khabah

Moved to the W after the Marriott Marquis; haven't stayed here in a while! Feedback:

• They've renovated the lobby. The famous suspended lanterns are still there, but the rest of the dark furniture is all gone for more contemporary little seating areas with curved leather couches and upholstered chairs, with hanging Arabesque pendants sequestering them. Arabic patterns in gold behind the reception desks, which now have pink tops and sea green carpeting below. It's nice, but I can't help but feel like W has now been Marriottized. It still feels plush but somewhat more generic; it's clearly 'W by Marriott' if that makes sense.
• Staff are fabulous as always. Check-in was quick, upgraded to a W Suite. Even though I performed a mobile check-in hours in advance, I still had to wait about fifteen minutes for the room to be ready.
• Room is gorgeous and spacious; the W Suites are the yellow ones and two categories down from the top-end Extreme WOW Suite. Wedged in the corner of the building with a hanging swing chair, curved couch, dining table for three, king bed and 1.5 bathrooms. It's a testament to the excellent designers that their furnishings still have a 'wow' factor almost ten years after opening!
• WIP Lounge still exists, with food from 5-7 PM and happy hour from 6-7 PM. Food selection is a step down from the lavish spread of before [which had sushi, more hot options and sandwiches] but the current spread is still decent, with generous selections of salads and three hot options.
• The hotel still allows smoking indoors in the Crystal Lounge [which the WIP Lounge is a part of], Wahm, the bar on the pool deck and many rooms. As a result, many parts of the building stink of stale smoke.
• I hate to sound so judge-y... but the clientele ain't what it used to be. Also, the WIP Lounge clearly doesn't enforce a dress code so there are MANY guests who are in here wearing shorts, hoodies, swimming trunks, beanies and flip-flops.

Sigh, nothing stays the same. At least the bones of this property are still great.

khabah

R2

Where can I find the email address of W Doha? I have a long transit in Doha coming up from midnite to midnite and I want to ask if they can accomodate my request to check in at 1am to check out at 10pm or so the same day.

I do not qualify for the Qatar+ programme so this would be a direct booking with the hotel. Thanks.

Marriott Bonvoy Lurker II

Hi R2,

You can reach W Doha team at [email protected].

Best regards,

Chie Ling Chua
Social Media Specialist
Marriott International
[email protected]

SkiAdcock

This is what I have in the exec lounge sticky. Can anyone provide an update?

* Doha / W / OPEN Sun-Thurs (per website); 09/18 update

helvetic

Wow, just had a terrible check-in at the W Doha. Just awful.

No mention of my status at all or any benefits. No upgrade. Told “sold out” when most suite categories are still for sale. Just asked if I needed late check-out. No mention of lounge access. No welcome gift. I asked about the lounge and was told about the nightclub.

There’s two options for internet: Complimentary or $25 (90 rials) for fast. I picked fast, but it’s so slow I can’t even get speedtest to start (errors out on latency test). Connections keep dropping.

I asked about an upgrade and was told they assigned me to a marvelous room with a good view. I’m looking at a parking lot. I think I’m going to go down and complain and while I’m at it ask for the no welcome gift comp.

escape4

Very disappointing! I was considering two stays later this year - hopefully this is an isolated situation. Your experience seems to be in contrast with others unfortunately.

Are you there on a cheap QR stopover hotel rate? Or booked as usual on marriott.com?

helvetic

On a paid corp rate, not paid by QR.

A non-update update: went down to speak to the manager on duty. She was very apologetic but didn't do anything meaningful to recover except for being nice and apologetic. She said welcome gift would be coming later, points were already applied to the room since breakfast was included. She said they're almost sold out. I pointed out they're selling every type of suite category on marriott.com but that did not deter her.

I dropped the matter, I don't actually care that much about getting a suite — perfectly comfortable in a base level room for the one night layover, and the room is decent. It's more about the principle and the expectations which were so far off from reality. This hotel gets rave reviews everywhere, so I just couldn't believe how far off it was for me.

She said she'd make sure I got an upgrade on my next visit or "any other W hotel." Meaningless offer as I doubt I'm staying here again next time.

escape4

So she can offer upgrades at Ws in other countries?

AbuCordoba

I had exactly the same issues about 3 weeks and made a complaint about it and to be fair it was handled well but it was a shocking stay and a big fall from grace from what used to be one of my favorite hotels!

helvetic

How did you make the complaint and how was it handled?

escape4

I guess not

AbuCordoba

when they asked me at checkout how was my stay, I said not good but no point to discuss I will be emailing later, within a few minutes of leaving the hotel, the hotel had email me to ask me what was wrong as they heard I did not have a pleasant stay, I responded explaining like yourself the lack of recognition, the lack of upgrade initially (like you I persisted and luckily found a manager willing to listen) and in my case some very rude behavior by the staff towards my son who is only 18 months old (I know its not a family friendly hotel but the staff were less than friendly towards him). Anyhow he responded really nicely, apologized and offered a complimentary 2 night stay to rectify the situation, so there is still some hope, the only thing is my wife is really unkeen to return after that experience

escape4

what room type did you end up receiving after this?

AbuCordoba

WOW suite which is what I get around 60-70% of my bookings usually here historically

SkiAdcock

This is what I have listed in the exec lounge sticky. Can someone provide an update whether it's accurate or what the lounge/breakfast situation is so that I can update the sticky? Thx.

* Doha / W / OPEN Sun-Thurs (per website); 09/18 update

Cheers.