Novotel Makkah Thaker City

PROS: - The breakfast was incredible! Kept me going for most of my day and was delicious with a wide and differing variety each day - The hotel is brand new, so it is neat and clean - The bed was very comfortable - Plenty of fast elevators that avoid a build up of rush - Shuttle service seems to be getting better (see new timetable), but can improve a lot. Consistency and a better place for pick up and drop off required CONS: - The location is awful. I had many an Uber and Careem driver come to my location but they would mostly end up somewhere else, which was infuriating to say the least, as the road Novotel is located does not show on maps. This may change with time once construction is complete and the road is displayed on maps but until then, it’s likely to cause problems - The location is far from the Haram. When the construction of the Haram’s Ghazza side is complete (which frankly may take another 3-5 years I feel) only then can the location be considered semi-decent. With all the construction going on in and around the Haram, taxi drivers charge much more as the route they have to take is much longer due to road closures - The showers are a travesty! The person who designed the showers should have angled the floor tiles in a way that the water flows downwards towards the drain. Instead, it leaks out and floods the bathroom floor. It is a major design flaw that causes inconvenience to the guests and the staff who have to keep assigning new rooms. I was moved swiftly to another room in which, although the water flowed out less, I ended up placing an extra towel in front of the shower entrance on the floor to absorb the spillage - The drainage is poorly designed. The drain next to the toilet, which passes water from (I presume) other rooms to the main gutter, “burps” all day and night which can be disturbing to sleeping guests. Also, it can produce a stench at times which I experienced over the 4 days I was there - The receptionists could smile a bit more. It goes a long way. Otherwise they are very helpful :) SUMMARY: All in all, it’s a decent hotel and well worth the price. But be ready to face a few challenges

It brand-new property Shower glass curtains still not installed , so makes a pool in the bathroom. To get toiletries it took us 2 hours and 5 calls to the reception . A good place to stay if service does not matter to u.

Location and bus service is terrible. It is located on top of a hill and there are no restaurants, stores or taxi available within 300m of the hotel. The bus service is very irregular and the reception staff is pretty new and not knowledgeable. If one is able to get a hotel closer to Haram by paying extra 50-100 SAR then please do so. Novotel is not worth living far from Haram as the services and management is terrible.

The hotel is new and very clean ... but i think it is still under development, as a result of that they need to improve their services ( Not everything should be available is available such as shaving kit, coffee, reliable shuttle bus, and reception didn't answer all the time ) One more thing, they said that there is a connected rooms ... I am here 5 days in the hotel and every day they promised me to give me a connected rooms but unfortunately they didn't!!

We enjoyed our stay. It was very good experience with Novotel team and quick service . Only problem we faced was water drainage in bathroom which maintenance team has to really look in but house keeping staffs are great at job.