Marriott..Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
 

I would have to say out of my 500 plus nights in a marriott in the past 5 yrs, that this is probably one of the worst hotels. Small rooms, mold on the shower curton..etc

Thought the international marriotts were better?

Just my two cents

?

Well, I'm in the Marriott Riyadh and while not exactly knocking my socks off, it is still a nice enough hotel - and I would come back here again, if I had to comeback here again, if you see what I mean. :D

I'm in a standard room - and it appears to be about 25 sq. m and is furnished with a very comfortable king bed, two winged chairs, a work desk with high speed internet, modest TV (which isn't a problem, cos there's nothing on but guys with beards, CNN and BBC World). Th bathroom is spotlessly clean and of a good size. Room safe, ironing board and bottle of complimentary water daily. mini-bar, reasonably priced, but not containing anything interesting - chocolate, water, juices gum and cigarettes. Decor is a bit 1990s, or American style - depending on your perspective - clean, well maintained, but about to be tired, but not quite yet. There are two executive floors and a lounge. Haven't been up. A local English paper is hung on my door each morning.
Room: 7.5/10

Reception is inside the main door, past all the scurity, barriers, and x-ray machines. Check-in was efficient (at 3am, mind) and the bags were in our rooms before we were. The lobby is a large open atrium containing the 6 floors of the hotel, with balconies looking down on to the cafe area, a fountain and on to the lift shaft, which has 4 glass lifts (elevators) lookong in to the atrium. As with everything in Saudi Arabia, it is a smoking area - and the smoke makes its way on to the non-smoking floors. There is a coffee/snack/light food menu available all day - service is a bit slow, but the quality is good. Regardless of what you purchase, it always seems to costs SR110.
Check-in 8/10
Lobby/Atrium 6/10 due ot smoke - otherwise 8/10

Pool and health club are very nice and well resourced - there is a large selection of cycle/running/stepping machines - all working with varying programmes and cardio-monitoring, full gym, sauna, steam room, freezing plunge pool and the smallest changing rooms in the world. Such a shame, as everything else is generously proportioned. There's also a squash court with a/c. The ppol was heated to 28 degrees, which was a bit too warm, while the plunge pool was just 12. Staff are helpful and friendly. Women not welcome - this is Saudi afterall, but a female colleague was accommodated by having a cycle machine placed in her bedroom - which I thought was excellent service. ^
Health club: 8/10 (9.5 if the changing rooms had space)

Well, I had to come back again.

The place is beginning renovations now and some of the facilities are closing in rotation. Rooms still have that 90s feel about them. And the beds are still super-comfortable.

Executive room, this time - and absolutely identical in every detail, except for the following: extra bath mat in front of sink, weighing scales and cotton wool in a jar by the sink. Fluffy bathrobe in wardrobe. 1 small bottle of water per day is provided; there's a larger 1L one costing SR20 on the desk. The executive lounge is on the fifth floor and is reasonably nice, if somewhat small. Breakfast was nice - selection of pancakes and French toast, scrambled eggs (really quite good), turkey-bacon and who-knows-what-meat sausages, youghurts, pastries, fresh fruit and cerials. Also, a Saudi breakfast food was in one pan - I didn't investigate. Coffee machine provided good coffee, but simply not hot enough. Sevice was poor - with most people sitting down to dirty tables and the waiter scrambled to clear up around them. My rate includes breakfast, so I'll be eating downstairs for the rest of the week as the selection is bigger and clean tables available.

Internet is not free on the executive floor - costing SR500 p/w - considering the costs of this only-slightly-above-average hotel that's a very big :td:

I missed the per week part at first and was going to say :eek:

Although it has been a few years since I've been there (and I didn't have to go back ;)), the lounge used to have free Internet terminals. Is that no longer the case? Not that it matters much as the Internet was heavily censored with any sites with any reference whatsoever to sex or Judaica a guaranteed block.

There are terminals in the lounge. The internet servcie seems considerably faster now than before and very much less censored; of course, a VPN, properly configured, never hurts. ;)

Also, the TV has been upgraded to include various satelite channels form the Emirates and elsewhere. I even saw a woman in a Bikini on one channel. :eek: ;)

Also, just to add, that in my experience, the points never post from this property (unlike Jeddah, when next day is the norm) and so a retro-claim becomes necessary. :(

GoldCircle, I'm maintaining a master list of Marriott exec lounges open on the weekend worldwide (see stickey in this forum).

Looking for a) is it open on the weekend; b) if not, do they offer brekkie certs to Golds/Plats; c) if the lounge is closed, is it key accessible for water/soda & i-net terminals; d) are there i-net terminals; e) date of reporting. I'm assuming we can pass on if the booze is free ;)

So if your stay includes a weekend if you could report, or if you're not there during the weekend, if you could ask while you are there & report it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

The lounge in Riyadh is open both on the Islamic weekend (Thurs. and Fri.) and the western weekend (Sat. and Sun.) from 7am to midnight. It is key accessible and not monitored.

Internet - 5 terminals plus free printing.

Thanks - much appreciated. I'll update the stickey. Cheers.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...310-1bokc.html
Seems suprising if true I would have thought this would be a high security location for Marriott...