Crowne Plaza Doha - The Business Park
What is your Priority Club status?
Spire
Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes, a decent quality hotel.
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
I booked a Superior room which I believe is the lowest grade. Upon arrival an upgrade was not mentioned so I asked if I had been upgraded. The answer was no, I assume based on availability because they had nothing that night. They offered me my scheduled room for the night (it was 1am when I arrived) and a change to an upgraded room for the rest of my stay (5 more nights) the following day. I naturally accepted and left my suitcase packed ready for them to move me
I stopped by reception in the morning as I left for a day of work to ensure they knew about the upgrade, and they acknowledged a note had been put on the account. I verified they would move my luggage and could tell by the obscure response that it would not be. When I arrived back at the end of my day I went to reception who gave me a new room key and sent a porter with me to give me access to my old suitcase still in my old room.
A bad start.
How are the rooms?
The rooms were modern with a decent bed, furnishings and bathroom facilities (including traditional shower head and waterfall style). The Tv had a lot of channels (100+) including lots of news channels, 5'ish English speaking movie channels, 4 documentary channels (Nat Geo & Discovery), plenty of sports channels (although I did not look at their language or content).
How is the exec. lounge?
I was not given Lounge access for free. However, the check-in agent offered to lower the cost per night from QAR240 to QAR200. Given breakfast was QAR125 per night and the lounge gave me access to dinner and drinks I took it.
This was my first experience of a Crowne Plaza lounge having only used Hilton and Marriott lounges before, so I was surprised to find that drinks were not 'help yourself' style in fridges. There was a waitress there the whole time the lounge was open who would serve the drinks. This turned out not to be a problem as I was able to ask for 2 unopened Cola's to take away each day. The lounge was very quiet while I was there so I wonder if this would have been frowned upon if they had plenty of customers to ask the same thing.
The food was good quality. The breakfast choice was impressive with cereal's, cold meats, cheeses, breads, pastries, fruit, and hot items like beans, mushrooms, meats, and eggs cooked to order.
No lunch was available and afternoon tea just comprised of a couple of types of cakes and cookies.
Dinner had a selection of sandwiches (not very veggie friendly) and 4 hot dishes of the indian nature usually. Every night there was rice and (for the veggies) Yellow Dahl. Then there was (on various nights) vegetable samosa's, vegetable spring rolls, chicken curry, beef curry, and other things I can't remember.
Each night between 6 and 8pm there was a happy hour when they would server alcohol. Outside these hours I assume you have to pay for it but I didn't actually ask what the rule was given this is a muslim country. They had 4 types of beer/lager if I remember correctly, all bottled, and the usual spirits. I didn't check the variety/quality of any wine/champagne as I don't drink it.
What was good and what was bad?
I had read there was a free hotel shuttle from the airport before I went but there was no email from the hotel ahead of time checking my flight details or offering transportation. When I landed I spent 5 minutes looking for a Crowne Plaza representative amoung the queue of hotel rep's at the arrivals area but could not see a sign. In the end I just jumped in a cab as it was very late and I was up early for work. When I arrived at the hotel I about how I was supposed to take the airport shuttle and was told there is an IHG desk within the airport. I didn't see it and the airport wasn't exactly busy at 1am for my view to be blocked.
Upon check out I enquired again about the airport shuttle. The airport is only 20mins from the hotel so I figure this must be a 40-60min round trip for the shuttle minibus. So I was amazed to hear the bus runs at 08.30 and then 11am! I got an Uber (taxi) at 10.30. Uber works great in Doha by the way and was very helpful given I was working at a construction site that no one seemed to know the location of yet.
The roof top pool is probably 15m long so good enough for short laps. There weren't many sun beds (~20) but plenty of cushioned seats with little tables.
The hotel is in "The Business Park" but it isn't a business park like I'd expect in the UK. It is not surrounded by blue chip companies, there are not extensive gardens to walk in, there aren't many Western food chains nearby. They are building a Holiday Inn next door but it looks at least a year away from being ready.
Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
This was a cash business visit. To be honest, if I was going back I would stay at the Intercontinental in the City which at the time I visited had rooms for a very similar price. The IC is also in a much more touristy area and near a large shopping mall. This hotel is best for people with business in the main Doha downtown area rather than the more modern Bay area. Traffic in Doha iis horrendous so unless you're travelling outside rush hour (when traffic is just "heavy") it is wise to get a hotel near your place of business. My 20min journey (on a quiet weekend day) took anywhere from 46-60mins during rush hour.