Review: Hilton Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

With such a large, airy foyer, initial impressions were good.

The hotel uses an atrium design, where from the ground you can look up to the top of the hotel.

It means that the corridors on each floor overlook the central atrium, with its running streams, rocks and waterfalls.

The effect is enhanced by the glass elevators which run up the outside of the walls inside the building, allowing you to overlook the hotel's interior.

Eating options

The restaurants are below the ground floor - to say they are in the basement would paint the wrong picture.

To get to them, you can walk across the short bridge running over the stream, and then take the curved escalator down.

Restaurants downstairs include an American sports diner, where the burgers - be they beef or lamb - come with a difference. Eight ounces in weight and in a large bun, they come with a hole in the middle! They taste fine.

Non-alcoholic beer is served, otherwise it is the usual array of milkshakes and juices. For sports fans, there is also a large projector screen tuned into a sports channel.

Big rooms

The rooms themselves continue the high quality vein.

They are, as you would expect, a good size, with a desk from which you can work.

The bathroom has a good shower and the bed was comfortable. There is also a small balcony with a table and two chairs, although during our visit the humidity was too high to take advantage of them.

Internet access costs SR100 for 24 hours. However, minutes after we signed up our connection dropped, and after unsuccessfully trying for some time to get it working and getting a constant engaged tone from the technical help desk, we gave up.

Sometime later we were called to ask if we were comfortable and enjoying the stay. We pointed out that there was no internet and were told it had gone down for the whole building.

A more proactive stance from the hotel would have been appreciated, as it would have saved a frantic 20 minutes and much abuse directed towards the laptop and Bill Gates (we silently apologised to him later!).

For anyone staying in Jeddah, the Hilton Hotel should be an easy choice. It's a comfortable, friendly, well-laid-out hotel, all at a reasonable cost.

See also:
Review: Crowne Plaza, Dubai Festival City
Saudi tourism strategy takes shape