We arrived from our Anantara resort in Oman, which was perfect. However, we arrived at the Alila Hotel around 4 PM, and that's when the horror began. It was the worst service I've ever experienced in any luxury hotel. For a luxury resort with a room rate of $600 per night, such terrible service is appalling. I wonder how Hyatt trains its staff and how they develop their general manager!
Our room could accommodate two adults and two children. We also had a 5-year-old child with us. The email they sent before our arrival stated that extra beds were available, and adding a child over 4 years old cost 15 riyals. Initially, the hotel gave us a beautiful room with a view of the cliffside pool, which we were very happy with. When we asked for an extra bed, the hotel quoted 100 riyals instead of 15, and finally settled on 60 riyals, a huge difference from the email price. Furthermore, we couldn't stay in the room with the beautiful view; we had to change to another room that had no view at all, and we didn't like it. We offered to pay 60 riyals but insisted on staying in our original room, which the hotel refused! From around 4 PM to 6 PM, with less than an hour until the cliffside pool closed at 7 PM, I immediately decided that there would be only four of us (one adult and three children) staying there, so we wouldn't have to change rooms. I planned to drive out and find another hotel that night. The children started swimming, but they only had half an hour. At 7 PM, the staff started rushing us out!
After swimming, we drove down the mountain for dinner. We had wanted to book the hotel's cliffside restaurant beforehand, but the hotel had a minimum spending requirement of 30 riyals per person + 22% tax, which shocked us. The entire booking process was incredibly arrogant. After swimming, we checked the restaurant, and there was only one table of customers. Fortunately, there was a fun food market down the mountain that day, and we enjoyed food and played local games. We had a wonderful time until it closed at 11 PM!
I booked a room at the foot of the mountain to take the four of them back to their hotel. I planned to stay overnight at the bottom. When I entered the lobby, I told the front desk I'd only be there for 15 minutes to bathe the children and put them to bed. My car was parked outside. Less than 10 minutes later, a call came from room service demanding I leave. The staff were extremely rude and aggressive!
The next morning, I returned to the hotel at 9:00 AM. We wanted to have breakfast as a family, including a five-year-old child. Normally, breakfast at a top-tier luxury hotel with a five-year-old would cost a maximum of $40 USD. However, the manager told us it would cost 60 riyals (equivalent to $160 USD), which shocked us. This was an outrageous price! Is Alila a rip-off by the Hyatt group? It's appalling! We immediately decided that one father would take the three children to eat, while the other would wait in the lobby.
At this point, a woman from the hotel lobby came to the restaurant and, citing our extra guest, demanded that one of us leave the hotel immediately within 15 minutes. I explained that we were a family and that I would show one of our children around the hotel after our meal. I had also checked Hyatt's regulations, and there was no clause prohibiting guests from meeting friends or touring the hotel. From 9 to 10 a.m., the hotel staff, from the restaurant manager to the front desk manager, took turns making things difficult for us simply because we hadn't paid the extra 60 riyals the day before. We hadn't even had our much-anticipated cliffside breakfast by 10 a.m., and with two hours left before checkout, all our vacation mood was ruined. At 10 a.m., our five-year-old child, seeing the adults arguing with the hotel manager, was both hungry and scared, and started crying loudly, but not a single hotel employee came to check on the child. Based on the breakfast situation, the hotel should have only had five families checking in that day. Because our argument and our child's crying disturbed other guests' meals, we complained to the restaurant, and the manager came over again, saying, "You're disturbing other guests' meals." We were furious. Aren't we guests too? The hotel failed to provide any of the expected services to us and our children. The restaurant manager immediately fell silent, realizing the service was inadequate. The receptionist also left, and then the general manager was called in. He asked us to explain what had happened, which surprised us again. He insisted that his staff should have informed us, and we demanded that the woman in question come to confront him. The general manager refused, claiming it was all our fault and citing various hotel policies without offering any reassurance. Finally, we firmly stated that we had not received any service from the hotel and that we still had two hours of vacation left, hoping for some pleasant memories. Only then did the general manager stop arguing and allow us to begin breakfast. The rushed breakfast lasted only half an hour, and by 11:00 AM the children were changing and swimming. We recorded the entire incident in front of hotel staff and will provide all recordings if necessary. In short, this hotel boasts a perfect view, but the terrible service will be unforgettable! Our mistake was having three children staying there, and all three wanting to share a room. We are willing to pay a reasonable price, not an exorbitant one!
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