Fairmont Amman opened in November 2017 so I wanted to give it a try.  I often find that in secondary markets where the Fairmont brand is not very well known, you can get a very high quality product for a good price because a lack of widespread name recognition acts as a ceiling on prices.  You end up with great value for the money, and Fairmont Amman is a perfect example of that. 

I used a Fairmont suite upgrade certificate and at this property suite guests get access to the Gold lounge, similar to Fairmont Singapore.  The common areas of the hotel are very impressive.  The lobby is in a massive hallway which is long and wide and has very high ceilings with huge chandeliers.  Off the hallway is a classy library for guests to stop by and relax.  

Location

It was my first visit in Amman so I am not very familiar with the city.  The Fairmont is located in the 5th circle which is an upscale neighborhood and it seems to be “5-star hotel central”: at the other corners of the same round-about, you can find the Sheraton, Four Seasons, and under construction a Ritz Carlton.  Only 0.5km behind the Sheraton will be a St.Regis which is scheduled to open soon. In addition, the W and the Grand Hyatt are only 3 km away.  So if you book a 5-star hotel in Amman, this general area is most likely where you will be. This location is about a 15-minute taxi ride to downtown and from the airport it’s a bit more than half an hour.

Room

The Fairmont being a new hotel, the suite was obviously in great shape and very modern.  In the living room the furniture is of very high quality.  In front of the sofa is a fireplace with sounds and lights to simulate a fire.  On the coffee table we received a nice Platinum welcome gift with more Arabic desserts than we could handle!  After nibbling on a few pieces they even brought us some more a couple of days later. Since this suite was a corner room, there were windows on two sides of the living room with electric curtains. Off the living room is a small dining area with a round table and chairs.  There is also a small kitchen in the corner of the room for those who want to cook.  The bedroom is finished to a high standard and large enough to accommodate a small lounge chair by the window.  They had prepared a beautiful arrangement on the bed for our special occasion which was a nice touch.  The make-up area is in the large walk-in closet, making it a clever use of space. The main bathroom has a large rain shower area separate from the bathtub which is outside of the shower.  If there is one minor drawback to the room it is that the main bathroom was a bit dark, having no natural lighting.  The light fixtures in the shower are hidden inside the moldings of the ceiling which contributes to the weak lighting situation.  To conclude about the room, there is a small half bathroom next to the entrance.

Dining

Included with the suite upgrade was the choice of breakfast either in the Gold Lounge or the restaurant, which is generous because some hotels limit the breakfast to the Lounge only.  The quality of the food in the restaurant is excellent.  Among other things, I enjoyed having figs for breakfast and a specialty kiwi juice.  The restaurant has a main dining area next to the buffet, and also stylish separate rooms with a few tables that we liked due to the added privacy.  

During a week day, if going to breakfast in the restaurant towards the tail end (11am) it was relatively quiet, however one weekend morning we arrived after 10am and it was crowded so we went to the Gold Lounge instead. Obviously there is less choice in the lounge, but quality is equally high if not better in the lounge, and choice was good enough that we had a preference for the quiet environment.  Cannot beat having the entire lounge almost entirely to ourselves!   

We also appreciated the Gold Lounge during happy hour (5-7pm). The lounge is a very long and narrow room with posh furniture throughout.  As you walk from the entrance of the lounge all the way to the end at the food station, you have multiple seating areas each with their own style which can accommodate different group sizes.  The layout of the lounge made it possible to find a quiet spot even if there was a louder group present somewhere else in the lounge.  For example, there is an enclosed area near the windows; loud folks there do not disrupt other guests.  There is also an area with high chairs on a small counter, right in front of the windows which is ideal for guests who travel alone and want to enjoy the view.  Overall, this is a very well designed lounge and it is hard to find flaws to it.  

There were 4 hot food options during happy hour in addition to various cold choices and it was enough to make it a dinner.  On the evenings we went there, we had beef/chicken skewers, a chicken & onion dish, fried shrimps, mini-burgers and pizzas, etc.  Alcohol was not self-serve even though they had a display.  I found the quality of the wine much higher than most hotel lounges – the Chilean red wine was particularly good.  

Service

Service in general at the hotel is excellent.  We were addressed by name in the restaurant during breakfast and the director of operations stopped by to chat and ensure we had a nice stay.  Service in the lounge was friendly although sometimes they would be less proactive about re-fills than in some other hotels.  Pre-arrival service was great as well, as mentioned above preparing our room with a nice welcome gift and coordinating in advance to check at what time we would arrive at the hotel to ensure a fresh arrangement (which happened to be useful since we arrived after midnight).  A point of improvement would be housekeeping which occasionally forgot to replenish some items such as water, shower gel, shampoo, face towels, mouthwash, floor mats, etc.  Not a big deal, and after we called they came promptly.  

Overall

Overall this is a great addition to the Fairmont portfolio and arguably the best hotel in Amman right now, which you can book (depending on dates) for a very modest price premium over alternatives such as Sheraton, Marriott, Grand Hyatt, W, and more often than not, cheaper than Four Seasons.  While I have not tried them personally (so take my opinion for what it’s worth), the Grand Hyatt and FS have been reported on FT as being  somewhat aging hotels and given my experience at Fairmont Amman I am fairly confident Fairmont is a great choice comparatively speaking.  The upcoming St.Regis will probably be a closer match to Fairmont once it opens in a few months but until then I think Fairmont is most likely the top hotel in Amman.

If you still have a Fairmont suite upgrade certificate to use before they expire, this is a great hotel to do so and you will get fantastic value for the money.  Once they expire, guests who also have elite status at other chains might find the value proposition more difficult at Fairmont because there will be no more free breakfast, free lounge, and free suite upgrades, unlike what you can get at Marriott/Starwood properties for example.  But for the moment, as far as I am concerned booking at Fairmont Amman is a no brainer.