Raffles Hotels & Resorts Reviews 4

This is a review on Raffles Doha. We bought two day pass and were disappointed when entering the pool area. The disappointment were caused by below encounters:

1. The building is so tall meaning there is no sun before 2 PM. We arrived at 12 (as the access starts from there and were sitting in the shadow for 1,5 hours until we asked if we could be moved).

2. When booking the Aqua pool for 250
QAR Riyal (for each person) you will not get a spot next to the pool as the picture shows on their instagram. Rather it’s away from pool and if you want to upgrade it costs 800 Q riyal in total for two people. This information was shared with us upon arrival and not via the phone when booking.

3. No hair dryer in the changing/bath room. This is very disappointing when thinking about Raffles is branding themselves as a luxurious hotel but lacking the most basic, which many other beach clubs have in Doha, Qatar.

4. Last and foremost, in order to book a day pass it must be done in advance and via a call. When calling them the receptionist asked for my mail to send the booking confirmation.
I informed her my mail entailed underscore _. She asked me what underscore is and if it’s hyphen. I told her it’s not hyphen and she replied again what is underscore. She asked for my WhatsApp and if she could send the
confirmation instead to my Qatari number, which I was calling from. I informed her I am from abroad but do have a Danish number linked to WhatsApp. She replied I cannot send booking confirmation to Danish WhatsApp numbers. I tried to explain her, that you are able to WhatsApp me the booking confirmation thus a Danish number. I gave up due to she was not able to listen and provided robotic answers. I called some hours later and thank
GOD - the other receptionist helped me with the booking and we’re not
lacking brain cells as the other receptionist at Raffles Doha.

Based on above I cannot recommend to buy a day pass with pool access at Raffles hotel in Doha.

Istanbul raffles is one of the best hotels

Crazy expensive for what you get not worth it rude staff

I stayed at the original Raffles in Singapore some years ago. Despite the high 3-figure prices in US$, the room had clearly not been renovated since the 1960s, and the basic layout not changed since the 1800s.

They have since remodeled, but what will not be so easy to remodel is the racist attitude of both staff and management. When I was there, I was twice challenged in the lobby, and two successive employees refused to take my picture, apparently automatically thinking that because I am Asian, I had no business being in their lobby, and must have somehow sneaked through the doormen whose job is to keep the riff-raff out.

These people are not only racist, but stupid. The white people who register there are more likely to be middle-class, even red-neck, visitors who saved their pennies in order to stay “once in a lifetime” where Somerset Maugham stayed. Just read the reviews. In contrast, the Asians are more likely to be seriously affluent, well-educated, and well-travelled.