Concorde Hotel Doha

I was placed here by the airline due to a flight delay. There is no way this is a five star hotel. The lobby is nice and clean and the service at check in was fast. But the rooms and the rest of the hotel is tired. The room I had had mould in all corners of the shower cubicle (see video). I arrived in the early hours of the morning and I was only staying one night so I did not look to change rooms - I wasn’t confident the next would be better. There are few amenities in the bathroom other than soap and I was not offered anything extra (of course I could have if needed). The breakfast was adequate and the lunch had a nice variation. The laundry service was fast and efficient. I understand that the the pool is only open until the early evening.

Not great…

First I’ll go on the building itself, and then on the people working there and the service..

The place is quite fancy, the rooms spacious, bathrooms lush. Hmm if I’m nitpicking I’d say add more shower accessories mostly a chair for that size of the shower area as well as more toiletry holders, but those would be very marginal improvements, all things considered. Parking is strange. Though as I said, overall, 5 stars here.

As for the service: the security and baggage guys are incredible. Security guy spends 12 hours a day standing up, it’s unbelievable, and feels unnecessary.. you can show hospitality without cruelty. You might think “well this is the market and it’s benefitting both sides”, I’d reply that the very slight apparent benefit gained from ‘a security guard standing up needlessly for practicality and mostly for show’ far underweighs the harm they feel out of this.. iow they benefit much more by standing up for, say, 6 hours instead of 12, than the benefit that customers (and by extension you) get for having them stand this much longer.. anyway, I loved those guys they’ve all been sweet to me.. however, receptionist at time of check in (I think she was Filipino, she was here around 10 pm Jan 6 I believe) started out treating me impatiently for asking a few basic questions that every guest upon checking in would ask.. she even was a bit aggressive with me. So I later reacted somewhat aggressively and that is when her attitude improved.. it seemed, and I am almost completely certain of this: it seemed like it was profiling/stereotyping of a Saudi customer and treating us all as such stereotypes… this was an absolute letdown and it is what causes me to rate the place much lower. Had it been, say, a European gentleman, the treatment would have been different I am sure. Keep in mind it wasn’t so overt.. but more cognizant minds will notice this subtle behavior from her end.. she also tried to (respectfully) warn me of sex service scammers when I asked about a Vodafone store opening nearby… sure, this is a good warning, I respect and thank her for this, though it may not have been appropriate for most customers who ask about Vodafone.. I mean, there are only about two carriers in Qatar if I’m not mistaken, and we just entered the country; it’s very normal to ask for a carrier upon check in…
more on the service: I had to wash the coffee mugs and spoon by hand with soap because housekeeping simply rinsed with water and the stains were a bit obvious.. this is completely fine with me if I were to wash it, but it is nevertheless less than what I expected from a 5 star hotel.. furthermore, I waited over 20 minutes for a shampoo. And, the prayer mat must be asked to be brought up every time after housekeeping.. why would they take it from the room? And when asked about the prayer mat, they suggest going
to the prayer room downstairs, why? It’s completely fine, and helpful to notify me that there is a prayer room, but again, a guest shouldn’t have to leave his room just to pray (up to 5 times a day). If he were to pray with a group, sure, perhaps that is preferable to go down to the prayer room. But you’re praying on your own anyway, so why leave your room? Just please instead of all this.. when I ask for a prayer mat: reply by telling me “okay sure we’ll bring it right up to you” and then “to let you know, we have a prayer room down at the M floor if you’d prefer that instead some time”, and housekeeping should just keep it here until the guest leaves. Instead of taking it out of the room every time.. also, fridge was empty all throughout, is this typical?

All in all, pretty good place, 5 stars, service is 4 stars, only minute and subtle notes on few of the staff, while other staff in Concorde deserve 6 stars.. but plausible profiling for being a Saudi makes it 3, as well as not washing the mugs appropriately for the current customer. This is all rating them based on the fact they are a 5 star hotel, in Qatar.