This is supposed to be a 5 star hotel but it falls short – you can do better at other hotels in Bahrain. Why? In no particular order…

The breakfast buffet was terrible. There was not a lot of items to begin with. You could order items like pancakes or omelets but these items took forever to make. We waited 30 minutes for an omelet.

The pool is just plain ugly. It is surrounded by that green artificial grass carpet. The carpet is very old and is coming off the deck in many places. The lounge chairs are just as old and yucky. The pool area is also right next to one of the main roads in Bahrain. This road is presently having a lot of construction. This means that the pool area is not only loud but there is a lot of dust in the air from the construction. Once the construction done and the new road is complete, the road look like it will be elevated in such a manner that passing vehicles will be able to look right down into the pool area. Please see my pictures that I have posted of the pool and the constructions being done close to the pool.

The hotel itself is located in the Diplomatic area of Bahrain. This means that there are not any really close shopping areas or restaurants.

Our room was in the executive part of the hotel. The room itself was nice but there were some stains on the walls and air vents.

On a positive note, there was free WI-FI in our room. I’m not sure if this is in all the rooms or just the executive rooms.

Would I stay there again – no. There are better places to stay in Bahrain for the same amount of money.

I enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere at Crown Plaza Hotel
It was really fun vacation

I stayed here for one night (a Friday) due to a last minute business meet. Very friendly staff and a comfortable room but nothing special for the price. The room had the usual Tea and Coffee making stuff but only as long as you limited yourself; to take advantage of the mini bar you would need to take out an extra mortgage.
The reason I chose the Crowne was because of the Sports bar advertised and the London Pride ale on tap in the Harvester bar. The sports bar was closed during the Rugby and the London Pride was off.
The place was very lively during the day as it was Friday and the locals and expats were enjoying the food and drink on offer. The food was very good and the entertainment OK; it's a long time since I saw a punch up in pub (good old Brits, they never let you down). Will I stay there again? not really when there are so many others to choose from. Mind you, the overhead freeway next to the pool will be interesting when its finished.

Location: pretty conveniently located just across the old causeway on the way in from the airport

Check-in process: friendly and efficient staff from the Philippines and India.

Room: very tired decor that looks very much in need of a renovation. Furthermore, neither the room nor the bathrooms are particularly large. On the plus side, there are decent Molton Brown "cool cucumber" bathroom amenities, as well as ThisWorks sleep packages as part of the turndown service. As with most hotels in the Gulf, bathroom slippers are provided.

Service: relatively efficient room service and housekeeping. Service in the breakfast area is also decent though not especially smiling.

Local surroundings: there's not much in the vicinity in the form of convenience stores. Separately, bear in mind that the lobby area and adjacent bar become pretty busy on Wednesday evenings as the Damman / Dhahran community descends from across the border for access to alcoholic beverages.

Check-out process: efficient.