This 5 star hotel was not my selected hotel. However, due to overbooking in
the Mövenpick, I got transferred together with some of my colleagues to this other
hotel, which is from the same chain. It was not a good start, but... these things
can happen.
First thing we noticed about the second hotel was that it was way out of everything. It’s true that in Doha, you need to get around in taxi, however, whereas the Mövenpick Suites and Towers was in the Corniche, near restaurants, hotels and shopping centre… this one was facing… the desert.
Staff were friendly upon arrival… offering us a glass of water as compensation for the inconvenience. It
I was in room 314… a real suite. Big living room with couch, dining table and work table… a big bed in a nice bedroom and a relatively small bathroom with a bathtub. Very comfortable, quiet… slept really well. The hotel was classical, but fine.
Staff was different. Whereas the breakfast people were extremely nice and remembered my likes for the following day, the reception and concierge made my life a misery… but for little details not proper of a 5 star hotel.
1) Lack of compensation from management for inconvenience.
2) Trying to deceive with the cost of renting a hotel car for a day. Negotiated price: 50 Riyals. Requested by Staff: 80... And as a favour, 60. Rest of my colleagues got it for 50 and I refused to pay more. Second day, was the same story, even having just paid for 50, for the day... I got told the same story for the following day. Everything was difficult in this hotel.
3) Treated me like a thief because they did not do their job and expected me to pay upfront AND cash all services. They forgot to request my VISA for preauthorization. Was it my problem? I refused. Having ordered room service, I was asked to come down to reception to pay. I was really furious.
4) Paying with credit card was extremely complicated. Maybe their normal visitors have a suitcase with money they can pay for excessively expensive services. They seemed obsessed with the matter. Is the Mövenpick short of cash that they have to get it before the service is offered from their guests?
Internet was free in the Lobby and 100 Riyals (around 20 Euro) for 24 hour use in the room. I also complained about this when suggested I could have free internet in the lobby. Bearing in mind that Arabs do their gatherings in the lobby, seats were not that easy to find, smoke and noise was all over… Do I pay a 5 star hotel to be subject to this treatment? I really feel bad about hotels that have this "free-in-the-lobby-internet-and-really-expensive-in-room" service. It shows what they think of giving service and comfort to the customers. Radisson has a worldwide policy that offers free internet in all hotels. A good reason to choose that chain.
My last day in the hotel, I had to check out in the morning, do my work, and returned to the hotel and asked for a room to get changed. They directed me to the bathroom… that was in use at the time and a queue! I returned to the concierge and got an answer… don’t get in the cubicles... get changed in the general area of the bathroom. Well… not that I have anything to hide, but… Did they get training on how to treat customers in the back of a Yogurt cover? Of course, I refused to do that… and eventually, was allowed to change in the luggage room. At least it was big enough to open my luggage and get changed in privacy…
Travelling as much as I do, visiting hotels worldwide… I have to say that if Mövenpick group treats customers like this… there is no way I am returning to one. In fact, I got offered for my next trip, and rejected it. No way. And of course, in Doha, their partner Wyndham, makes it impossible for me to return.
I said it before. The people at the breakfast room and in the lobby
bar were extremely professional, nice and helpful, but concierge, reception and
management... fail dramatically.
