This hotel is next level unreal! The pictures of the rooms don't do it justice, it's way better in reality (at least in my case). We booked three rooms for 5 nights in Jan/ Feb 2025, were located in tower 3 - Al Falak Tower in rooms 708/ 6**/6**. The bathrooms were unbelievable, all stunning white marble with some super fancy design, so so amazing, the shower was so big you could fit like 7 people in there, I have never stayed in such a luxury room before. Ceilings are like 4 metres, really unbelievable. The colour palette for the room was muted greys and pastels, it looked very nice, suited the room and location. One thing that would be useful, can the hotel just install a Japanese bidet instead of a separate one, I think it's a waste installing a standalone bidet and the all-in-one bidet toilet is current technology, so it would be useful compared to the current setup (Toto toilet, etc).
Now, the sad bit. The distance from the Haram is advertised as not far, and it isn't. But the reality is it's extremely difficult to enter the haram, because of the crowds, it is just heaving. The police close off the haram to outsiders as soon as the adhaan goes, so you can't enter (be aware), and you'll have to pray outside the boundaries of the haram if you are not inside the area before the adhaan (this may be subject to change, and I cannot confirm how they arrange their opening times etc, please confirm on your own travels).
Inside the haram, there is ridiculous construction work going on, all entrances are purposefully blocked, so that huge traffic builds up (I remember 10 years ago in 2014 when I stayed at Bai Al Abraaj, you could just walk into the Ma3taf area of the haram in about 5 minutes, now it is impossible. ). I have no idea what the government is doing, but it seems to intentionally be closing off areas to stop people from entering, which is really a shame. It seems that the purpose is that you rather go to all the shops and malls outside the mall, or pray inside your hotel rather than venture out, this seems the goal of the current administration by closing off all entrances, or causing huge areas to be cordoned off so that getting in easily is impossible. I got so sick of the crowds that i ended up not wanting to go into the haram afterwards (the crowds inside are really next level crazy, they will push and drive wheelchairs up your legs and cut you - happened to me but maybe I was just unlucky).
The hotel is exceptional and so is the buffet breakfast/ dinner - breakfast is between 90 - 119riyals, and dinner is about 149 riyals. Food is amazing, but it's sad that most people pile their plates with croissants etc, don't take a bite and throw it away, such a shame. I hope the hotel can have signs up to prevent such ridiculous wastage, or at least give this food to the outside poor people.
