Hotel wasn't off to a good start when you arrive to see loads of overflowing bins and stray cats roaming around the entrance. Never mind, Reception looked nice enough and the staff seemed friendly with a glass of fruit juice awaiting us on arrival. They allowed us to check in early so we were off to a great start! Got to the room and it went quickly downhill! The smell was horrendous! Just a musty euch smell! The bathroom wasn't particularly clean and had a hole in the roof that offered to break even more everytime we opened or closed the door. The beds were clean and comfy so I guess that made up for it. Decided to head to the pool but changed our minds as soon as we looked at it. Right in the centre of the hotel so the sun never reaches it and to get to the pool, you have to walk through the middle of the restaurant whilst people are eating!!! It just wasn't a good experience and really put a black cloud over our trip to Muscat. I will never set foot in that hotel again!

The Hotel has a great location, this is what I would like to mention first and that makes my experience a bit better - from terrible to poor. (of course all is in the eyes of the beholder only). Ahhh - 62 Rials it has cost me - a bargain of nearly U$ 170,- for this jewel of hospitality in Muscat. So let us start from the beginning:

1.Check-In. Upon check-in the manager had to leave his cozy couch in the lobby to drag himself behind the counter and then helped me to find my reservation (or rather told me to go and find my booking number instead - no way that he would search in his arrival list for a possible guest coming from Dubai, that had not checked in and might have been booked under a wrong name). Anyway - checked-in now.

2. Room: The room is ok on first sight, though I was wondering why all curtains are closed only to find out that I have a beautiful building site next to my window 3-4 meters away - and the window is so dirty that I first thought that a US navy destroyer is docked next to the hotel. Closed the curtains again as I decided not to have the workers look at me while changing (or rather my wife). The room itself has a bed that is ok, the other interior is @30 years old, the minibar is empty, the stationary looks like my kid has just surfed down a dune on it. But, I am not here for this - I am here to spend a day in Muscat having fun. Fun in a hotel without TV???? TV has 100 channels of which 25 are randomly occupied, of which again 20 are Indian movies and stuff I am not interested in and the 5 international channels show a blurry, not to be identified picture. So here goes my relaxing 10 minutes watching a movie or the news. But I know now all about Bollywood. :-(

3. Bathroom: Welcoming sign on the toilet: This toilet has been disinfected. Jah, but they forgot to remove the disinfected hairs which were curling up on the floor and the toilet rim. Hmmh - lovely and gave me a good feeling about the kitchen already. Shower is ok, new showerheads from Grohe, warm water and decent amenities.

4.The return to the hotel at around 11pm. We went to Rock BottomCafe/Club/Bar, once a legend in Muscat - still is in Dubai and were amazed that it was empty on a Friday, except some local youngsters getting drunk and a few hookers waiting for customers. The food was poor (calamari were tasting a bit old, so was the fat they were fried in). Chicken wings great, I must say - but the Guinness beer a total mess. Either the keg is old or the beer lines are dirty, which caused the beer to collapse and gave it a smell and taste of an old lemon. Now wanting to pay, I was not able to receive a signed copy of my receipt (billed it to my room), as this was not policy. You know: All in India is policy, and not common sense and guest service - but the Manager (who arrived after the 5th level of managers and policy people had exhausted their skills with me), gave me the bill immediately and apologized. She was great - I just feel that she is in the wrong establishment and hope that she will find a better hotel to work in soon.

5. The night: TV broken, nothing in the minibar, the light switches somewhere hidden or 2 meter high, the bed actually is great and I slept well until 2am when the phone starts ringing and once my wife picked up the phone went dead again and again. Well, having traveled before and know that now the bars of the hotels close, I assume it is the night manager together with hookers calling guests in order to see if one can make extra business. Though that was common in Asia, and was surprised to get hassled here in Muscat with this. Anyway, went back to sleep, but was waken up on a Saturday morning (weekend in Muscat), by sledge hammers and drills drilling into my ears at preciselz 07:00 am.... Ahh, the construction site has woken up. Great if at least somebody informs you first at check-in. So let us get out of bed and have breakfast:

6. Breakfast: In an Indian establishment on the 2nd floor that gets re-built to breakfast room every day. Smells like this and gets you a first impression of the place, which together with the waiters (that rather stand around and want to escape work in their dirty and stained uniforms) brings me to the culinary delights on the buffet: A few salads, Kraft children cheese (the one in plastic foil and la vache qui rit triangles), lousy weak coffee and tea, powdered milk, jam in small plastic things. Breakfast that we got in Dubai 20 years ago and that any 80 U$ hotel like the Majestic Hotel in Bur Dubai (4 stars and great value for money) does not serve to their staff in the in-house canteen. Yakh. But they had fresh fruit (melon and pineapple). Not bad for 170+ U$ a night.

7. Check-out: Wanted to pay by credit card and had to enter my pin code to get the hotel to receive their payment. Dealt with an Omani "front man", who was not asking me how my stay was, if all was ok - but instead just ordered me to sign the credit card slip again. That was policy, though the payment was authorized by my pin number already and that replaces the signature (PCI - compliance laws made by the credit card industry). After I refused and he insisted, I now explained my general discontent to him about the hotel and was told that I had to go and complain to the management. He informed methat he was Omani and did not care about mz complaint. Well, I told him that he will see himself and the lovely Ramme Guestline Qurum tonight in TripAdvisor, as this now was the last drop that I needed in order to share this hotel with you all. Enjoy!

I suggest to the management to uplift the charges per room per night, as you get all this extra "treats" for nothing. Bargain this would be.

We stayed here during Eid. This is part of an indian hotel chain and was located near Al Qurum beach. it was a good hotel. The room was comfortable, welll sized and clean. A substantial breakfast was included and the service was very efficient. Free internet was provided in the lobby but the wireless network in the rooms was more expensive than it needed to be. This aside, we would stay here again as it was a very reasonably priced hotel, and good value for money.

This hotel was quite good. Rooms were nice, but the hotel is not near anything you'd want to visit. They allowed me to check in at 9am even though I just turned up to drop my bags. I had been on an overnight flight from London, so went to have a couple of hours rest (this was my stopover). During those few hours people attempted to come into my room. The first time someone came in- I jumped up and they ran out. The 2nd time, they were stopped by the door's bolt, so left it. The 3rd time the person was trying to get the door open despite the lock. When I got up to see the problem, it was to give me my 2 bottles of free water!?
The hotel itself was fine and in fact good value for money when you compare it to the other hotels in muscat, but this experience was quite concerning that I was a young girl traveling on my own.