For what its offering, for its location, for its price, The Holiday inn Olaya Riyadh is a decent place to stay at. I won't be very rude or negative about it since its my chosen place to stay whenever I am in town but I feel sad knowing that it might improve a lot.
During my last stay, I had the chance to meet the manager by going to the hotel from the airport together. A very nice guy from Lebanon with a professional background who wants his hotel to be as perfect as he can. The problem around here, is that the stuff is incompetent and non caring about customers or even the hotel itself. That's a big issue in Saudi Arabia. You feel that nobody cares about the company he works for. Guys, when you work in a company, you are working in a family, feel part of it, give it all you have so you grow beyond your potential. Arriving at the reception, the guy was very rude and unprofessional. He didn't even look at me in the eyes to welcome me, smile at me or even explain about the details of the hotel; what time is breakfast served, the possibility of snacks in the executive floor, the availability of a spa or that the Internet is free only for one device per room. All those I discovered during my stay and had a small problem at check out when they wanted me to pay 300 SR for additional devices connected to the Internet.
Let's talk about the room:
The room, on the fifth floor is wide enough with a large bathroom specially in the new building, but, the post annoying issue is the noise, the vibrations inside that hotel that never want to end. The room, even though it's new, has many small defects from broken lamps to a TV with a very bad signal and an AC system that makes more noise than my grandfather old car.??Room service is efficient but very slow. As I said before, no one cares if a customer waits or the customer satisfaction. They don't know what is it all about. Is it a lack of training? If it is... Please fix it. The morning's room service is careless as well. During my three days at the hotel, no shampoo has been added, no water added in the third day, no towels changed in the second day and so on.??And now comes to most annoying part that I encountered and that is the food coverings they are used to put. I'll explain: on every dish served to the room or used at breakfast or in the afternoon in the executive lounge, they use a nylon wrap to cover the dishes. Why, please someone tell me why? It is so dirty, so unprofessional, so annoying. The Holiday inn is a four stars, such things are unacceptable. Is it to keep the food more fresh? Who told them that it will? Every serving dish gets consumed in less than an hour so it won't even have time to be deteriorated. They cover biscuits, fruits... Everything. I couldn't stand that point, sorry. At the end, even though I went into details that might make me not choose this hotel, but no, I recommend it. Remember that you are in Riyadh and that is one of the best four stars hotels around and it's worth trying. I will be coming back for couple of nights in a month and won't change for another.
Check out last year's quick review of the old building.
