The Al Dar Regency was one of the recommended hotels by an exhibition organisor.

As it is only a 20 minute cab fare from the new exhibition center it is in a good location.

On arrival i immediatelly had a feeling of woe. The small reception looked tired and very dated. The front of house staff greated me cordially but looking at the equipment they had to work with i imagine their job is quite a challenge.

I had a room on the fifth floor - My first shock was to see a 2 ring hob and sink in the small entrance to the bedroom.

The bedroom had two large twin beds floor to ceiling net curtains that needed a wash and plastic outer curtains - Yuch. There was a cigarette burn on the carpet and on the bedside cabinet.

bed was comfortable and the sheets clean.

The worst part of this hotel was the bathroom. The false cieling tiles were very old - stained and in some areas broken, the wall mirror was damaged, the bath had no plug, the shower was at best - functional.

This was like a Spanish 3 star hotel 20 years ago!!!!!

The restaurant on the 15th floor has a lovely view, but you wont want to spend long to enjoy it. The buffet consists of second rate products - jars of honey and marmalade have little taste. the hot buffet offerings were inedable.
If all you want is coffe, toast and fruit then this will be OK

At $280 per night this is very bad value for money. No internet axcess in the rooms and a wireless hot spot that wouldn;t work in the reception area

The hotel bar is depressing, the seats are uncomfortable.

I didnt know this but there is a sheraton 10 meters away - pay the extra and stay there

All in all this was average. The plus side is definitely the customer service, which was excellent. Good location, close to the Corniche, but rooms (bathrooms in particular), could do with some updating.

Business travellers, and most others, should avoid this hotel. It is poorly maintained and needs a thorough clean. Staff are civil but completely chaotic. Above all, it is extremely noisy, with a "nightclub" on the ground floor which plays music so loud-- till 2.30AM every night-- that I had to move from a room on the 6th floor to one on the 11th. In one room my shower barely produced any water and in the other room it fell apart in my hand. I was told hot water was available at certain times, but in four nights and three days I never found when. My phone worked only intermittently and both outgoing and incoming calls cut off. A request for a tax to be called results in the guest's being told to take a seat, but only when you go back and ask "how long is the taxi going to take?" do the staff actually call one. The hotel presents itself as a normal international class hotel, but it functions as a hostel for workers from the Asian subcontinent and southeast Asia, many of whom are families with several small children, and Eastern European construction workers with a fondness for drinking in one another's rooms till the small hours of the morning. The "nighclub" --and its hostesses--attached to the hotel have a very bad reputation locally and women guests should avoid lingering alone in the reception area in the evening.

If you are casual about cleanliness, have no fixed schedule and could sleep through a train wreck, it's probably OK for you.

Hotel booked for us by s/o's new employer while her flat was being readied. Other poster's bang-on: options for extended stay and midrange hotels in town are extremely limited. Opinions of two-week stay:

Plusses: Hotel is close to Corniche, LuLu Center shopping, Hamdan Street (clothes), Iranian souq (appliances and small knick-knacks) and Sheraton (cabs after dark, dining options and business center). Kitchenettes in most rooms (fridge and electric hobs).

Minuses: Cabs stopping at the hotel often refuse to pick up fares here, especially after dark (few Western guests). Mold on bathroom tiles and on air conditioning vents gave us colds. S/O refused to bathe in rusty tub. Hotel's business center closed. Internet access spotty. Staff nice but useless in recommending tourist activities. Hotel bars are tacky and even the cheapest beers are more expensive here than some 5* hotels in town. Dining options in hotel and in immediate area extremely limited and/or expensive.

Bottom line:

The hotel truly looks like 4* outside but struggles to put together a 2* service inside. Hotel caters mostly to non-Western oilfield crews, temporary housing for expats, airline flight cancellation victims and budget tourists from E. Europe and Asia. I feel sorry for them all.