Now a Crowne Plaza, in name at least
Written: Feb 05 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent Seafood Restaurant, good buffet meals
Cons: Old, not much in the immediate area
The Bottom Line: Great dining, but old and mediocre rooms
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| vodkaboy's Full Review: Holiday Inn Bahrain |
Bahrain is a casual, relaxed, easy-going place where things move slowly, even time. The Holiday Inn was rebranded a Crowne Plaza several years ago but people locally still refer to it as the Holiday Inn. Even Epinions still haven't updated the database!
During 2004, I stayed at several hotels in Bahrain, including the Crowne Plaza. It was not my favourite, the rooms are basic and both the décor and the furniture look like they have not been updated since the eighties. The people, however, were nice and the restaurants, in particular, are second to none!
Location
The Crowne Plaza is located at a corner of the city, in an area known as the Diplomatic Area, just after crossing from the airport onto the main island. Many of the banks and financial institutions are very nearby, within walking distance (except perhaps in the height of summer when temperatures rise above 45C). There is another large hotel next door, but otherwise not much else in the immediate area, which leaves you at the mercy of the infamous Bahraini taxi drivers!
Unlike most of the other hotels, the hotel is not a high-rise block. It is just three floors high, with the rooms in wings either side of the main central block which holds the reception and restaurants. The wings are built as several three-sided blocks, each around a triangular courtyard – so looking from above it would appear as a series of inter-connected triangles. Quite innovative and interesting in its time, perhaps, but sometimes finding the way to the room, or back again, could be a bit confusing as all of the triangles look the same, especially late at night!
Arrival
The entrance to the hotel is slightly up hill, past a security post at the gate; if you have a car, you’ll want to know that there are two small car parks, one either side . The drive ends in a roundabout in front of the main door, with another small parking area immediately to the right.
The lobby is wide and spacious, with a nicely decorated inlaid floor. A concierge desk is on the left, next to the reception desk; a cafe area is to the right and, behind that, Waves restaurant. Ahead is the entrance to the main restaurant, Mosaic, and the Harvesters pub. Round to the left, behind reception, there is a hair dresser.
The people at Reception have always been pleasant and both checking in and checking out have been quick and hassle free. Porters are available and quick to help with luggage. The valet parking service can be quite slow, but that is normal across Bahrain!
The Rooms
The rooms that have I have stayed in at the Crowne Plaza, once I found my way through the triangular maze, all looked past their best. The carpet looked faded, and the colour was definitely not from any catalogue this decade or the last. The desk, chair and armchair were fine, but it was the bed that was the main disappointment. It was old, cheap or both – it was small for a double bed, hard and I could hear the springs whenever I moved. It just felt old and rickety. OK, it got me through the nights, but at the end of each evening I just didn’t look forward to climbing into my bed as much as I usually do!
Otherwise the rooms were adequate. Air conditioning is critical, especially in summer, and here I had no problems having the room chilled enough to keep a penguin happy, and doing so quietly. There was a well stocked minibar, overpriced as usual; the desk was reasonably equipped for working at. The TV was successfully tuned in to the range of movie and series channels available in Bahrain.
Food and Drink
This was where the Crowne Plaza excelled, strange that the hotel can offer such average rooms but such excellent restaurants.
The main restaurant is Mosaic, which offers an extensive international buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner, but the real treat is the Friday bubbly brunch. Most of the hotels offer a brunch on Friday, but Mosaic’s is one of the best, one of the few to include sparkling wine and is certainly the most popular, you need to reserve in advance even if you are staying at the hotel. When it is busy, such as during the brunch, the service can be slow and unhelpful and once when I complained the restaurant manageress seemed uninterested in actually doing anything about it. I guess when they are so busy, they think they can afford to not care!
Some of the best seafood meals I have ever had, anywhere, were at Waves. The starter and main course can be ordered either a la carte, from a selection of oriental, Lebanese or Indian specialities, or you can select your own fish from a wide, fresh selection on an iced buffet, choose how you want it cooked and with what sauce, and it arrives twenty minutes later done to perfection. From time to time they have promotions, such as half price prawn dishes, or a set menu including various speciality whiskies and the service has always been excellent.
For more casual dining, Harvester's pub is next to Mosaic, with traditional pub grub. Most evenings, though, there was a band with a few backing musicians and about five scantily clad female singers, all very mediocre, performing naff songs to a cheesy routine.
The lobby Capuccino Café offers, unsurprisingly, tea and coffee plus sandwiches, cakes and pastries.
Tracks is a sports bar offering light snacks, games, the other stuff that sports bars do.
Finally, there is the Golden Club, a cabaret club offering some international food with a singing, dancing show. What I heard drifting through the doors didn't really inspire an appetite!
Facilities
Attached to The Crowne Plaza is a large conference centre, the first purpose-built venue in Bahrain they say, available for meetings, banquets etc. It is one of the three larger meeting facilities in the city, with a total of eleven rooms accommodating from 10 up to 1,700 delegates.
There is an outdoor pool, a Nautilus a fitness centre with gym, sauna, jacuzzi and massage. The hotel guide also says there is a basketball court, which puzzled me.
In the lobby area there is also a hair dressers and a gift shop.
There is a car hire desk in the hotel but you would do just as well to go directly to the Avis office which is just outside, around to the right behind the hotel.
Overall
With double rooms priced from BD52, approximately GBP75 or USD140, it is not bad value, especially if you can get special offers during the quiet seasons.
It is one of the older hotels in Bahrain. They have certainly upgraded some of the public areas and now offer several top notch restaurants. The conference facilities, from the little that I saw of them, are still good and certainly cater for a wide range of needs. However, the rooms still let them down quite badly.
A great hotel to visit, to eat at, but just not so good to sleep at!
Recommended: for dining, yes, very highly recommended, but for somewhere to stay, I would suggest the Sheraton Hotel for more comfortable rooms.
Recommended:
No
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vodkaboy
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I've been thinking. That's an improvement.
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