Update to my post above - I called 1-800-Marriott and had them put a note on my reservation. The W Insider emailed me prior to my stay so I also asked him to note my late arrival. When I got here (around 03h00!!) everything was fine, though check in did take longer than I thought it would.
No upgrades for me even though I'm Titanium.
But the standard room I'm in is nice enough and comfortable. As others have noted, you basically get unlimited bottle water in the room which is certainly useful. I'm overlooking the garden (not the pool). I guess this side of the hotel is "quieter", but the lounge music playing in the 6th floor lounge / restaurant is bothersome since I have my sliding door open. If I close the door and turn on the A/C I think the noise will be OK, but I prefer to leave the door open at night. (I'm up on the 8th floor so the risk of someone trying to climb into my room is as close to zero as it gets.)
I visited the IC next door. What a dated property that one is! It's nice enough I suppose, but it's really nothing compared to the W.
I wonder how well this W will do long term though. I honestly feel like I'm not cool enough to be staying here. The place, nice that it is (see pics upthread), really doesn't seem to match the more understated nature of the Omanis. There are Omanis staying here now but will they come back? Will there be enough tourists to support this very large and clearly very expensive property?
OK, some comments on the hotel & the neighbourhood:
- If you're a pool person, this is the place to be. (Again, see pics upthread.)
- Food at the Harvest restaurant is decent but nothing special. They do a nice enough breakfast there.
- Ba Ban restaurant is quite good. It's a Chinese restaurant and the food there is refined, but expensive. Classify this one under "nice things cost money".
- As a Titanium, the gave me a free starter at Ba Ban. I could have also opted for a free dessert + mocktail.
- Char restaurant looks pretty good, but it's expensive. I have not and at those prices, will not try it.
- Within walking distance are several local restaurants, all reasonably priced. I went to Shandiz last night - a Persian place - and found it simple but tasty and decidedly affordable.
- The Royal Muscat Opera House is just across the street. More or less attached to the opera is a high-end mall with some restaurants / cafes that all look pretty good.
- Pretty much every restaurant I've stumbled across opens at 0900 for breakfast.
- All of the restaurants in the mall seem cheaper vs the W.
- There's a Fauchon (Paris) cafe near the front of the opera. Clearly this is a good place for a slice of cake but they also serve breakfast / lunch / dinner from 0900 to 2230-ish.
- I really like the hard product here at the W. It's a beautiful property inside and out.
- I find service to be fine. The room is cleaned very quickly and very well. Staff always greet / acknowledge you as you walk past.
- I tried the shoe shine service. I called (around 2100) the Whatever / Whenever line and they sent someone up right away to collect the shoes. The shoes came back, nicely polished, within an hour.
- Wifi is good throughout the hotel. I was automatically connected to "Enhanced Internet". Is that just the way it is or is it because I'm Titanium? I guess I'll never know ...
- Arranging a city tour of Muscat via the concierge was simple. He explained what we could expect then made a quick call to finalize. Tomorrow we go out to see the Sultan Qaboos Mosque, the souq (which we went to today on our own anyway), the fish market, and the National Museum all for 60 Omani Rials (3 pax, private tour).
- Taxis seem to run on flat rates. We pay 7 OMR to go to / from the hotel & the Mutrah Corniche. If you don't have cash when being dropped at the hotel, you can just have the taxi fare charged to your room. This seems to be a normal procedure.
- Restaurants I've been to accept Visa / MC and many accept AMEX. This is not a place where you need wads of cash to get by. I guess buying stuff at the souq might be different; ditto grocery stores. I'll post more as I get more into Omani life over the next few days but as a tourist, you'll be fine with your usual assortment of credit cards.