Rawan Al

Review of Burj Rafal Hotel Kempinski

Only good thing about this hotel was that their ai...

Only good thing about this hotel was that their airport taxi ride was on time. Booked an executive suite (breakfast included) for 2 nights for a Riyadh Season event.

When we arrived they told us the room will not be ready for 20-25 minutes "because it's still being prepared" and offered complimentary food in the lobby. The fried shrimp was burnt and the salad was mediocre.

We ended up waiting 2 hours and 30 minutes in the lobby until they finally gave us a room and promised an "upgrade". By then we were already late to the event (that we paid for as well).

The room we checked into was absolutely not an upgrade. It was the same executive suite.

What's worse is that there was dust EVERYWHERE. The lighting was terrible. All the towels had brown stains on them and dust. The pillows had no PILLOWCASES. It was obvious this room was not cleaned and probably under renovation or something. The shower floor was BROWN when we tried turning the water on.

I tried calling reception from the room and they put me on hold for 5 minutes.
Went down to reception and they finally moved us to a junior suite by 1:00am.
I asked for another robe before we moved to the new room. They brought it an hour later.
The shower control knob in the junior suite would get stuck and it was very difficult to turn on/off. The water had a weird smell.
The windows were disgusting and dirty.

Everything about this hotel is out-dated. Furniture is old and stained.

Missed the breakfast the first day because we were so exhausted.
In-room breakfast was cold and breakfast buffet next day was cold as well.

I regret paying for 2 nights. I should have demanded to remove the first night from the bill because I absolutely was not in an appropriate room on that day. 1:00am is too late. My check in time was supposed to be 3:00pm latest. I called the hotel a week before to confirm that the room will be ready. They promised me it would.

Obviously the management is garbage. Though it seems that there is no management at all.

There were many unhappy guests in the lobby. I noticed one guest complaining that housekeeping was not responding for at least an hour after calling from the room.

I didn't care for the upgraded room, when paying for ANY room at a 5-star hotel, I expect to AT LEAST get a CLEAN room with quick service.

This is not a 5-star hotel. This is barely a motel.
Kempinski should be ashamed.