, although this time the room did not include a kitchen annex that the previous room had, so I argue it was hardly an 'upgrade', it was just providing a bed for my children. The following morning the receptionist apologised (likely prompted by a negative review we posted on Google), and as a compensate offered we could stay for free until late the following evening (togehter with putting pressure on us to remove that negative review) - as we needed to leave about 11pm for a flight at 2am. Well - that promise was not kept. The manager charged us SAR 100 despite the earlier promise, with the excuse that the receptionist "did not understand". As for the other disappointments - everything in the hotel seemed to be kept on a 'cost saving' side. Even though we were now staying in a 4 bed room, there were only 2 tea mugs, 2 sets of soap and shampoo, 2 sets of tea bags, one toilet paper roll... We had to ask for everyting to be added to the needs of 3 guests. Also, for breakfast although we received 3 omlets, we got only 2 cheese plates. When we enquired for a third one saying the food provided was not sufficient for 3 persons (breakfast was brought to the room), we were told we would have to pay SAR20 for the third plate. Also, there were no utensils provided, no forks, not even spoons for eating the soup.... And, to the previous comments, we were also asked to provide SAR 200 for 'damages' to the room, to be refunded in cash when leaving the appartment. I refused saying I do not need cash when about to leave the country. To sumarise, the hotel stood out in a negative way from other hotels. It felt inhospitable, chasing money, and far far below the Arabian hospitality standards we have experienced in other places. My advice: read other comments, and AVOID this...

we stayed here for a short period cause my mom and dad was only visiting me on a transit visa.

we enjoyed our stay at this hotel. well scented facility smells really good and feels clean. the reception is very accommodating and friendly.

the room is spacious, clean and smells so good. complete with hot and cold shower. water is strong.

the pool area is clean, needs interior design but over all its good. wish the cafe was open at the time but its ok we did'nt mind.

if we ever needed anything like buy something from (bakala) store/market we just call the reception and had it delivered.

family and visitor friendly. Located near to every iterinary that we had during our stay.

by the way i booked via AGODA and it was a stress free booking and their customer service response if ever you needed to contact them is very quick and real time.

THE STAFFS are great! thanks everyone for making our stay a wonderful experience. will definitely recommend it to my friends and family.

God Bless and more more more...

Ik was behoorlijk teleurgesteld vanaf het moment dat ik in dit hotel aankwam. Ik verbleef hier ongeveer een week geleden, en toen ik binnenkwam, werd er geen enkele keer gedag gezegd. Het personeel hielp me wel vriendelijk met mijn bagage, maar er werd geen Arabische koffie of iets dergelijks aangeboden, zoals bij veel andere Arabische hotels gebruikelijk is.

Het hielp ook niet dat het personeel nauwelijks Engels sprak. Communiceren was erg moeilijk, en omdat ze mij niet goed begrepen (de manager gaf zelf toe dat ze geen Engels spraken), moest ik 100 SAR betalen voor iets dat volgens hen gratis was.

Het ontbijt was erg onwelkom. Zoals in andere recensies stond, werd er geen bestek verstrekt. Voor alles wat je extra vroeg, moest je bijbetalen. Zelfs toen ik een kamer voor drie personen had geboekt, werd er niet genoeg eten geserveerd.

Wanneer ik iets extra’s vroeg — bijvoorbeeld een kopje of een handdoek — werd dat verzoek snel afgewezen. Het ontbijt leek bovendien totaal niet op de foto’s op de website.

Bij aankomst werd mij gevraagd om 200 SAR contant te betalen als borg. Ik weigerde, want ik had geen contant geld bij me en moest later vliegen, dus ik had niets aan dat geld. Uiteindelijk heb ik met mijn pinpas betaald, maar de borg is nooit terugbetaald.

De bedden waren naar mijn mening van slechte kwaliteit, en de andere negatieve recensies vatten de ervaring hier goed samen. De website is misleidend en het hotelpersoneel was behoorlijk onbeleefd.

Na dit alles vroegen ze me om een positieve recensie achter te laten. Het spijt me, maar zelfs een glimlach wanneer een gast het hotel binnenkomt, verdient geen...