W Hotel Doha - Doha, Qatar: The W Hotel Doha opened in March 2009 to great fanfare; a new luxury hotel in Doha, one to rival the other luxury hotels like The Four Seasons Doha and The Ritz-Carlton Doha. With 445 guest rooms (including suites), an array of restaurants and bars, and of course the W reputation for good service and for being chic and trendy, I knew I had to experience the W Hotel Doha for myself. I booked a flight to Doha in my quest to see The W for myself.

First Impression/Lobby: Arriving in Doha, we caught a cab and were at The W Hotel Doha about 25 minutes later.

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As we pulled up to the W Hotel, the blue lights that lit the front of the hotel cast a gorgeous hue over the entrance, adding to my excitement of what was to come.

Entering the W, I immediately thought, ultra chic and ultra trendy, just what the W Hotels do best; create an upscale, amazing interior which tantalizes the eyes and excites your senses from the moment you walk through the doors.

Reception: As we waited in line for the front desk a congenial, sharp dressed man asked if he could help us and upon learning we were just checking in, he escorted us to another station at the front desk and someone for the back office appeared and quickly completed our registration. Once completed, a bell-man came and escorted us to our suite, a Wow Suite on the 12th floor.

The Suite: Our suite was just that, WOW; gorgeous, stunning, amazing and of course, chic and trendy. The living room was decked out in reds with black accents. The suite was easily one of the hippest and most beautiful suites I had ever seen.

Situated on the corner of the hotel, the walls were lined with ceiling to floor windows which just made the spacious living room feel even larger. Unfortunately, once daylight came, I saw that the “sea-view” was not all that impressive.

The bedroom was just as amazing as the living room; just as beautiful and just as chic and trendy. The king-sized bed was covered in a sexy and seductive red and gold spread with enough matching pillows for a six-person pillow fight.

The view from the bedroom was even less impressive as from the living room, plus the sheers only opened half way. We requested to have the sheers repaired twice but to no avail. Regardless, there wasn’t much to see anyhow.

The huge bathroom was home to a super-sized shower stall with over-sized rain shower, twin sinks, and bathtub and in an adjoining room (with a second door to the main living area) a toilet, bidet and another sink. This room could function as a guest bathroom should you be entertaining.

Room Service: The room service menu was limited but when we did find something appealing, our orders consistently arrived late and the food was definitely not five-star caliber. On a positive note, the young men that delivered always were extremely professional and did a five-star job of setting up our meals and cleaning up after the fact.

Housekeeping: Starting with actually failing to service, or as they call it in their “trendy” speak, style the room, what they did was a poor excuse for housekeeping. The list of things they did wrong or failed to do (not leaving towels, not leaving the customary bottled water, leaving dirty dishes, not vacuuming, just to name a few of the many) was almost as long as the hotel was tall. It was as far from five-star service as I have seen in any luxury hotel.

Concierge: The Concierge service was almost as bad as the housekeeping; not returning phone calls, suggesting a tour to us only to not be able to actually tell us what the tour consisted of (and then not following up with the information as promised), taking excessive amount of time to provide simple tour prices and finally sending the information to the wrong room.

On a positive note, she did recommend Porcini Restaurant (read our restaurant review of Porcini Restaurant here), which was a bombastic restaurant, but this was only after the first two she recommended where closed (they had had been closed all summer). Apparently she was untrained and out of touch with Doha, the city she was there to help us experience.

Restaurants: The W Hotel has three restaurants: La Maison Du Caviar their higher-end French restaurant (read our restaurant review of La Maison Du Caviar here), Spice Market with a Southeast Asian flare and Market by Jean-Georges which is home of the buffet breakfast and for a casual lunch.

The W also has two clubs, Wahm and Crystal Lounge. Both are extremely busy on the weekends and be prepared, because of new laws passed by the Qatari Government and poor management at the W Hotel, it can be difficult if not impossible, to gain access to the bars. Stopping in for a drink or going out for an evening was such a chore it practically ruined the evening. Qatar is definitely not tourist friendly.

Pool/Spa/Activities: The pool at The W Hotel Doha was beyond disappointing. Located outside on the 2nd floor of the hotel, the pool was tiny and the surrounding deck offered no views to speak of.

There are about half-dozen cabanas to chill-out in, but the only direct sunlight that hits the pool area were two slivers of the deck on either side of the pool, so the cabanas were really not any benefit. Plus, if the hotel is even remotely busy, the cabanas (as well as the remaining chairs) fill up fast.

In addition to the regrettable excuse for a pool, the W has Bliss, a spa chain founded in New York in 1996.

Overall Impression With my high hopes for a great experience in Doha at the W Hotel dashed, I thought of their slogan “whatever, whenever” but in actuality, after my experience at The W Hotel Doha, I was left wondering, wanting, weary, wronged, washed out, wasted, way laid, wistful, withered, woeful, and wrecked. My rating for this luxury Doha hotel (and primarily the only positives were for its décor) is between Bombastic and Not.

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