Our Habitas AlUla — Hotel in Medina Province

We recently stayed at the Habitas hotel in AlUla, drawn by its stunning setting and the promising experience of a five-star hotel. While the location is undeniably beautiful, the overall experience fell far short of expectations.

To be frank, this hotel feels like it was designed more for Instagram than for the actual comfort of its guests. Everything seems meticulously curated for “content,” with photogenic spots at every turn, but very little thought given to those who simply want to relax. The atmosphere is saturated with people chasing the perfect shot, making it feel more like a movie set than a true hospitality destination.

Starting with the overall ambiance: it feels more like a playground for influencers than a high-end hotel. Yes, the pool is stunning, but enjoying it peacefully is nearly impossible. Guests are often asked to move aside so others can get their perfect Instagram picture—without any hesitation or intervention from the staff.

The service is shockingly poor for a so-called five-star establishment. There was no real welcome upon arrival—no Saudi coffee, no dates, none of the warm hospitality one would expect from a hotel of this caliber. Any request at the reception took forever to be fulfilled, and even when something was promised, we often had to follow up multiple times.

Another particularly frustrating issue was with the electric bikes available on the property. At check-in, no one informed us that we needed to sign a disclaimer form to use them. We only found out later, which delayed our ability to get a bike. In the end, we only managed to receive one halfway through our stay.

Even once we had the bike, the experience remained frustrating. After just five minutes of use—simply to get to breakfast—our assigned bike (number 24) was gone when we returned. Despite two visits to the front desk and three phone calls, we were never given another one. The security team, supposedly responsible for these bikes, clearly wasn’t doing their job, as there were no controls in place to prevent such issues.

The hotel offers shuttle service between the main Habitas area and the caravan section, which is about five minutes away by car. Unfortunately, the service was unreliable.

One day, we wanted to go to the caravan area and food truck space. We asked the valet to take us, but after 20 minutes of waiting with no news, we had to follow up. It turned out he had simply forgotten about us—a disappointing lack of professionalism for a hotel of this standard.

As for the pool, relaxation is out of the question. The number of sunbeds or “beds” is far too limited for the number of guests staying at the hotel. As a result, finding an available spot is nearly impossible. Worse, it seems that many outside visitors are allowed to use the facilities, further overcrowding the space. The atmosphere quickly becomes noisy and chaotic—far from the exclusive and peaceful experience one would expect.

On our second day, we waited for two hours in hopes of securing a bed by the pool, but it never happened. Eventually, we had to give up on the idea altogether, which is simply unacceptable for a so-called luxury resort.

That being said, not everything was disappointing. The gym is truly excellent, well-equipped, and a pleasure to use. The rooms are beautifully designed, with tasteful and elegant décor, and the overall setting is breathtaking. Sleeping in such a place is an experience in itself. The trampolines are also a fun and unique touch, especially for families.

In conclusion, this place has incredible potential, but its current approach focuses too much on appearances at the expense of comfort and service. If you’re looking for a true five-star experience with seamless service, exclusivity, and relaxation, you are likely to be disappointed.

Lastly, a telling detail: the same person who checked us in also checked us out. To our surprise, at no point did they ask how our stay had been. A simple question, yet one that speaks volumes about the level of attention...

Day 1 Review: Positives…. checkin was great with welcome drinks and snacks room was made available despite early arrival drop off to room was fun with Earl taking us around and explaining the property real well location is one of a kind indeed

Opportunities for improvement… upon return at around 8:15pm to the hotel was surprised that the first person asked us to self park. Somebody else then came and helped demystify the parking situation (coz I was confused where to park). Not the expectation for amount being charged dinner was disappointing and here’s why; they sell peppermint tea under the name of Moroccan mint tea (no fresh mint); at 8:30pm they ran out of chicken Kasbah dish and when we ordered a cauliflower version it arrived undercooked and without seasoning; chicken shawarma and Charred Tomato soup was also underwhelming and under seasoned. I am now scared of my first breakfast session here tomorrow morning

I shall continue to provide daily review and updates

Day 2 Positives… breakfast was great and the service as well. Maybe go when not busy and they do well again location…what a fantastic place to wake up to found easy parking so stopped bothering the valet staff (at least for today) bed and the bed sheets …heavenly the buggy service to take you around the resort is on time , respectful

Opportunities for improvement…. had to remind them for both room cleaning and turn down service. I have given them my timing preference so hoping a schedule is adhered to starting tomorrow for rest of my stay

Day 3

Positives…. Resort activities (sound bath, pool, trampoline day and night) house keeping staff (attention to detail) and now that they are adhering to a schedule both morning and turn down service is working like clockwork Location Location Location …can’t get enough of this place. Every sight is a delight Used valet service last night at 10:30pm without any push back from staff which was a big positive breakfast was good again management is appreciate of feedback and takes it positively which are good signs for the future

Opportunities for improvement…. kid was hungry during pool time and is a picky eater so we requested some pita bread. We were served raw manakish type bread since oven was not operating. God knows where the confusion was maybe between the word pita bread or Arabic bread but was an odd experience beverages during breakfast take a bit of time to arrive. Ideally beverages are served quickly and first

Day 4 Positives….. Quality of breakfast (except the delay in beverages is odd) follow-up on the feedback shows maturity buggy staff

Opportunities…. why was the creamer/milk bottle removed from the refrigerator without an immediate refill? Was it going bad or was it empty? NOPE and then despite 2 calls and waiting for 45 odd mins I left without fulfilling my desire for a good nespresso full of dairy on the back porch.

DAY 5, FINAL DAY Positives..: perfect breakfast today including masala chai prepared by the bar manager sights of the resort despite last day of our stay our bathroom was refreshed prior to checkout which was endearing noticed positive subtle changes based on the feedback provided over the last few days which is encouraging

I leave today with positive energy and hope to visit sometime in the...

We were looking forward to our trip here and we booked our stay with Caravan AlUla by Our Habitas. When we checked into our Caravan (number 110) at around 4plus pm on 27 March 25, we were briefed by the receptionist about all the wonderful things we can do in both Caravan AlUla by Our Habitas and Our Habitas AlUla. We were told that the swimming pool will close at 9pm during check-in at 4pm and hence we took our time to settle down in our caravan and happily drove over to Our Habitas AlUla close to 6pm for an evening sunset swim. Upon reaching the pool at around 555pm, a female staff at the entrance of the pool asked for our room number and my wife told her we don’t stay here but at the Caravan site instead and gave her our caravan number. When we asked for towels, a male staff by the name Moshin came over and told my wife that the swimming pool will close at 6pm during the Ramadan month. My wife still clarified with him that our Caravan reception staff told us that the pool closes at 9pm but he insisted that the pool closes at 6pm during Ramadan. Being an understanding hotel guests, we abided by the hotel’s rules and shrugged off the missed opportunity to have a sunset swim. Instead we decided to just enjoy the surroundings with picture takings. But during the 50 mins we were there, other guests continued to stay in the pool even after 6pm and new guests even entered the pool and provided with towels around 6:30pm. Puzzled , we asked the other male staff who gave out the towels “why is swimming still allowed after 6pm” and his reply was “these guests were not cooperative and insisted on swimming but he had alerted the security” yet 30mins passed and no security came and when we left at 7pm, they were just getting out of the pool. To show our displeasure at rules being enforced on different guests, we expressed our thoughts and comments to the male staff who handed out the towels and sensing out displeasure, he offered damage control by offering us to swim in the pool anytime now and offering us drinks and even alerted the Tama restaurant’s manager who was higher level. He furthered offered damage control like free dinner and even offered to lay out the sunbeds for us to swim before or after dinner which we politely turned down as our happy holiday moods at that moment already vanished and replaced with utter disappointment. All these damage controls were commendable but it came too late amidst our enthusiastic holiday mood to enjoy our stay at Habitats being dampened pretty much. Will think twice about recommending Habitas to friends as staff’s information consistency is apparently shockingly lacking. Such minor details can make or break a guest “experience” and yet Habitas emphasise so much on their “guestexperience@habitasalula.com” review. This bad aftertaste guests experience is really memorable in an extremely bad level.

Update: had raised the rating from 1-star to 3 as the management at Caravan by Habitas came personally to apologise and also the supervisor at the Food Truck also came personally to us while we were having dinner to apologise. They also picked up the bill for our dinner at the Food Trucks even though we declined at the Tama Restaurant. Would have given a 5-star if not for the...