Muscat has not a single zone that can be called the centre of the city. On the contrary, the city is distributed approximately along the coast in an extension of about 20 km. This said, no hotel can be said to be located or nearby the centre of the city.
The Coral Hotel is located just 5 min walking distance from the beach and from a stroll that runs just next to the beach. This is what makes the location of the hotel pleasant. There are a lot of people, most Omanis, both on the beach (young people playing football, large families making picnics, people walking along the sea) and on the promenade. So, it is a wonderful place to watch the people passing by and simultaneously enjoy the gorgeous view of the long strip of white sand and the sea. On the other hand, there are no shops or restaurants nearby with the exception of a couple of restaurants by the beach.
The hotel itself is fine. The building has a somewhat strange outside architecture (it is suppose to resemble a boat), the lobby and common areas are quite kitsch but the rooms are of a more sober taste.
The rooms are roomy and comfortable, with a very good mattress (neither too hard nor too soft), comfy pillows and good quality linens. Both the rooms and bathrooms are modern and well appointed, the whole hotel being in very good conditions. The less positive aspect is the restaurant which is very dark, small and with a quite limited choice of food. The breakfast is fine.
The staff of the hotel is very kind and helpful. I found a strange, non-identifiable noise in the first room that was given to me and I reported it to the desk staff. They gave me another room straight away, helping me in moving my things.
Regarding the price and in absolute terms, the hotel is overpriced but it is in line with the prices of hotels in Muscat.

My heart sank when we arrived at the Coral Hotel and I was greeted by three Chinese 'ladies' walking out of the restaurant. They were all smiles when they saw me, but moved off hastily when my wife appeared. When this happens in the Gulf, you don't start to expect much from your hotel.

Like so many places in the region, a little bit of thought would turn the Coral Hotel from an overpriced place you 'end up staying in' to somewhere you might actually choose to visit for pleasure.

The reception staff are pleasant Omani gentlemen who are clearly not empowered to do anything to improve a guest's stay, or the hotel in general, beyond smiling sweetly at irritated visitors.

It took four room changes before we had a room that was clean and had AC which was not ridiculously noisy.

Breakfast was dismal, with the whole experience worsened by the bizarre chilled cake stand in the lobby area, just next to the entrance to the breakfast room. This device, which contained the same three tired looking cream cakes throughout our two night stay, sounded rather like an ageing tractor. It was so noisy you could hear it throughout the public areas of the hotel. We had a wonderful thirty minute respite from its rumblings when I pulled the plug out one morning. Sadly, a hotel worker plugged it back in a short while later.

The building appears to have been converted from offices into a hotel, with each room's bathroom seemingly added as a customised afterthought. There is also a slightly bizarre nautical theme that adds a not-unpleasant surreal feel to the place.

Our stay was very expensive for what we got.

I would recommend avoiding this place - better value to be had elsewhere in Muscat.

This hotel is in a great location, near to the Hyatt hotel and lovely beach. There are great beach restaurents nearby. The hotel itself was good, clean and decor well done, but I thought it was slighly overpriced. Breakfast was good and stroll on the beach was wonderful. But the rest of it, pretty standard. The hotel manager had a great attitude though, he was always ready to help and drove me to my office a couple of times and even to the airport when I needed urgent help.