Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah, Riyadh

Excellent service, great hospitality and definitely would stay here again in the future

Good food

The Mandarin Oriental in Riyadh was, hands down, one of the best hotel experiences I have ever had. This is a lot for me to say, since Saudi was my 65th visited country. The staff were truly amazing and were always there to help you out in every way possible. When asking where something is, they will not tell you … they will personally bring you there. Even if it is in one of the other buildings. It is easy to see that the management places service as a number one priority. As you wander around the hotel you will notice that every section is carefully designed and offers a new interesting feature to please the eye. Now, of course, the dining. On our first evening we had dinner in the Al Faisaliah tower in “The Globe” restaurant. Of course, we did enjoy the stunning views of the city on the observation deck before dinner. We selected the sampler meal with the cocktail matching which was very exquisite. The main dishes were the Chilean Salmon and the Australian lamb. The meal finishes off with a rich hazelnut chocolate dessert. For breakfast and dinner the following day we went for the buffet selections at “The Brasserie” which is located in the main building, The selections for both meals would take too long to describe here. From delicious Lebanese cuisine to a selection of Chinese, Italian and, naturally, traditional Arabic foods, there is something for everyone. The food is laid out with such detail and interesting placements … almost like a museum of food. The rooms are luxurious and, again, very stylish and detailed. From the heated toilet seats that open up when you enter and night lights that follow your movements when you are up late, they seem to have everything covered. The rooms are kept meticulously clean and well stocked with free water (and chocolates) several times a day. In the unlikely event that you do run out of something you can call your personal butler and he will be there quickly to provide what you need. The beds are large and comfortable and have all the pillows you could possibly need. The hotel has the usual spa and workout facilities and has pretty much everything you could want. There are, however, separate spa and gym facilities for men and women so if you are there with a spouse, you will be working out by yourself (consider this your alone time). So there you have it. If you are ready to feel pampered and well taken care of and are looking for a truly luxurious experience then you have to look no further than “The Mandarin Oriental Hotel” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Exactly what you expect from a world class luxury hotel - Spa, gym, restaurants, people are flawless. The interior is like magic. Everything seems completely new and at high service level. No outdoor pool - but superb indoor spa, swim and training.

Well, it was very good stay for us. We came for the boxing match and apart from 1-2 shortcomings we had a great stay. The service from the concierge team was excellent(after going over twice to confirm that everything was set up accordingly regarding transfer to and from the boxing venue). The room service was good. Again very small shortcomings. The set up of our executive suite (additional bed for our daughter was not done on the first day, even through we requested it and came back late in the evening, we had to call the team to come with the extra bed- then was done quickly :-))....So apart from those couple of things we had very good stay. The excursion organised by the Concierge team was excellent(Edge of the World), so if you want to do it with them you wouldnt be disappointed. Considering everything, we would definitely return back to Riaydh and stay again at MO.

The hotel facilities here are good, but the service is absolutely terrible and wholly unbecoming of the Mandarin Oriental band (I have stayed in about 10 of their hotels globally and so am familiar with the usually excellent Mandarin Oriental service. We booked the room from Friday to Sunday and informed the hotel we would not be arriving until early Saturday morning, and had booked the Friday so as to have access to the room immediately. To ensure we arrived at the hotel quickly after an overnight flight, we also booked - at considerable expense - an airport fast-track arrivals service (Al Tanfeethi) combined with a hotel car to meet us there. The car didn't show up. The driver was no-where to be found - after considerable searching by us and the airport staff. We called the hotel and were told it was still 30min away. We got an uber instead at our own expense. On arrival we were told that we would not be charged for the Al Tanfeethi and the hotel car, given that our arrival had been delayed by the no-show of the driver. On depature, we had to wait almost 30min to check out, risking missing our flight, due to understaffing at the front desk. I then signed a bill which had the room charges on, all good so far. Then after having asked several times for an email receipt, several days later after multiple chasers we were sent a bill that had a NO-SHOW penalty for the Friday night (despite us having explained that we would not be arriving until Saturday morning) as well as reinstating the charges for the Al Tanfeethi lounge and hotel car. The conceirge now stated - wholly untruthfully - that the driver was there and that we ordered a second car too. This is completely false and the have now started to invent up fake facts in order to avoid refunding. Further, and fundamentally, these charges were not on the bill I signed . The emails from the concierge are rude and unapologetic - wholly outrageous in any situation, let alone from a brand such as the Mandarin. A disgrace to the Mandarin brand.