This Mandarin Oriental Doha Hotel Review is from our recent visit after the hotel opened in March 2019. The hotel is only Mandarin Oriental's second hotel in the Middle East, after the Mandarin Oriental Jumeira Dubai, which opened in February 2019.
Mandarin Oriental Doha Location and Check-In
The Mandarin Oriental Doha is located in downtown Doha by the new Barahat Msheireb Town Square, about a 25-30 minute drive from Doha Airport. We took a taxi from Doha Airport, but the driver had no idea where the hotel was, so we missed the turn and even after back tracking, we had to spy the sign ourselves and guide the driver to the hotel. To be fair, it was only a few days after the hotel had opened.
Once we arrived, we were ushered inside, up to the 2nd floor, where the reception and lobby are, where we were offered welcome drinks and cool towels, and checked in.
TravelSort Clients enjoy Mandarin Fan Club benefits:
- USD 100 Food & Beverage or Spa Credit, per room per stay
- Daily full breakfast for up to two in-room guests
- Complimentary High Speed Streaming Internet Access during stay
- Personalized welcome amenity
- One category room upgrade, subject to availability at time of check-in
- Early check-in and late check-out, based on availability
Here's our Mandarin Oriental Doha YouTube Video Review:
Deluxe King Room, Mandarin Oriental Doha
At the time of writing, the hotel's rooms on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors are open, but there is still work being done on the rooms and suites on floors 6, 7, 9 and 10. When complete, there will be 123 rooms and 35 suites, in addition to 91 residences.
The entry level category is a Superior Room, which is 484 square feet and can have either one King bed or two Queen beds.
We were in a Deluxe King Room, which is 538 square feet and only is configured with a single King bed, although the hotel was able to add a rollaway bed for our son.
The round table does double duty as a work desk and dining table, and we enjoyed some of the fresh fruit welcome amenity, although in my view mini pineapples and dragonfruit just shouldn't be part of a fruit welcome amenity (unless presented as cut fruit)–what guest is going to want to cut into either, especially only with a butter knife? I'll take easier to consume fruits any day.
There was also a whimsical (and edible) welcome amenity I appreciated even more: a chocolate scallop shell with a green “pearl” chocolate:
I liked the high ceilings in the bedroom, but perhaps my favorite part the room was the beautiful marble bathroom, as it had subtle yet distinctive Qatar-inflected design choices. Take the double sinks, for example: the two mirrors were hung by maritime rope, a nod to Qatar's prior reliance on fishing.
The adjacent glass lights, meanwhile, had bubbles in them, evoking Qatar's pearl diving past:
Another convenient feature of the Mandarin Oriental Doha rooms and suites is the Valet Closet, similar to what is offered at The Peninsula Tokyo and the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, so that you can deposit shoes for shining or laundry, then call the valet team to pick them up, unobtrusively, without actually having to open your room door.
The Verdict
In the past, I've had somewhat mixed experiences with Mandarin Oriental; I've liked the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, Mandarin Oriental Paris and Mandarin Oriental Boston, but I haven't been all that impressed by stays at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Mandarin Oriental Miami or Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC. But the new Mandarin Oriental Doha is in another class, certainly with its gorgeous hard product, and seems to be well on its way with the soft product as well. It doesn't hurt that the hotel's opening team includes staff from some of the hotel's best properties, such as Milan.
Highlights for us were the high ceilings and beautiful marble bathroom in our spacious Deluxe Room, which is the category above entry level; the lovely spa; and the beet, goat cheese and pistachio appetizer and avocado feta tartine in Izu Restaurant and the cassis sorbet at the Gelateria. The Baraha View Suite that I visited has some of the best views of the Town Square, and is highly recommended for families and for those entertaining while on business.
There were a few teething issues, no doubt due to being open for a few days at the time of our visit, such as the poorly executed Croque Madame (abysmal bechamel sauce and missing its fried egg), the icy and flavorless chocolate gelato at the Gelateria, and the fact that toilet paper was entirely missing from one of the toilets at Izu.
At the time of our visit the 8th floor rooftop pools weren't open, and currently, the top floors of suites are still being finished.
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