The hotel is well located on the second row in front of the Haram. If like me you're looking for a view on the Haram, better choose a front row hotel. Anyway, when I got to the Madinah Hilton I had a junior suite part Haram view prepaid booking. I was informed by the receptionist that there is no such thing as "junior suite" but a "studio" which actually is on the small side. I arrived at 4 PM and got a room on the 1st floor though I had requested a higher floor. But I took what was available especially since the reception clerk said this was exactly what I had booked. But it was not the case. The only view I had was on a construction site and a busy and noisy street. This was certainly not the part Haram view I had booked hence the Mosque was on the other side. I went down again to the receptionist who acknowledged the facts and suggested I take a regular room instead of my junior suite with partial Haram view. Needless to say I refused and insisted I get the room I paid for months earlier.

There was no response from the receptionist nor from the assistant manager I called. I had simply to accept they had given my room to someone else. All this was a great disappointment for me and my family.

As for the other services, the concierge and bell boys were nice and efficient and even more so were the restaurant people and manager. The food buffet was okay (we arrived from Raffles Makkah!) and no waiting for a table at Iftar. I would recommend a full board package in Ramadan since taken separately the buffet is quite expensive for what you're getting. On the downside there is no in-room Wifi.

All in all a nice hotel well located but you may end up paying for a room more expensive than what you actually get without a sorry nor compensation of any sort.

Unlike in Mecca, Hilton's spot in Madinah requires 5-minutes walk to the Prophet Mosque, but the closest hotels do not have much advantage over Hilton, because the surrounding area of the Mosque is so wide, you have to walk to reach there anyway. The walk to and back from the Mosque is interesting, street merchants selling cheapest of everything you can find anywhere on earth I guess, and since there is no additional tax stores are cheap as well. Hotel restaurant has a magnificent view of the mosque. I visited Madinah 4 times, and prefered Hilton on the last 3 visits.

This Hotel has so many good things, the main ones are:

1- Its Location which is very close to Haram Nabawi.
2- It is very clean and rooms are very well organized and clean.
3- Its interior design is great.
4- Very close to Markets and Grocery.
5- The most important one is the hospitality of its staff.

My wife and I stayed here for 5 nights. The hotel is close to the Masjid, but others are closer. We were not impressed with the quality of the rooms or the bathrooms, and did not feel it deserved a 5 star rating. As always staff were more than helpful and attentive. Breakfast was not as good as the Hilton in Makkah. We had secured a good deal via the Hilton website and therefore decided to spoil ourselves with a "Haram View" room. Alas, it wasn't quite what we were hoping for. Other hotels are closer to the Haram, with better views and much nicer overall. Some even have wifi, which the Hilton did not. That's inexcusable in this day and age. All of the above we saw in the two IC hotels. Might try those next time