Al Bustan Palace, A Ritz-Carlton Hotel

We have just stayed here 5 nights (leave tomorrow), the rooms are well equipped and spacious with comfortable very large beds. The reception literally takes your breath away, the restaurants are on another level and the gardens and sun loungers / pool areas are immaculate. What tops it all off is the staff are the friendliest and most helpful we have ever encountered (and we have done a lot of holidays over the years!!). Give it a try you will not be disappointed.

I was expecting a great hospitality from this hotel for Ambassador Elite member but unfortunately the manager from reception was lying about the availability of rooms. I sent 2 messages requesting for a room with the sea view. Once arrived they provided a room with Mountain View saying sea view rooms are not available. I said let’s check right now in Marriott app and we will find lots of options for my dates with sea view. And suddenly this lady (I guess she was a head manager at reception, she was staying in the back office of reception) found 1 room (even lower category). When I checked the room it was a pool view room, not a sea view at all because of the low floor. Please never lie to guests. I was super upset about it. I had a booking for 3 nights but I had to leave earlier canceling my stay because I was really disappointed of the management of this hotel mostly for the guest with the highest level of Marriott bonvoy. I would choose another hotel in this region but I chose Ritz just because of my membership level with Marriott and they didn’t appreciate it really focusing on requests of their guest. I would definitely rate this hotel even worse but I can’t because of some reasons: some of the stuff are really friendly. Just they changed my bad opinion (I mean stuff at the main restaurant, at the beach area and housekeeping team, they were amazing). I didn’t like the stuff at reception except some employees and mostly was so disappointed with valet parking team, 2 times during 1 day stay there were no one to take the car or to bring your car. Also hotel should pay attention to the condition and cleanliness of windows in the room, they are dirty, also a lot of scratches on the furniture. But overall I would say my room was really clean, even no spots on sofas. I would also recommend the dinner at the main restaurant, it was so delicious, thank to chefs for such an amazing food. The territory of the hotel is beautiful and calm, they even provide shoes for swimming. That was awesome.

What an amazing hotel we travelled as a family of four (children 4,10yrs) for 6 nights, from the moment we arrived we were wowed by the stunning lobby area & the wonderful Oudh scent. We stayed in the Executive one bedroom suite which was beautiful. The gorgeous bunch of roses placed on our bed was wonderful surprise. The suite was spacious, very clean and wonderfully comfortable. The pool staff were amazing everyday soon as they saw us coming they would greet us with towels and make up our sun loungers and also bring a cool box filled with bottles of water. The call button was impressive I never waited for more than a couple of minutes to be served from my Sun lounger. We ate lunch by the pool most days the food was delicious the kids menu was also great. We booked half board and this was fantastic the breakfast daily was amazing lots of choice, the pastries were magnificent, fresh juices & coconut water daily were a real treat. The eggs were served to us which was great so we didn’t have to wait around. The buffet every evening had so much variety. The different themed nights were all great. Indian, Turkish, Mediterranean… Having access to the private beach was a real plus point for us and we loved our sunset walks. The spa was incredible I enjoyed a hammam & massage which was sublime. The ladies beach area at the spa was special I got some alone time away from the husband and kids!!😂 All the staff we encountered were all really helpful & nothing was too much trouble. We also booked the dolphin watching excursion through the front desk and it was a lot of fun. The kids club and kids pool area was also fab, lots of activities for the kids to do like pizza making, cake decorating… We also experienced the trip to the local souq which was interesting and we bought some wonderful oudh and frankincense. Completely recommend for a quiet, peaceful break in beautiful surroundings for couples or families.

Top hotel in the high end luxury segment: 1) Front desk / customer service top notch without any doubt 2) Property and resort / pool / landscape absolutely stunning - super quiet, huge - thus a lot privacy; everything in place from paddle tennis court to grass soccer field; amazing pool area among the best we have seen (comparable level with Jumeirah Dubai hotels) 3) Lobby very spectacular - it is so big and impressive that it feels even a bit “uncomfortable”…missing a bit the cozy atmosphere to stay and relax 4) Needs to improve in my view - very important to carefully select the “right” room type…executive suite felt very outdated; Mountain View not very nice; I would recommend to go for lagoon room; personally had challenges with extremely hard and thus uncomfortable bed; albeit this obviously being very much depending on individual preferences 5) F&B very high quality; main buffet restaurant feels a bit small and not very spectacular from architectural perspective and outside seating area very nice **** Overall I had the feeling the hotel has lost a bit its atmosphere and can not catch up with “good old times” anymore. This is obviously a very vague and emotional statement…but I was just not experiencing a vibe like you would get in a Jumeirah Al Naseem or similar…maybe that also depending on season and occupation. Still compared to e.g. St Regis, I would prefer Al Bustan Palace in Oman next time.

Showkat and Hamed in housekeeping really looked after us ! Everything perfect and clean and happy. Room serviced twice a day. Always someon on hand and always very attentive. Rooms well placed and always surplus of towels and other amenities