Stay Report: Mövenpick Resort Petra (Petra, Jordan - January 2012)

Stay Report: Movenpick Resort Petra
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photo courtesy of Movenpick

I had read many reviews online trying to find a place to stay near Petra, Jordan and I was looking for a nice hotel but also a place that was close to the entrance to Petra.  In choosing the Movenpick I definitely got a hotel that was close to the entrance but the rooms were not nice and the beds were uncomfortable.  The only upside was the close location of the hotel to the entrance of Petra as well as an on-site ice-cream parlor.  

The location is the best aspect of this hotel as the hotel is right next to the entrance to Petra.  From the outside, the hotel looks nice and really fits well into the surrounding environment.  As you walk into the lobby, it is nicely decorated in the Jordanian landscape and architecture so you feel like you are in the Middle East and not just a cookie-cutter hotel.  One of the nicer aspects was the open lobby which had an indoor courtyard and thus made the lobby feel more open and more arabesque.  I proceeded to the check-in desks and the staff were polite and professional but not overly customer friendly; I received my key and proceeded to my room.

While the lobby and the hallways looked decent, the room looked and smelled old.  When

photo courtesy of TripAdvisor

entering the room, the first thing that hit me was the smell - the smell of an older room combined with cigarette smell (even though this was a non-smoking room).  The room had two double beds and was laid out as such - as you entered, there was a bathroom on the right and a closet on the left.  The bathroom contained a sink, a toilet, a shower + tub along with bathroom toiletries.  The room itself was on the smaller side and the bathroom was in comparison to the hotel room size.  The closet was also standard and contained a shelf, hangers to hang clothes, an iron and ironing board.  Further into the room, on the right side were the two twin beds with a night stand in the middle.  Along the left side of the wall was chest with a TV on top and drawers on the bottom, and next to the chest was a desk.  There was a window in the room - and you could choose from the city view or Petra view - and next to the window was a chair lamp.  The room decor was in a dull brown - I guess to coordinate with the sand - but the drab color made the room feel even more dated than it was.  What made the room even more uncomfortable, besides the smell and the dated fashion, was that the beds were extremely uncomfortable and did not provide a good sleep at all.

Facilities at the hotel include an ice-cream parlor, a restaurants, a fitness center, and meeting rooms.  The ice-cream parlor seems to be standard at all Movenpick hotels and they serve Movenpick icecream; the icecream is a nice touch for the guests but there should be an incentive or coupon for a discount for hotel guests.  Our room included a breakfast buffet so we went down to the restaurant to enjoy that and overall the breakfast buffet was decent; plentiful with a variety of English and Arabic selections (the breakfast buffet was the only decent thing about the stay).  

In the end, location is the only positive aspect of this hotel as hotel comfort, look, andrelaxation were not provided.  The hotel is located about a minute or so less from the entrance so while that is convenient, in the future I would pay to stay a little further away but in a hotel that provides an updated room and one that is more relaxing and comfortable.