Makkah Intercontinental, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
May 25, 2008 Asia, Hotels (Hotels and Resorts), Not so good experience No CommentsWe stayed in this hotel for one night only.
I was expecting a lot from this hotel, because of its brand; however I couldn’t find whatever I have been looking for.
First of all, when you come to the hotel, you think that the hotel is not operational anymore. The location of the hotel is extremely convenient for travellers coming from Jeddah. It’s located on the Third Ring Road, almost 10 kms away from Masjid Al-haram. Anyway, when I proceed to the reception, I gave my reservation confirmation printout. The receptionist even didn’t have a look at it. He just gave me a suit. I reserved a room through their web site (http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/overview/qcaha?rpb=hotel&crUrl=/h/d/6c/1/en/hotelsearchresults), which is supposed to be a suite with ”Oasis View”. I was really expecting a lot. The room that he gave me was a suite, indeed, but on the ground floor and there was no “Oasis View”. In fact, there is no “Oasis” to view. Anyway, I went back to the receptionist, ask for a change, after a few minutes discussion, he gave us a room on the 4th floor where we are supposed to have some view of “Oasis”. Anyway, there wasn’t any “Oasis”, the view was just the road in front of the hotel. But there was something. There was a periodical noise that would disturb us through the night. The shower was not working, the water of the water closet was “yellowish/brownish”.
I went back to the reception. I looked at 2-3 more rooms. At the end, we decided to have our first room back. I’m sure the guy at the reception was not happy with us.
Anyway, the room was spacious. Gave us good space to relax. We have only taken the breakfast at the hotel. It was simply OK. There were not many choices; they even brought “honey” upon our request.
The hotel staff was so friendly. They are the only sources of smiling faces.
Hotel has shuttle service to Masjid Al-haram - which is a very big plus.
Overall, the quality of the hotel is not good. I think the structure is already 30+ years old and so are the furnitures. The hotel needs renovation and I am sure that after renovation it will be a key point for people who are visiting Makkah for any purposes. There is no picture of the hotel is shown on their web site; this is unusual and surprising.



