Andrew M.
Google
One of the most beautiful settings I could imagine for a hotel, absolutely magical, and all of the photos you’ve seen barely do justice to its reverence, but the service level is miles below what one should expect at this price point. The staff was completely well intentioned and lovely but clearly lacked leadership, training, and direction.
There’s a base level standard to resorts in the tier this one wants to be in, and they miss the mark.
Staff should be trained to predict guest needs, there should be organized process for everything, but nearly every interaction we had (getting a table, asking about tours, etc.) seemed like I was the first person that ever asked them for it.
Seemed to be constant confusion rather than seamless excellence.
The food was very mid - and compared to so many restaurants in Saudi, the food at Our Habitas was a complete afterthought…like yes, it’s food, fine, carry on. They missed a chance to wow guests there.
The check in experience was fantastic and the cleaning staff was great. The ‘experiences’ team did organize everything well but they didn’t help us discover the best of Al’Ula - we wanted more guidance & enthusiasm, so we knew we were spending our time wisely, but were left wondering if they had even done/seen any of these things themselves to know what’s really worth it.
Overall we had a great stay - the staff made every effort to be helpful, again, just feels like there’s a top down leadership standard missing.
Oh, and the ebikes were great to have, but so many of them don’t run well - maybe hard to keep working right in the constant sun & heat?
Finally, the atmosphere is a bit extra with all of the extreme photo taking ‘influencers’ constantly at the pool. A no photos policy between certain hours would make this place doable for those who care about discreet relaxation. The shoots are invasive and there will be 3 at anytime going for 20-30 minutes straight, just all up in front of everything beautiful.
They’re probably printing money attracting this crowd though and leaving the true luxury travel market to the hotel next door.