Ten days Doha August
 

I will be ten days in Doha beginning mid August helping my daughter get settled into the university there. I am looking for the best hotel option with the following amenities - a great lounge that will provide food and drinks (alcoholic); a nice gym since it will be too hot to walk; a nice breakfast spread that can hold me to dinner; a decent pool (either inside or outside); a room that is on the larger side since I will be in it most of the time. Distance to the university is not as important as an uber will be used to travel and back and forth; connected to a mall or something (though I am not a shopper) but it would provide another area to walk around in the AC. If there is one area that is better and would allow easy access to restaurants for dinner, that would be great. We were in Doha before, but only for about 24 hours and we stayed at the LXR whose location was no good and of course, it is a dry hotel. Any other tips for that time of year would be great. I was thinking of the Waldorf Astoria West Bay; Grand Hyatt; JW Marquis; or blowing it out with either the St Regis (no Lounge though) or the Ritz Carlton getting a club room but that might be more money than I want to spend.

Based on your Marriott loyalty & need for a mall-attached property, may I suggest Le Royal Meridien attached to Vendome? Definitely lots of room to exercise/walk in the mall, however note the mall connection is closed midnight - 5am. Only downside is there is no lounge by virtue of elite status, only if you pay for a club room. However, on the flip side, I've been upgraded to the residences side every time which has given me a full kitchen, living room, and bedroom. The breakfast is also good enough to hold you until dinner for sure (I've stayed up to 5 days without having been able to eat once from every dish). Lusail as an area is up-and-coming, with many government offices slated to move there, but outside of the many hotels nearby there will not be a lot of independent dining options, although within Vendome there are plenty of food options. Outside of Souq/Jasra, you won't find too many restaurants that aren't in malls/hotels.

Grand Hyatt has everything else you're after (including a pretty varied lounge and a great host team), but it's about a 10 minute walk across a multi-lane "highway" to Lagoona, which is quite a dead mall & quite a maze to navigate if you're unfamiliar with the layout.

MOQ has a hotel attached, however it's not an international chain and I believe also dry. The mall is also on its last legs with nothing nearby. Villaggio has The Torch attached however it's not a hotel I'd like to stay longer than 24 hours in, much less your extended stay.

I manage my husband's travel and he is the one that has LTT and he will not be with me. I am only Silver so I get nothing. I am considering getting the Hilton Aspire card for Diamond status, I can not get the SUB for the Marriott card that comes with Platinum status for a few more months,,,

Thanks for this. Being attached to a mall is not as important as the other requests. I can always Uber to a mall or another indoor place. Being able to keep costs down by having the lounge and breakfast as well as some extra room and good AC is the most important aspect I think.

Based on your description I think the JW Marquis is a good choice. Good lounge, decent pool and gym, and unless things have changed since my last stay (in January), breakfast for guests with lounge access is always in the restaurant with a very extensive spread which can easily carry you to dinner. Alcohol in the lounge only in the evening, but I believe that will be the case everywhere except the RC.

Direct access to the mall too.

That's the one that has always been on my list for my next visit. Excellent location in my opinion.

AND (almost) direct access to Doha's metro

Question: Does anyone know if mandatory health insurance is still in affect in Qatar? By reading their information, it appears some tourists don't need it. I've decided to travel there in December to break up my Dubai trip. And I've also booked the JW Marriott too with executive lounge 👍

When I went in January I needed nothing other than my passport (UK). Immigration officer did ask if I had a hotel booking, but I said no because I was only in the country for 11 hours.

Thank you!

The insurance business was a badly thought out scheme, I think mainly generated by Covid concerns and a wish to manage "health tourism". It was pulled, or at least drastically modified pretty quickly. It might still apply to some target nationalities among those requiring visa clearance before travel.

Thank you. The way it's written doesn't seem like most travelers will need to purchase it, like you indicated. Every year since covid they had so many requirements, even during the world cup, that I cancelled all those trips. Before that, I visited numerous times with their stopover program and on cruises. So hopefully everything is back to normal now.🤞

We are there last March for a day and they did not ask us anything about insurance.

When they had the medical requirements it didn't apply for short term visitors or people in transfer or cruise ships. I'll be there for two and a half weeks. But the way things sound according to all the replies, it's something that's not done anymore except for maybe certain nationalities. I already have international health insurance but not with their select insurers.