Stayed 4 nights during a business trip. Hotel is in the Al Balad, or historic district. One can easily walk from the hotel to the souk, or market, and tour the streets of old Jiddah. (Try to visit Nassif House there after current renovations are complete.) This is not, however, the upscale part of town to the north where the newer, more luxurious hotels are located. The lobby is simple, but clean. The rooms are comfortable, with marble bathrooms, good thick towels, built-in hair dryer, large desks (although no Internet access), and a few satelite TV stations, including 2 English-language movie stations and the BBC. Room had a safe and mini bar. Staff are friendly and on the whole speak sufficient English for basic communication. My colleague, however, was frustrated with unnecessary telephone calls late at night, e.g. follow-up for room service that had been delivered 30 minutes earlier. We had one meal catered for a working session in a conference room. Good, not great food, but very friendly, efficient service in that case. Probably a better hotel for short, tourist-oriented visit rather than business visit, unless you need to be in the southern part of the city. Seems to attract a fair amount of large groups bound for or coming from visits to Mekkah.