[Hotel Review] Raffles Doha

On By Satu KosongIn Accor, Doha, Holiday, Qatar, Raffles Hotel
Grabbed from official site

This became one of my checklist after watching a video on this gorgeous property – I was completely smitten and started thinking when I’d get to live it up in this crazy luxurious spot. This was THE checklist of the year for me. Can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait.

I also have to disclaim that whatever I am going to review on is based on the fact that this is a Raffles, apparently one of the best hotels in Doha at the moment, and charging me SGD600+ per night. So everything was pegged to expectations from a property of this calibre.

Qatar Quest 2025

Address – Marina District, Lusail City, 4747 DOHA, Qatar. Website.

Contact – Tel: +974 4030 7100. Email: info.doha@raffles.com.

Location – the property enjoys a prime spot in the iconic Katara Tower in the Lusail district – you really can’t miss it in Doha. The sight of that curved beauty is Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands equivalent and inspired by the crossed swords of Qatar. Cool.

Price – QAR1,890 per night booked for an Urban Suite via Hotelux’s Accor Pref Hera Special Rate (STEP Programme). This includes breakfast and USD100 credits to spend during my stay, as well as a one-way transfer. Not too bad although not cheap too I must say.

Pre-arrival – Although I had proactively reached out for some requests which was acknowledged, I was surprised that there was no official pre-arrival welcome, especially for a luxury hotel which touts its Butler service as a signature. My past experiences with Raffles Singapore and Raffles Jakarta were very different – with them I either recieved personalised welcome emails or messages but nothing here. Just silence.

This, despite their website listing their “legendary welcome” as an ‘experience’. Mine was an erm non- experience I guess?

Getting There – Included in my Hotelux booking was a one-way airport transfer so I arranged for pick up from airport on arrival. I recieved a confirmation letter from the hotel, and on the day of the pickup, I recieved a Whatsapp message from the Concierge Supervisor informing me of the name and contact details of the driver who was holding a Raffles logo signage at the arrival hall. The car was plushy and gave me a very comfortable 30-min ride to the property.

Seeing the iconic Katara Towers as I approached the property was surreal!

Upon reaching the hotel driveway, the staff at the door came over to assist with my luggage but there was no one to usher me inside and instead, I was simply told “the check in is on the right side” and was expected to make my own way in. In contrast, Ritz Carlton Hong Kong staff was on standby at the driveway to welcome me already prepared with my check in formalities.

I took a moment to take in how crazy the building looks from the outside versus the rather nondescript arrival driveway.

Check In – the check in desk is located in one corner after you pass through the revolving door and is a simple desk set up staffed by 2pax, with some seating areas in one corner.

Right outside the check in area is a little station equipped with wet towels and dates – I see this only during sporadic times of day so there is probably some sort of timing for this.

I do have to say, the hotel lobby is absolutely gorgeous with its bling shiny everything all capped off with their posted-everywhere lobby ceiling. Pictures can’t really give an accurate sense of the space but here goes my pics anyway.

I was told that I had been upgraded to a Signature Suite due to my Accor Platinum status and with a set of rather nice wooden key cards in hand, off I went with a staff to bring me to my Suite.

The lift lobby and corridors were similarly impressive and carries through the opulence theme of the property. The lift control is a smart system that requires tapping of your key card and confirming your floor before you are assigned a lift to enter.

Room – I have never stayed in a hotel where a Suite at 93SqM is the lead-in room but there is a first time for everything I guess? The Urban Signature Suite (117SqM) was huge space but the entry surprised me due to how narrow the walkway is.

The glizty woody block has hidden doors which opens up to a few areas of the Suite:

First up is of course the mad bling not-so-mini mini bar – the biggest and shiniest I’ve come across in all my travels which meant it was impossible to take better pics without showing my face. Along with cupwares, non-alcoholic drinks, a Nespresso machine and plenty of teas, I was surprised there were no snacks / bites / nuts offered. Lovely Raffles-branded coasters though.

Along the other side of the wall is a guest toilet…

And then there’s this nice walk-in wardrobe area where classy wooden furnishings helm the space with useful fittings and compartments. I found it a tad narrow through if 2pax were to be using this space.

Nice touches include the atas clothes hanger and bathrobes, as well the provision of a Dyson hairdryer.

The property even offers 2 types of slippers – fluffy bedroom ones as well what looked like it’ll be useful for the beach. Wasn’t sure if these can be taken as souvenirs though.

At turn down, a turndown kit is opened up laid on the dressing table for your easy access – thoughtful of them to provide type-specific bags!

The living space of the Suite is a really pretty space and honestly too big for 1pax! A fully decked out wall with a huge TV, a dining table for 2pax, a sofa good enough for 3-4pax, and another single lounge chair in a corner. Plenty of rest spots for sure!

On the coffee table in the centre of this space sat my welcome amenity – I had requested for a low sugar version and I was happy that this was accommodated – the berries and fruits was definitely a good replacement! Those chocolates are of course regular ones which was nice too!

This space extends out into a spacious balcony containing 2 sunbeds where you can stare into Fairmont’s rooms on the other side accompanied by great views of the neighourhood – views were great during both day and night times.

The bedroom space faces an expansive view as well but from a different angle – blinds can be drawn down for privacy reasons of course. The bed is super plush (yay to firm pillows!) and comes with a generous amount of bedside space. I also appreciated that there is a proper work desk which became my charging station + barangs.

At turndown, the usual fold out of the bedding + placement of slippers happened but I was surprised there weren’t more to it, perhaps some chocolate pralines like how Ritz does it will be nice?

Lastly, the bathroom space is another gorgeously marbled space which I loved generously equipped with amenities including Raffles branded towels and toilet papers!

There is a separate toilet which did what is does….

The shower space deserves its own mention due to the multiple nozzle functions which took a while to figure out, Fredrick Malle toiletries, as well as a steam / sauna (?) function which I was lukewarm and hardly heated up to create steam to my disappointment.

In terms of technology, there are plenty of modern switches and controls around the Suite for blinds, curtains, lights etc.

The Ipad control set up beside the bed is also a sort of master control that controls the above and everything else – I find it super useful that you can separately control the TVs in the living space and bedroom and just about everything else – though I couldn’t quite figure out how to work the personalized scents thingy and gave up after a few attempts.

For those who usually do in-room dining, it its 24hrs and the menu available online here. Prices are expectedly a little crazy but its Raffles after all! Screenshots for easy reference below.

Breakfast in the property is served at L’Artisan from 7:00am-10:30am – it is a lovely space although I had the impression that it is bigger for some reason. In any case, I suppose either breakfast is too expensive to add on or occupancy was really low during my stay – at no point did I see it more than 50% full.

I managed to take some photos at dusk so I get some nice shots:

The space is of course brighter during breakfast hours, with plenty of sunlight.

Guests are offered a small but quality buffet spread of carbs, cold stuff, and fruits etc. I liked it that they had plenty of local delicacies including Middle Eastern cheeses, seeds, nuts, and alot of healthy options.

Then there is an ala carte menu where you can order as much as you like. Over the course of 2x breakfasts, I tried the shashuka, falafels, dim sum, and of course had to get the Raffles Signature Waffle which came shaped like the building.

Facilities – I did my best to hop by / try out all the facilities during my 2-night stay so here we go.

The Fitness Centre (24hrs) is a surprisingly dark place – spacious but really dark and very mirror-y. The staff said that’s the way it is – weird huh. I think people need a less depressing space to workout in.

The property offers 2 pools – the main Raffles Pool is free for in-house guests but completely empty when I dropped by. Lovely place to squeeze in some laps I thought.

Aqua Pool is a paid-access pool even for in-house guest as apparently the pool is owned by the restaurant, Aqua Urban Deck.

It is split into 3 different areas of access and each area has pricing packages with different inclusions. When I inquired, the info was verbally read out to me which I thought was so strange – isn’t it easier to have it printed on a card or something? I later realized that the pricing is available on the website as this package can be purchased by non in-house guests as well – they call this “Poolside Luxury“.

This is where I enjoyed my Accor welcome drinks as well – and was thrilled to know that real champagne is included in the choice too – it even comes with olives and nuts with each serving. YAY.

Raffles Spa (10am-10pm) – the wet facilities are complimentary for in-house guests and I spent some chillax time in the steam room (couldn’t get it to actually be steaming hot), sauna (average), and erm warm pool which I thought was a jacuzzi but nope, it was just a still body of water. Very weird.

Other Dining – my USD100 credit was used to try other dining options in the property – with a Cesar Salad with Prawns at Makati Lounge + Turkish Coffee. This was really nice!

I also tried an expensive salad and what was indicated and pictured as calamari – but doughy rings of something was delivered instead – I thought this was really crappy of a 5-star property especially when they have an Italian restaurant onsite! So cheated.

Service & Issues – this stay was such an epic disappointment as it was peppered with so many issues it was impossible to give this stay a good rating. Some were the least of what I would expect from a Raffles and some were common user logic which I simply cannot reconcile.

1. Hair found on living room sofa (UGH) – On check in, I did my routine wipeout and to my horror found strands of long hair on the living room sofa, presummingly from the previous guest. Called housekeeping immediately and they came back to take pics and proceed to give the sofa a more thorough clean. But housekeeping should have done this in the first place?

2. Bathroom flooded after shower – I had the multiple nozzles on for my shower but the entire bathroom flooded thereafter. Had to call housekeeping again who dried the space for me. He told me there is nothing wrong with the drainage system and perhaps it is because some of the nozzles designs point towards the shower door. But why design something which will cause a problem when used?

3. The Nespresso machine placement in the mini bar area – it was nestled in such a compact space which prevented the lever from being opened fully – so new pods cannot be slotted in and used pods cannot be pushed out as a result of this. My habit of rinsing out any coffee machine in a hotel before I make my drink resulted in the almost coffee-like liquid (see last pic) from the machine due to the old pod from the previous guest was still stuck inside. A feedback about this resulted in a visit from a staff showing me that the unit can still be functional if you pull out the entire machine into a slanted spot. BUT why did the housekeeping routine not include checking this in between guests, and again why then the design to only look pretty but not usable?

4. Sparkling water was provided in the mini bar but there was nothing to open it with – a request for an opener in the morning was put in but it was still not there when I came back in the evening and had to call to ask for it a second time before it was delivered. Such a simple task and yet somehow complicated?

5. Some movie channels on the in-room Ipad were not working – the TV did not react when I tapped on these channels so I requested for a technician to come take a look. He said oh these channels are actually not available – ie the hotel did not subscribe to these channels for guests. Then why list them on the Ipad?

6. Laundry sent for pressing arrived late – I couldn’t find any ironing board in the room and called the butler who said rooms do not have them by default but they could send one up to me. I asked if they can instead do it for me and he agreed. I made a request to the staff who collected them to have it delivered back by 6am the next day – he said definitely. Next day 6am, no clothes came – checked both outside the door and the service cabinet. Called to ask for them and staff said she will check. 10mins later, doorbell rang and my pressed clothes were delivered, with a tag clearly stating for return by 6am. Phone then rang from the same lady who asked if I had received my clothes yet – yes but they were late? She asked if I happen to have my D&D on (NO), and said she will feedback to the team. How can a Raffles not even get this correct?

7. Concierge service fail – I needed to wrap my luggage at DOH before I fly home and called to ask the Butler if they knew the service was available. Butler transferred me to Concierge who basically told me she cannot tell me if there is such service or not at the airport as they have never recieved such queries before, but she can check for me if I need to know (erm yes I need to know that’s why I called in the first place). Recieved a callback informing that there is such a service in DOH. Full stop. No further info on cost and location of the service. I decided to give up and she thanked me for the query because ‘now they know such a service exists’.

Check Out – Painlessly done at the front desk and I was out in 10mins.

In Summary,

What a massive disappointment of a stay this turned out to be and I am SO SAD about it. This property has such amazing architecture and hardware but yet the software was a complete sloppy mess. So much form but without substance or function.

The service fails and logic / cleanliness issues made it really hard to have a relaxing stay as much time was wasted fixing them. In case you ask, I was asked twice how my stay was – first by housekeeping, then by front desk at check out. But both were simply perfunctory as no real interest registered, or registered enough to offer any service recovery at all.

It was only after my post-stay survey input got posted on Google Reviews that the Quality and Sustainability Manager from the Executive Office reached out, offering a one-night stay with compliments valid for the next one year ahead. Although appreciated, I can’t help but feel that such service recovery should be offered to guests during the stay, not after.

Perhaps the property has it good and bad days and I was unlucky to catch everyone on a bad day. But just based on my experience, I would not recommend anyone to stay here – perhaps come here for a coffee or two and grab some amazing photos but save your hotel spends for somewhere else.

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