This is an appaling property. I agree with all points below - bell boys and waiters are great. Hotel reception staff are very BAD.

Rooms are tiny when they stick 3 people in a room suitable for 2.

Plumbing problems, water problems, toilet problems and no one sorted them out despite several requests.

There was also a very bad stench ib the room - disgusting.

This hotel was so bad we had to book into the Hilton, at the same cost, down the road which was very good.

I have stayed at Meriden hotels in the past and they have been really good i.e Meriden Pyramids in Cairo.

I totally acknowledge that Makkah is a very BUSY place and staff are tied up - but this hotel's staff are very unprofessional and the standards are very poor. The costs are totally unjustified for the quallity you get.

UNACCEPTABLE.

Good: clean and modern hotel. Very helpful and knowledgeable bell boys, waiters, cleaners.

Bad:
Incompetent reception staff (don’t bother asking them any questions.....).

Pokey rooms: paid for a triple room but we were given a room with 2 single beds and an additional single bed was placed in the room leaving us with no space in the room.

I noticed when Arab guests checked in they were given refreshments and dealt with urgently whereas our group had to wait for an hour for the reception staff to allocate us rooms. Even worse bit was that the hotel knew about our arrival well in advance.

One more thing some food/drink items are sold at extortionate prices in the hotel. For example a water bottle which costs 2 Riyal outside, the hotel will charge you 12 Riyal (I totally understand hotels need to add their mark up but this kind of mark up is totally ridiculous).

P.S For first time visitors don’t be shocked when you step out of the hotel surrounding area is like being in a Third World country and not in a country that produces the most oil in the world. Air is quite polluted. Food portions are huge…. never been to country where so much is wasted/binned.

We stayed here during Hajj 2006-07. The hotel is plush with marble abound. The staff are helpful. The location is very good, a 2 minute walk to the haram, virtually a straight line with a view overlooking it. A subtle thing worth pointing out is the elevators are very quick and always responsive and available even at peak usage times. An unreserved 5 * endorsement. Oh and breakfast was fabulous.