Anyone stay in the Jeddah (Saudi) Marriott recently??

Good hotel or bad and most importantly -- how is the security??

I was there at the end of 2003 and it was ok. There is a bowling alley and a pool table in the basement. The room service and food selection was nice. The security was mediocre. There was a security guard with a metal detector upon entering but after a time or two of coming in, I passed my laptop case around the detector and they didn't even bother looking at it. Overall, the hotel was nice.

Anybody been here recently? I have a two-day stay coming up, on vacation of all things (weekend escape from RUH), and was wondering how they treat Plats and whether there's a lounge.

I was also rather surprised to see that they appear to have zero award availability, even though they seem to have plenty of rooms available (esp. on weekends) with rates starting from a pretty reasonable US$120

Spent last weekend here, in the odd twilight zone when my MR acct online tells me I've already dropped to Gold but my card claims Platinum. The hotel decided this meant I was Gold, so I was given free breakfast (there is no lounge), but no Plat arrival gift.

Anyway, it's an older property, but it's well maintained and in proper Arab style the lobby area contains eye-watering amounts of chandeliers and gilt. Room is big but old-fashioned, bathroom has an old tub with a new handheld shower head, satellite TV reception was abysmal (no sound on CNN, BBC very staticky, etc), bed was very comfy. Soundproofing was pretty poor though, which meant an early wake-up call thanks to the four mosques around it, and on Friday afternoon one of the mosques even broadcast the entire hour-long sermon over the speakers...

There's a nice, deep outdoor pool (although this being Saudi, it was for men and children only) and the buffet breakfast was pretty good, with a fairly good selection of Western and Arabic favorites. On my last day, I asked for a late checkout until 4 PM, and was told that usually it's granted only until 2-3 but as a Gold I can stay until 5. No complaints.

Would I stay again? Probably not: while there's nothing much wrong with it, I don't much like older hotels and the location is a bit in the middle of nowhere. Next time I'll probably opt for somewhere on the Corniche instead.