Ibis Riyadh Olaya Street Hotel

I cannot imagine that exactly next to the hotel a construction site with cranes that start from 10 pm until 6 am which is exactly the sleeping time for any normal people. This is even against the law but it seems no one care and once this huge noise start at night, the reception staff would stop answering any calls, no notices in the rooms referring to such huge noise from cranes and forks and the TV signal would be also lost .They only take our money and absolutely don't care.

Nightmare on Olaya Street! Our stay at this place was almost like a hotel horror movie combined with the infamous Murphy’s Law. Everything and anything related to the room and stay went wrong right from the minute we entered the hotel! The first annoyance was getting received by an extremely unfriendly and cold front office staff who dropped a shocker that our booking was canceled! And claimed they had sent a mail to us earlier regarding it. A communication we couldn't have caught as we were on a flight to Riyadh. Who cancels a booking at the last minute and informs the guest so late in the evening? The cancellation was clearly a goof up on their end (as the note read ‘canceled as per YOUR request’ ) they had canceled the wrong room after receiving a call from someone else( as the staff - Mr.MUNIF and his deputy were super confused about even how to pronounce or spell our names!) They offered no apologies for the mess up. Given it was 1 AM in the morning, we were tired and helpless and at their mercy. And I am a long-term Accor member and a super loyal guest. This is the first time I am experiencing this kind of treatment. Finally, MUNIF (the front office in charge) acted as if he was throwing us a bone and doing a favor and offered a super random room(despite the Front office Manager MOSTAFA OTHMAN having clearly communicated to me earlier via email that we would be allocated a good room upon availability, let alone getting our booking canceled!). The Room faced a huge construction site and the NOISE was overwhelming and unbearable we couldn't even sleep well as the construction was going on nonstop! We just got 2 tiny twin beds instead of a single large bed we had previously confirmed. The internet was horrible. The toiletries were of poor quality. The so-called gym was a big joke! The list goes on and on. I have stayed at so many IBIS hotels across all the continents, but have never experienced such a poor stay. I would give a ZERO STAR if it was an option. STAY AWAY from this nightmare! LOCATION: Located in the heart of OLAYA district. DINE + DRINK: Lobby-level cafe that is ok for light snacks and coffee and they also have a restaurant that serves breakfast which we didn't get to try ROOM: We stayed in Room 306, so this review is based on that; SIZE: Spacious enough for 2 adults and simple baggage; VIEW: Depressing view of the huge construction site; AIR-CON: Perfectly functioning cooler that helped in setting the perfect room temperature; BED: Supe Tiny beds that made us feel bit scared of rolling out of and could barely get any sleep!; BATHROOM: Stand-in shower; TOILETRIES: Horrible toiletries, please bring your own if you dare to stay here! FACILITIES: A Joke of a Gym with a basic range of weights and Cardio machines SERVICE: The Biggest disappointment during our stay was the Front office staff that made our check-in experience a nightmare! Special shout to MUNIF who was anything but warm (in fact Rude for most parts!) and refused to accept the mistake they had made and kept us on edge until we were finally allocated a room almost out of pity and sympathy(from his viewpoint!! The only saving grace was the sweet front office staff in the morning who resolved our issue with a smile(I guess the name of the girl was RAHAB). Someone who could teach Mr.Munif some hospitality! HOW WIRED YOU WILL BE: Another big issue with this place is the SUPER SLOW WiFi (that is around 1.5 Mbps)! Certainly, not a good option if you are here on a work trip and expect to be on video calls. Plasma TV dishing out a wide variety of channels spanning sports, news, music, movies, and entertainment in multiple languages

If you at all value a quite stay, steer clear of this one. They do construction work inside and outside the hotel which is not announced at all somewhere. The works start a bit after 6:30 and go through the day even on weekends. But even without the works, the room was extremely noise from the ever running bathroom air con and the aircon installation outside of the window. Breakfast was not great either, if you value bread for breakfast forget about it. The employees were mostly disinterested in their work with some exceptions. The status of the room were okay considering it's the ibis chain. Don't expect much. Location is good.

Good points - 1. Good location. Walking distance to Kingdom Centre/mall. 2. Good breakfast selection 3. Comfortable pillow/bed 4. Clean. Bad points - 1. On check in, no instructions were given for breakfast time/location and WiFi connection. 2. Room phone just for show. Tried to call reception to ask for WiFi login instructions. No dial tone at all. Had to go down to reception to ask in person. 3. Room aircon temp fluctuating. Does not keep to thermostat temp that you set. Totally failed to ON on 3rd day. Ask to repair and got working again. But fluctuations. 4. Construction site right beside hotel. Noisy. On Saturday night the hacking continued until 4am! Was awoken every hour.

Always enjoy the familiarity of service and location vibes around Olaya. However, past few occasions at the Ibis hotel have been mixed in terms of noise on Saturday mornings. There were always banging, renovations and other loud noises.