Ritz Carlton Doha = Nicely Renovated Rooms

I never considered myself an expert of the Doha hotel market especially since most of the time I only have quick one-night stays during a layover.  However little by little Doha is starting to be a city where I am developing a better sense of the strengths and weaknesses of various properties since I have now stayed at 7 different hotels I believe (Ritz Carlton, Sheraton Grand, Westin, Marriott Marquis, Grand Hyatt, and Double Tree, Oryx Rotana), and some of them multiple times.  It’s with this background in mind that I would assess my opinion about RC Doha to be probably more solid that other markets where I have only travelled once.  My main takeaways after my recent stay in RC are that this property has excellent hardware despite not being the most recent in the city, and the Club Lounge is very nice for lunch but happy hour is more mediocre.  

The location of the hotel is not as convenient as other hotels for quick layovers because the hotel is farther away from the airport and not as centrally located as Sheraton Grand for example, which is one of the reasons why I did not stay at Ritz Carlton before.  However since this stay was for 3 nights rather than only one, I thought I would be using the hotel facilities more than in my previous shorter stays in Doha so the distance from the airport did not disturb me as much. 

I booked a Club room and I saw in the Marriott app a couple days before our stay that we were upgraded to an executive suite which was generous given that the lesser junior suites were also available at time of check-in.  The executive suite looks great including hardwood floors and all furniture was in excellent condition and I found the hardware several levels better than Sheraton Grand which is a more aging property.  At RC they have obviously upgraded the rooms in many ways recently and not just furniture, for example there are electronic wall panels to control air conditioning and electric curtains, along with all lights.  There is a half bathroom of a good size near the entrance; it did not feel cramped at all.  The shower had good water pressure and the main bathroom looked renovated.  Amenities offered were the standard Asprey Purple Water which we like, and housekeeping was not stingy with refills.  Air conditioning was very powerful in fact it seemed even when moving the temperature all the way up to 25C it was still quite cool in the room.  There is also a small terrace off the bedroom for people who want to enjoy the view in the desert heat.  From inside the room the views were not as nice because windows were quite dirty.  However it was most likely just bad luck due to bad timing; our stay just happened to be right before window cleaning because we got a note in our room informing us that cleaning would start the day of our check-out and would last for a couple of weeks.  

One morning we had breakfast in the Club Lounge and this was nothing to write home about except for the décor being very nice and the atmosphere being peaceful.  Fruits were better than in the restaurant and included mangosteens which were great.  Hot dishes left to be desired and were only standard western breakfast fare such as sausages, baked tomatoes, etc.  At least they have a cooking station where a chef can prepare a made to order omelet.  

I think technically we are not supposed to get free breakfast in the restaurant as Marriott Ambassador Elites at Ritz Carlton hotels, but earlier this year we were offered free breakfast at RC Berlin so I asked in Doha if we could get breakfast in the restaurant or if it was lounge only.  I was told that we could choose where to have breakfast so on the second morning we tried the restaurant.  Breakfast there is much better and included fried rice, sambar, falafel, etc.  The only minus was fewer fruits as mentioned above, and a bit more crowded although not too bad at the time we went there.  I asked staff out of curiosity who has free breakfast in the restaurant and staff did not seem to know, so I am not sure if Platinums or Titaniums not booking a Club room would have free breakfast or not.  In fact the breakfast charge showed up on our final bill at check out and when I told reception that we were told it would be free, they promptly reversed the charge.  

Since we were spending considerable time in the hotel during this stay, having Club Lounge access was worth it particularly since you can eat and drink pretty much all day.  

After breakfast they offer a “light lunch” which interestingly was more elaborate than what was offered in the evening for happy hour.  

They also have afternoon tea and after happy hour they had some desserts.  Guests can drink from noon until 9:30pm which is about as generous as I have seen anywhere, let alone the Middle East.  However drinks were nothing special, some beer and a couple of so-so white and red wines. 

For both lunch and dinner the chef prepared a dish for guests at the cooking station which was nice.  Lunch was better than dinner mostly because there was more choice of cold dishes and special salads including shrimps whereas the evening fare was more basic.  As is standard for RC lounges, access is not free but at about 80 USD per day for a couple I thought the price tag was fairly reasonable compared to other RCs of the world.  For this price it is good value if you intend to use the lounge mid day or during the afternoon, but less so if only for breakfast and happy hour.  The lounge at Sheraton Grand Doha punches above its weight and I found it better than RC for happy hour which is counter-intuitive.

The gym is one of the best hotels gyms I have seen anywhere and it includes a racketball court and a welcome lounge.  It is very large, lots of equipment including many weight machines, everything is new and modern including machines with glossy screens or others where you can connect your phone to.  Out of respect for Middle Eastern culture, they have a smaller adjoining gym for women only, although women are free to use the larger gym too if they wish to do so.

Overall RC Doha is a solid hotel with good Ambassador benefits thanks to the generous room upgrade and free breakfast in the restaurant (at least for us) despite not booking a rate which included breakfast.  For people who highly value a lounge and if not using the hotel facilities during the day, I would suggest Sheraton Grand as a good choice if you can compromise on hotel hardware.  But for the quality of the rooms RC is hard to beat and you get a lounge should you be willing to pay, which cannot be said of St.Regis.  I can recommend RC in some circumstances but I would note that Marriott is very strong in Doha and there are many great hotels available to choose from, for different kinds of guests who value different things.