Overall Rating: EXCELLENT

Reviewed July 22, 2013
Stayed May 2013
Traveled as a couple

Other than month of Zulhijjah (the 12th months of Islamic calendar), almost all of people visit this hotel to perform Umrah, just like I did. And I think, though it is considering expensive but it really worth every rial/dollar you spent. The location is very very close to Masjidil Haram. Only take you about 5 to 7 minutes walking from your room to the main gate (King Abdul Aziz gate) in front of the mosque.

Not to mention the view from the room if you take the one that has the view to the mosque. Breath taking view, more than every words can say, it's like in the postcards especially at night when the light spoiling your eyes... the direction of the Muslim pray is just right there outside of your hotel window. Take the highest floor possible, then the view of the mosque even get better with Mecca city and all the hill surrounds it as background.

When you are looking for something to eat, the mall on the ground level has a food court with endless choice of food from all around the world. Not to mention the food counters like KFC near the mosque which also close by. The mall also has stores with international brands where you can get your things or want to buy something to bring home. When you are looking for stuffs like praying mattress, abaya, or just key rings, you can find it on the basement level of the hotel. The price is considering cheap especially if you could do some bargain.

The room is equipped with stove though you have to bring your own kitchen supplies and cooking tools. I don't recommend you cook in the room, since the food counter and food court are very close by. Breakfast also nice with Asian, Arabian, and Western choice of food. I don't think that you will get bored though you have to stay for a week or more.
Room Tip: Definitely, the room which has view to Masjidil Haram (Al-Haram Mosque). Take the highest floor possible.

Overall Rating: AVERAGE

Reviewed July 22, 2013
Visited May 2013

The best time to see the King Fahd Fountain is after Maghrib (sunset) praying time. You can join with many locals with their family playing in the park with the fountain as background.
The fountain itself it's just a giant fountain, nothing more. There is no light/laser show and no music. The government of SA or city of Jeddah could actually very easy to add the laser show for instance if they had ever thought about it :)

The park is not very clean, though we can find many trash can, people who visit the park seemed didn't care enough to its cleanliness.

Overall Rating: AVERAGE

Reviewed July 22, 2013
Stayed May 2013
Traveled on business

It's the location; the hotel best value, because it's in the center of Jeddah and close by to the beach where The King Fahd Fountain is located. If you want to go to see the fountain, better to go after Maghrib (sunset) praying time. It actually very close by from the hotel, but since you have to make a long U-turn, using the taxi will take you there in about 10 minutes or around SAR 20.

This hotel is managed by Pullman, and that can give guarantee of its service quality is above the standard other hotels in Saudi Arabia. For sleep quality, cleanliness, and rooms in my opinion are a little less than other Pullman new hotels around the world. Yes, this is an old hotel and being refurnished by Pullman. I can't say anything about breakfast since I didn't have breakfast in the hotel. But coffee shop like Dunkin Donuts is very close by and you can reach it by foot when the sun is not yet burning you :).

I stayed in this hotel for business trip and left the hotel in Ikhram for Umrah heading to Mecca. This hotel provided the transfer point to point to your preferred hotel in Mecca with sedan until 3 persons and with minivan if it's more than 3 persons. The cost is considering cheaper if you compare to taxis, but of course much more expensive compare to buses. It only cost me SAR 150 one way and the journey only took me 70 minutes from Jeddah to Mecca. The same car with the same driver also can you booked to pick you up again from Mecca to go to Madinah or back to Jeddah. It cost me SAR 250 from Zamzam Hotel Mecca to Jeddah Int'l airport. The journey back to Jeddah Int'l airport from Zamzam Hotel Mecca took me about 90 minutes.

There is one thing that you should remember for not doing. This hotel located in the same street and very close to US Embassy (on Palestinian Road). If you come to the hotel from East direction you will go by passed the US Embassy. Be careful if you holding camera in your hand, since it is much prohibited to shoot pictures even from the car, even outside the perimeter of the US Embassy, even you meant to take other pictures or even selfie. So, if you are planning to take picture of your hotel from the car remember not to hold it to the point that the guard and CCTV can see it when you pass US Embassy. But I managed to take one shot just before I got out the car right in front of the hotel :).
Room Tip: Choose the one with the pool view, otherwise, all you can see is the boring buildings.

Overall Rating: GOOD

Reviewed July 6, 2013
Visited May 2013

It's very easy to get up, because you will not find a long queue. Not that many visitors visiting Riyadh, and that also true for this tower. I think it's better to go up to the sky bridge in the evening where you can see the city lights, because in the day time, Riyadh comes with same color which is brown!

They told you it's not allowed to bring your own camera, but since communication gadgets now equipped with good quality camera, you can always take pictures with your gadgets. But for my case, I bring my pocket camera and took lots of pictures with no problem.

Don't forget to lean on the 45 degree glass wall on the sky bridge observation deck and take your picture. You will get the sensation of falling down in to the wave of city lights :)

This is my second hotel to stay while I was in Riyadh. Compare to the first one, Ibis Riyadh on Olaya street is newer, cleaner, more professional. It is a new hotel which just opened end of last year and that's the reason why it's cleaner. The staffs are very professional like the usual Ibis standard all around the world.

But one thing that you will feel it's the atmosphere the moment you enter the hotel lobby. You will feel that you are not in Riyadh anymore. Riyadh is famous of its strong culture and local customs where you have to follow, but when you enter this hotel lobby, you'll get the feeling that you have "some kind of immunity" because inside the hotel front door, the atmosphere become less strong, it's like you pass the custom at the airport and enter the waiting room for boarding the airplane... it is like that feeling. Therefore I recommend this hotel for foreigner who wish to stay in Riyadh, where you can "loosen up" little bit while you are at the hotel.

The room is like all Ibis hotel. It is small, but I think it's OK as long as you are not looking spacious hotel room in your mind. The bathroom only with shower without bath tub. And since it is built on the dens location, you will only see the wall of building next door from your bedroom window. But I want to give two thumbs up for the sleep quality. In the area where habit of the people to sleep on hard bed, this hotel manage to give the high quality bed with goose feather pillow for their guests. Very nice!

The location is at its most. Only 3-minutes’ walk from the hotel to the Kingdom Tower complex, where you can find nice stores, convenient stores, and wide variety of food selections in the food court. And of course if you fancy to see the Riyadh from up high, you can go to Sky Bridge on the top of the tower.

To get to the observation deck it only cost you SAR 40, but to have a dinner inside the globe, you have to pay much more. The observation deck is worth the money spent. Too bad the souvenir shop is already out of business, so you can't buy key chains :)

The mall is good, and the choice of food in the mall also good.

Overall Rating: POOR

Reviewed May 10, 2013
Stayed May 2013
Traveled on business

This is the first time I visited Riyadh. My Colleague recommended this hotel since it's close to the office where I had to work most of the time. It didn't take me long to decide but since I had to stay for 9 days in Riyadh, I decided to stay in two different hotels. You know what? Thanks god I did, because otherwise I will be mad at my friend :) because this hotel is so... I can't even say it!

OK... minuses:
(1) The bed. It's like sleeping on the floor or a board. It's very hard. I don't know about those who like hard matrass, but I really don't.
(2) The carpet. It's old and though it's clean, still feel like it's not clean enough because of the bad choice of color.
(3) The bathroom floor. I stayed in room 504, and some pieces of bathroom floor are broken and its bounces when you step on it.
(4) The hot water. For the first 3 nights, when I took the shower, the hot water and cold water changes every 3 seconds. So sometimes you feel too hot, but other time you feel too cold. For the 4th night the hot water were not even there. And for the 5th and 6th nights I had to open the water for more than 10 minutes before I could get the hot water.
(5) The breakfast. It's like almost having the exact same food every morning.

To be fair, the hotel do have pluses:
(1) Of course it's location. It located 10 minutes-walk to the Al Faisaliah mall and tower where you can go to observation deck and enjoy Riyadh lights at night. Or to get something to eat on the food plaza at the mall.
(2) This is probably the thing that can wipe the minuses. One afternoon I need to go around, and asked the receptionist to write the address in Arabic for me. But he was Pakistanis and asked his Saudi friend instead. But to my surprise, he offer the lift by his car and didn’t want to accept tips. His name is Jamal and he is an employee at the hotel but also a university student majoring in accounting. He even asked me to call him if I wanted to get back to the hotel again. But I took taxi instead :)

And that might be the only 2 pluses that this hotel had. IMHO, they really should improve. The rate of the hotel is quite high only to have this kind of services.