Eid Staycation at VIP Hotel Doha

First of all, what is Eid Al Fitr? Eid Al Fitr means the celebration of breaking the fast that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Millions of Muslims around the globe gather with their family and relatives for a feast and gift giving. For us, non-Muslims who are working in GCC countries, Eid Al Fitr means looking forward for some days off from work. This will give us the opportunity to have quality time with our family, friends and loved ones like what our Muslim brothers and sisters do.

I usually jet off every Eid holiday break but this year, it wasn’t the best choice to do so. (hello, priorities!) This time, I spent it with my family, friends and loved ones here in Doha. I had a long break so as my parents too so we decided to plan a couple of activities to do and one of them was a staycation.

For our family’s staycation, we chose the VIP Hotel Doha.
VIP Hotel recently opened to the public this year approximately 3 months ago. You can find the hotel in Umm Ghuwailina area with easy access to F ring road that leads to Hamad International Airport. It is also close to Qatar National Museum, Corniche, and Souq Waqif. As of now, they’re still in the soft-opening phase. Some of their restaurants and other facilities aren’t open yet. They also have a bar which will open by the end of June 2019. 

Since we were 6 people checking-in including a 5-yr old kid, we decided to book 2 rooms. I reserved our rooms using the site called, Booking.com. Price was QR 570 for 2 rooms including breakfast. Kids who are five years old and below are free of charge.

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When we got there, we were first greeted by the staff in-charged at the valet parking area. One of the hotel's bellboys immediately helped us to carry our luggage from the time that we got off from the car up to our designated rooms. The front desk team was very attentive and helpful resulting in a swift check-in procedure even though there were a lot of guests coming in that day. They will not ask you for a deposit which is a good thing!

Before we tour around the hotel and enjoy the available facilities, we were shown to our rooms. They gave us connecting rooms for this staycation – the standard queen room (for my brother’s family) and standard twin room (for me and my parents).

All the rooms were clean and tastefully designed to have a modern yet very homey vibe. You'll be surrounded by elegant earth tones used for the interiors. Beds were so inviting, soft and very comfortable as if they’re asking us not to leave anymore. The rooms were well lit. Everything was being controlled by a touch panel. From the doorbell, air conditioning, lights and even requesting your room to be cleaned up. Interesting, isn’t? Not to mention the excellent WiFi! 

As you enter the twin room’s short hallway, you’ll be greeted by their spacious bathroom with marble finishing and a separate cubicle for the toilet and bathtub/shower area. It was complete with all the toiletries and towels that we needed during our stay. On the opposite side was the large wardrobe cabinet. Inside it, you will find an iron/iron board, bathrobe, slippers, vault, blower, and sewing kit. Right beside were the mini fridge, complimentary water, complimentary tea bags, water heater, and coffee maker. 

The size of the room is enough for two to three pax but not enough if you have children who love to move around as there isn’t much space. I wish that they’ve incorporated a food menu list on each room of the hotel so it will be more convenient for the guests. Also, an English channel would be nice though.

For our dinner, we headed to Nando's. We stayed there for a good 2 hours before we want back to the hotel for a night swim.

Pool and gym are located on the rooftop level of the hotel. As of now, the pool is for adults only though and I am not sure if they will be having a separate pool for the kids. It's almost 5 feet deep so don’t forget to bring floaters for your children if you want them to swim and enjoy. Their pool is open from 7 AM till 8 in the evening. They also have a locker area to leave your belongings.

Breakfast is only until 10 AM. Foods were very limited and weren’t that good. To be honest, I was only able to eat pancake and slices of bread. It was a buffet breakfast with a lot of bread! Foods weren’t labeled. They were very slow to refill foods for the empty trays. When we requested for coffee/tea, one of the staff told us that we have to get it ourselves from the café located in the lobby area but then their manager told us a different thing. He said it wasn’t included on the cost that we paid for? What's breakfast without coffee or tea? It was confusing and quite disappointing. Instead of spreading hate early in the morning, we just gave them the benefit of the doubt (since their staff and the hotel itself are new). 

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After breakfast, we headed back to our rooms and immediately dozed-off. The initial plan was to have a quick dip in the pool but it didn't happen. We checked out at around 5 PM and had dinner at Dampa Seafood Village.

Being in the soft-opening phase, of course, there are still things that this hotel needs to improve. They lack manpower. Majority of their staff need to be trained more. But on a different note, we were impressed by their warm hospitality and kindness. 

Overall, we enjoyed our stay and was highly influenced by room comfort! VIP Hotel was perfect for our little family getaway. It gave us time to reconnect to each other after being so busy with work-related matters. Although there were mishaps during our stay, the management of the hotel handled them professionally. I would recommend this hotel to those who want to have a quick escape for an affordable price.