Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Luxurious accommedations, friendly honost staff |
| Disadvantages: |
Relatively high price compared to local area hotels |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Advanced notice- This review is lengthy but this hotel is worth every word.
On my second visit to Bahrain I was lucky enough to get a room booked at the Bahrain Hilton. This had to be the most luxurious hotel I have ever stayed at. From check in until check out my expectations just keep getting surpassed. I say lucky enough because I was travelling with a group from my ship in the Middle East, back to the USA upon my departure from the US Navy. This means that I would be re-imbursed for my stay, otherwise it would have been a bit out of my price range.
The Hilton is located in downtown Manama, Bahrain in the heart of the commercial and business district. It houses 250 luxury rooms, (with a choice of smoking or non-smoking) ranging from your standard rooms to suites to executive accomodations (entire 5th floor dedicated for this). I did not get the chance to see the executive floor nor the suites, but of the 5 or 6 standard rooms that I did visit, I found each to be furnished and maintained in the utmost fashion. The furnishing were either a single king sized bed or 2 double beds, with a couch, 2 comfortable chairs, coffee table, 1 large dresser, 2 to 3 night stands and a mini refridgerator.
Facilities
This Hilton offers a wide variety of services. I was only there for 7 days so I did not get the chance to take advantage of each and every one, but I did take advantage of all that I could. ( I will list the ones that I noticed/used first, and then the others.)
Courtesy driver- Upon our arrival to the Naval Station in Bahrain we found out that they did not have the room for us to lodge up. So as they wanted us to all be in the same hotel they called around and found that the Hilton had plenty of room for us. Without us even asking, the Hilton staff dispatched a courtesy van with a trailor to transport all of us and our bags to their hotel. (I take it this is regular routine for them.) This service was not just for arriving to and departing from the hotel either. I regularly used their courtesy driver to go to the shopping centers, malls and back and forth to the Naval Base. They did not expect a tip, and would often reject it if it was offered to them. They do have a set schedule for certain destinations, but if you want to go somewhere between those times they are more than happy to take you, as long as it will not interupt their normal schedule. This service will also pick you up and deliver you to the airport free of charge. A normal taxi ride to and from the airport will cost about 5 GBP, if you are lucky.
**Personal note** While using their shuttle service I left a package, with my sisters birthday present in it (150 GBP silver braclet and matching neckless), inside the shuttle van. Eight hours later when I noticed it was missing I went to the front desk where they promplty asked what was in it and handed it over to me. Honosty!!!!!!!
Multi-lingual staff-Their staff persons of many different languages. Not only Arabic and English, but also Tagalog, Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish ect...These are the languages that I was able to observe and recognize during my stay.
Laundry- Just like most major hotels, their laundry service works around the clock. You call them, and they come to your room and pick up your laundry along with the cleaning instructions. Once you have called them it normally takes about 5 minutes for the attendant to arrive and get your clothes. They offer Express service (4 hours), sameday service, and next day service. I had my clothes washed about every other day by them and I must give them an oustanding on the reliability of their cleaners.
Safety deposit box- Each room has a safety deposit box located inside with your own individual key. You can also leave items with the front desk if need be.
Lounge- The hotel has 2 lounges, although I only made it to the one inside the hotel lobby. This lounge, Calvalry club bar & lounge, has a quiet friendly atmosphere and serves any drink that you could think of. It offers different drink specials each night and will often leave a voucher for 2 free drinks in your room via the cleaning personnel. Each night, except Wednesday and Thursdays, it also hosts a different style entertainment, ranging from local hip-hop bands to kareoke. The second bar/lounge,Al Bustan pool bar, is for more of a social gathering. I did not ever see any entertainment there, but it is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fidays, Saturdays and Sunday from 10am -11pm.
Restauraunts- In the lobby is located full scale restauraunt that has a different special each night.(Seafood, steaks, mongolian bbq, asian cuisine ect...) It stays open 24 hours a day for the late night eaters and early risers. Their normal menu is availble at all times to be ordered from, so not to worry if you wake up late and want breakfast, you can get what you want but will have missed the breakfast buffet that is set out each and every morning.
They also have a Japanese resteraunt right beside this. I did not personally visit this restauraunt, but of my friends that did, they all gave the most rave reviews. This restauraunt has very limited hours. Both of these restauraunts will cater to room service as you will find a menu for both on your night stand.
Foreign Currency Exchange- The front desk also doubles as a currency convertor. They are close to many of the local currency exchanges in terms of rate. (Current exchange rate as of 6OCT04 is 1 GBP=.6712 Bahraini Dinar. For up to date rates you can check http://finance.yahoo.com/currency?u .
News Stand/Gift shop- The newstand doubles as the gift shop. At the news stand you can pick up almost any major international paper that you could think of . You can also pick up those little trinkets that you forgot to get while out in town also. Not the biggest selection in town, but when in a bind beggars can not be chosers right?
Florist- I did not personally use the florist. I did get to see their shop and must say that I was amazed at the huge selection of flowers. It is something that you would not expect to find in a hotel.
Barbershop/beauty salon- Again I did not use these facilities either. But they do have a full functioning male barbershop (8 GBP) and also a female beauty salon (27 GBP).
Fitness room- Located on the lower level you will find a gym/fitness area. It is a bit old fashioned, but still in decent condition for just a quick workout. It hosts an universal gym, 1 treadmill, 1 rowing machine, 1 stair stepper and a few other small pieces of exersize equipment. The dressing rooms are ofcourse divided into male and females. I can not speak of the female dressing room since I was not allowed in there, but the male dressing room has 3 jacuzzis and a steam room, along with individual showers and lockers. Although this is a nice feature, it would not suffice for someone wanting a serious strenuous workout.
Pool- Located just outside the lobby is a very nice large swimming pool. Secluded from the public by the wings of the hotel itself, this pool has many comfortable lounging chairs and provides a nice refresher after a long day in the HOT Bahrainian sun.
Tennis courts- I did not get the opprotunity to check this out.
Baby sitting- For those of you that want a couple hours away from your kids, the staff at the Bahrain Hilton will care for your kids for less than 5 GBP. I did not have any reason to check into this, since I am still single with no dependants.
Business animities
For the business travelers the Bahrain Hilton offers the use of their business center, meeting rooms, secretarial services, Audio/visual equipment, fax machine, photo copying, typewriter, printer, modem and telex.
Surronding area
The Bahrain Hilton in a very nice part of Manama. It is within walking distance of the Gold City, many small shopping malls, restauraunt, night clubs and is located just 8 Km from the Bahrain International Airport. It is within close vacinity of a golf course, bowling center, national museum, AL khamis Mosque and Al Fateh Grand Mosque.
Personal experience
Now for the overview of my stay. I enjoyed every second of my stay at this hotel. The bed was more than just comfortable, the meals were delicious and the staff was enthusiastically friendly to the point they made you feel like you were part of their family. Even up to the last second before we left the staff ensured we were well taken care of and never let the most minor problem go unsolved.
I would highly recommend anyone that ventures to this part of the world to stay at this hotel although the cost is relatively high compared to other hotels in the area, your stay will be well worth the cost.
Average room rate is about 100 GBP per week night.
Thank you for taking the time to read
Cheers
Dave
