5-Star Hotels in Balqa, Jordan

Security checks are required for both vehicles and luggage upon check-in. There's also a 100 JOD (approximately 1000 RMB) credit card deposit that's only refunded 10 days after check-out. They don't provide any email confirmation or proof of a successful room inspection after check-out; everything relies on their word. Guests are completely passive in this process. On the upside, you can watch the Dead Sea sunset from the hotel and also float in it. The breakfast buffet is just so-so. For a five-star hotel, this stay felt incredibly stifling. The overall experience was quite poor.

The Mövenpick resort is beautifully designed, we really felt like staying in an Arabic village. It’s big enough to not feel ‘stuck’ in an otherwise extremely dull and deserted area (dead sea area/ ‘Amman beach’). The staff is very kind. Check in and out went smooth. Some rooms could use an upgrade by the looks of it, but generally kept maintained. The sea beach area could’ve been done a bit nicer and ergonomical (Hilton made it more beach type and had less rocks, did they remove it or are they just lucky with a slightly different location?). This made the Dead Sea dips quite challenging for a lot of people. There lifeguards were helping them though, again good service. Foodwise we could get around as vegetarians, but don’t expect anything lavish. For vegans the choice is seriously very limited. We were excited about chopsticks, but they literally had just one vegetarian main, and we had to ask them to not put fishsauce in the Thai curry (while listed on the menu as plantbased). Luigi’s (Italian) had more options! The buffet restaurant will make you a dish too if you ask upfront: amazing service! We asked for a stir fry tofu, was nice. Cocktails were disappointing, perhaps because we are used to a different (Amsterdam) cocktail scene. Considering the price they charge, we feel like we could expect more of it. Loved the daily 4 pm complementary Mövenpick chocolate time!

Overall, the stay was decent, but there were some disappointing aspects. The breakfast was very average, even somewhat poor, and definitely not worth the price. Another issue was the lack of guidance. I was assigned a room that was quite far from the lobby, and there was no clear direction or staff assistance on how to get there. I had to wander around for quite a while before finally finding my room. Parking was also confusing — there was no signage or staff at the entrance to guide me. I had to find the parking area on my own, park the car, and then go back to check in. I am currently staying at the Marriott in Petra, where the service has been excellent. As a Hilton member, this experience was a bit disappointing in comparison.

Excellent hotel with a private Dead Sea beach. Good breakfast spread. Excellent staff. Highly recommended.