I am midway through a five night stay and have to say that the resort is phenomenal. The staff is very friendly, the building is elegant, the grounds are beautiful, and the beach is wonderful. It is outside the city so having a car is a huge benefit. Joined Ambassador when arrived and was upgraded to a lagoon room with private access to the rear lagoon pool. Since its towards the back, you feel like it's a private pool. The room is well appointed and was recently renovated. The bathroom was a nice size and well designed with Blaise Moutin amenities. It's been a while since I have been to Muscat and am reminded why I love the city. It's a good size. People seem genuinely pretty happy, especially in light of what's happened/ing in the ME right now. The investment in infrastructure and redevelopment appears to be paying off in spades. The people at the resort seem to keep that same general happiness. I know it's their job to be nice, but you can immediately tell if someone is being nice because they get paid to or because they are in good spirits. The resort is pricey. Breakfast, lunch and dinner at the buffet were 14/16/22 ++ OMR respectively and Friday brunch was 22++. I don't know what the other restaurants are. I had Friday brunch and it was very good. Came to about 26 with taxes and whatnot. A great benefit is a free minibar. There was 6 cans of soda, three frilly waters, a box of cookies, and a chocolate bar. They would fill it each day but were clear only once per day. They didn't fill it on Friday but I didn't really need it filled.

Overall, if the rest of the stay goes half as well as it's gone so far, the Al Bustan is a big loss to Intercontinental. Rather than alienating the great hotels from the chain, they need to emulate them elsewhere.