Hotels in MENA

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

IMG]http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k135/kwoolr/diplomat.jpg[/img]

[Jenn! 918]

[♥JP♥ 5]

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Well I have stayed at a couple of classes of hotels while I have visited my spouse and we went places..

I have endured one hotel with gold velvet bedspreads that literally looked like I walked into a 1970 movie

I had one hotel where I had to rent the control for the AC

I did stay at the Sheraton and the Hilton a couple of times but by far the crazy little hotels were tons of fun...

I wonder if any of you ever booked a hotel in MENA online and really had a shock? I ended up liking some of the things about the crazy hotels I stayed at... but it was an adventure...

One booked as a nice seaside resort had no phone no tv and was 15 miles from the nearest villiage and taxis only went there 2 times a day.. Which makes it hard to sight see...

One hotel there was a scorpion walking around and then they called up to tell us to lock our balcony doors ( we are on the 3rd floor) because thieves were running across the balconies and breaking in

Another interesting story, one hotel we were the only ones in the whole hotel that did not speak German.. ( Tunisia) apparently it was a German tourist hotel and instead of Tunisian food, each meal consisted of badly cooked German food...

I wonder if any of the rest of you have been through any of this or weirder things...

[caybee 21]

The pic you posted isn't supposed to represent "nasty" is it? Cause if it is, my hotel standards are looser than I thought.

We stayed one night at the Ibis in Casa, but that may not count as a MENA hotel since it's a French chain. We got two rooms to be on the safe side since we weren't married yet, around $50 per room. I loved it, especially because I was sick and it was July. The A/C was a dream come true. Hubby thought it was overpriced and that we could have had something as nice for less, but it was my first visit, I'd heard the Ibis was good, and I didn't want to take any chances the night before my flight back. Second trip, we camped out in the airport, in the smoking room (neither of us smokes) since folks were sprawled and sleeping on every other chair in the airport. I wouldn't do that again. Next time, hubby gets to plan our hotel stays since we hope to do more sightseeing away from Meknes.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

The pic you posted isn't supposed to represent "nasty" is it? Cause if it is, my hotel standards are looser than I thought.

We stayed one night at the Ibis in Casa, but that may not count as a MENA hotel since it's a French chain. We got two rooms to be on the safe side since we weren't married yet, around $50 per room. I loved it, especially because I was sick and it was July. The A/C was a dream come true. Hubby thought it was overpriced and that we could have had something as nice for less, but it was my first visit, I'd heard the Ibis was good, and I didn't want to take any chances the night before my flight back. Second trip, we camped out in the airport, in the smoking room (neither of us smokes) since folks were sprawled and sleeping on every other chair in the airport. I wouldn't do that again. Next time, hubby gets to plan our hotel stays since we hope to do more sightseeing away from Meknes.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

The pic you posted isn't supposed to represent "nasty" is it? Cause if it is, my hotel standards are looser than I thought.

We stayed one night at the Ibis in Casa, but that may not count as a MENA hotel since it's a French chain. We got two rooms to be on the safe side since we weren't married yet, around $50 per room. I loved it, especially because I was sick and it was July. The A/C was a dream come true. Hubby thought it was overpriced and that we could have had something as nice for less, but it was my first visit, I'd heard the Ibis was good, and I didn't want to take any chances the night before my flight back. Second trip, we camped out in the airport, in the smoking room (neither of us smokes) since folks were sprawled and sleeping on every other chair in the airport. I wouldn't do that again. Next time, hubby gets to plan our hotel stays since we hope to do more sightseeing away from Meknes.

The pic is from the hotel website and is NOT what it looked like... There was black mold growing all over the walls in the bathroom and cigarette burns in the bedspreads and hookers downstairs standing out front and I paid about 70 a month which is alot for Tunis...

I later found an incredible site called www.tripadvisor.com

It gives candid reviews of hotels. When I am in Algeria I usually do not stay in hotels but in Tunisia I had to... I had no idea what I was walking into except when I stayed at the renaissance hotel. The worst was the beach hotel. When I got there ( I had paid an american company in excess of 70 a night to find out rack rooms were 20 and looked it with no phone in the room ,no tv, no a/c ( you had to rent one) and loud blasting music until 4 am and thieves running across the balcony.

My hotels in Algeria were pretty great...EDEN CHAIN, which is French. But when you cannot see what you are booking and do not know the area, you can walk into some weird stuff. Hookers picking up clients in the lobby in Tunis was not my idea of what I wanted to see...

I ended up changing hotels at the last part and stayed in a smaller French chain. Rustic is nice. Quaint is nice. Overpaying 50 percent and then ending up in a moldy room is not my idea of romantic.LL

The pic you posted isn't supposed to represent "nasty" is it? Cause if it is, my hotel standards are looser than I thought.

We stayed one night at the Ibis in Casa, but that may not count as a MENA hotel since it's a French chain. We got two rooms to be on the safe side since we weren't married yet, around $50 per room. I loved it, especially because I was sick and it was July. The A/C was a dream come true. Hubby thought it was overpriced and that we could have had something as nice for less, but it was my first visit, I'd heard the Ibis was good, and I didn't want to take any chances the night before my flight back. Second trip, we camped out in the airport, in the smoking room (neither of us smokes) since folks were sprawled and sleeping on every other chair in the airport. I wouldn't do that again. Next time, hubby gets to plan our hotel stays since we hope to do more sightseeing away from Meknes.

The pic is from the hotel website and is NOT what it looked like... There was black mold growing all over the walls in the bathroom and cigarette burns in the bedspreads and hookers downstairs standing out front and I paid about 70 a month which is alot for Tunis...

I later found an incredible site called www.tripadvisor.com

It gives candid reviews of hotels. When I am in Algeria I usually do not stay in hotels but in Tunisia I had to... I had no idea what I was walking into except when I stayed at the renaissance hotel. The worst was the beach hotel. When I got there ( I had paid an american company in excess of 70 a night to find out rack rooms were 20 and looked it with no phone in the room ,no tv, no a/c ( you had to rent one) and loud blasting music until 4 am and thieves running across the balcony.

My hotels in Algeria were pretty great...EDEN CHAIN, which is French. But when you cannot see what you are booking and do not know the area, you can walk into some weird stuff. Hookers picking up clients in the lobby in Tunis was not my idea of what I wanted to see...

I ended up changing hotels at the last part and stayed in a smaller French chain. Rustic is nice. Quaint is nice. Overpaying 50 percent and then ending up in a moldy room is not my idea of romantic.LL

70 a day I mean lol

[sarah and hicham 3]

The pic you posted isn't supposed to represent "nasty" is it? Cause if it is, my hotel standards are looser than I thought.

We stayed one night at the Ibis in Casa, but that may not count as a MENA hotel since it's a French chain. We got two rooms to be on the safe side since we weren't married yet, around $50 per room. I loved it, especially because I was sick and it was July. The A/C was a dream come true. Hubby thought it was overpriced and that we could have had something as nice for less, but it was my first visit, I'd heard the Ibis was good, and I didn't want to take any chances the night before my flight back. Second trip, we camped out in the airport, in the smoking room (neither of us smokes) since folks were sprawled and sleeping on every other chair in the airport. I wouldn't do that again. Next time, hubby gets to plan our hotel stays since we hope to do more sightseeing away from Meknes.

$50 a night!? 2 summers ago when I went it was $30 a night! What the heck.

[Welshcookie 17]

I later found an incredible site called www.tripadvisor.com

I never book a hotel until I check it out on tripadvisor.com first

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

The pic you posted isn't supposed to represent "nasty" is it? Cause if it is, my hotel standards are looser than I thought.

We stayed one night at the Ibis in Casa, but that may not count as a MENA hotel since it's a French chain. We got two rooms to be on the safe side since we weren't married yet, around $50 per room. I loved it, especially because I was sick and it was July. The A/C was a dream come true. Hubby thought it was overpriced and that we could have had something as nice for less, but it was my first visit, I'd heard the Ibis was good, and I didn't want to take any chances the night before my flight back. Second trip, we camped out in the airport, in the smoking room (neither of us smokes) since folks were sprawled and sleeping on every other chair in the airport. I wouldn't do that again. Next time, hubby gets to plan our hotel stays since we hope to do more sightseeing away from Meknes.

$50 a night!? 2 summers ago when I went it was $30 a night! What the heck.

the euro bb

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

I later found an incredible site called www.tripadvisor.com

I never book a hotel until I check it out on tripadvisor.com first

well here is why it matters....I always have a place to stay there FREE but unless you do not want 20 people around you and you wanna ( well....um......take showers together..) ok thats it... I am sorry... I went too far... I NEED A FREAKING HOTEL.

and there are really NO INEXPENSIVE HOTELS WHerE MY husbAND LIvEs.... so anyway.... When we went away to tunis ( which has been 2 times so far together.. the first time we stayed at a really nice hotel.. by trip two... my airfare skyrocketed and I did not have a ton of money for a place to stay..

I really should have looked at trip advisoR.. Yes it matters when you need somewhere nice to unwind away from other people...and for me SIMPLE AND PLAIN IS OK. Thieves running across my balcony and no phone and no tv is not ok when you are staying somewhere for a week... Things need to be alright...

anyway... I am NOT going back to tunisia anytime soon. Next trip is to algeria and thats what I will deal with.. I have seen nothing bad in terms of hotels there YET.. but i am sure if I am not willing to pay 90 a night... I just might. When you see your husband every 5 months, you at least want to be able to have everything in the room WORk and be hygenic and clean. And i am a very seasoned traveller.. a hostel would have been better than what I saw the last place I was..

www.tripadvisor.com is a life saver.. You can read review and post them.. Its super cool

[jpaula 20]

Hotels in Algeria can be pretty bad and I am not sure tripadvisor will be of much help as there are not very many tourists traipsing through. You have the business hotels (Sheraton, Hilton,Sofitel, etc) at nutty prices that offer the facade of a "Western" hotel, but are quite shabby on the inside and not, by any stretch of the imagination, worth the price. They are charging a huge surcharge for the security a walled off hotel offers in a country many people are scared of. But, you are braving some real rat holes if you venture off that path. Bring a sleeping bag so you have your own (clean) bedding, your marriage certificate, cash (only the fancy hotels take credit cards) and hope for the best. We found some small charming places, but also stayed in some really gross ones. I have traveled all around Africa and bad Algerian hotels were some of the worst.

Lonely Planet finally came out with a guide to Algeria this year. If you are going to travel around much it is the best advice you are going to find in English. Lots of guide book in French, too. Still, traveling in a country with no tourism means dealing almost exclusively with local standards which can be much, much different than even crappy tourist places. Then again, sometimes you stumble upon some little place in the middle of no where that is just fantastic. I am curious what you find.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Hotels in Algeria can be pretty bad and I am not sure tripadvisor will be of much help as there are not very many tourists traipsing through. You have the business hotels (Sheraton, Hilton,Sofitel, etc) at nutty prices that offer the facade of a "Western" hotel, but are quite shabby on the inside and not, by any stretch of the imagination, worth the price. They are charging a huge surcharge for the security a walled off hotel offers in a country many people are scared of. But, you are braving some real rat holes if you venture off that path. Bring a sleeping bag so you have your own (clean) bedding, your marriage certificate, cash (only the fancy hotels take credit cards) and hope for the best. We found some small charming places, but also stayed in some really gross ones. I have traveled all around Africa and bad Algerian hotels were some of the worst.

Lonely Planet finally came out with a guide to Algeria this year. If you are going to travel around much it is the best advice you are going to find in English. Lots of guide book in French, too. Still, traveling in a country with no tourism means dealing almost exclusively with local standards which can be much, much different than even crappy tourist places. Then again, sometimes you stumble upon some little place in the middle of no where that is just fantastic. I am curious what you find.

I have stayed at EDEN chain there and it was pretty nice.. Sheraton in Oran and the HILTON in Algiers.... I thought the hilton was ridiculous but the sheraton has some specials around christmas.. I had much more of a disaster in Tunisia honestly.... I mean it was unlike anything I have ever really seen and I have travelled alot.

the hotel issue in Algeria is more privacy than anything else... He shares the apartment with other family and there is no seperate rooms and no shower..only a toilet and the showers are taken down the street and once a week hamams... so you can imagine.. I need to take a bath every couple of days..

I took one bath in the toilet like they do and i was cool with it.. ( you boil water when its available every other day) then you put it in a bucket and then kind of sponge bath.. water is only available every other day so all of its collected in sisterns.. which I am really ok with.. but when you dont see someone that much and you want a romantic moment.. coming out of the toilet after a bath... well.... I cannot really describe trying to wash your hair over an open hole that you go to the bathroom down...So I will do the stay at home thing ( my next trip will be several weeks) and then alternate into hotels and out

Hotels in Algeria can be pretty bad and I am not sure tripadvisor will be of much help as there are not very many tourists traipsing through. You have the business hotels (Sheraton, Hilton,Sofitel, etc) at nutty prices that offer the facade of a "Western" hotel, but are quite shabby on the inside and not, by any stretch of the imagination, worth the price. They are charging a huge surcharge for the security a walled off hotel offers in a country many people are scared of. But, you are braving some real rat holes if you venture off that path. Bring a sleeping bag so you have your own (clean) bedding, your marriage certificate, cash (only the fancy hotels take credit cards) and hope for the best. We found some small charming places, but also stayed in some really gross ones. I have traveled all around Africa and bad Algerian hotels were some of the worst.

Lonely Planet finally came out with a guide to Algeria this year. If you are going to travel around much it is the best advice you are going to find in English. Lots of guide book in French, too. Still, traveling in a country with no tourism means dealing almost exclusively with local standards which can be much, much different than even crappy tourist places. Then again, sometimes you stumble upon some little place in the middle of no where that is just fantastic. I am curious what you find.

thats how they take baths at home by the way and I did not want to offend them when they did it.. so I did what they did and didnt complain.. but trust me... I ie to take a bath... even cold water... with it flowing from a faucet

[Imua 0]

Sorry, not MENA, but I love this topic

I generally don't book online especially since there haven't been that many tourists in KTM in recent years(thanks Maoists) so I'm guaranteed to find someplace.

The nastiest place I have every stayed(that's really saying something) was a dump near Pashupatinath that cost about $300NRs(a little over $4) per night - there were lots of Indian pilgrims staying in the area at the time and we arrived late at night so no choice. The toilet didn't flush, and I couldn't flush it with a bucket of water because -get this - the water shut off at about 9:00 that night and didn't come back on until the next morning. Also the area was crazy noisy since there was a dohori club across the street that didn't shut down until after 1 AM - I love dohori but not when I've been on a bus stuck in a traffic jam for the last 8 hours(thanks again Maoists) and only want to sleep - it was so loud even earplugs didn't help... Then there was the place in Thamel I stayed at that has to be the cheapest place in KTM - 200NRs - the catch is it is next door to a nightclub and a motorcycle shop so in the day you hear motorcycle engines and at night bad Bob Dylan covers... I was in the same boat as you because G had 5 people living in a 2-room apartment, one room being the kitchen. After our engagement(when we could officially spend the night together) we stayed at the Boudhanath Guest House for 300NRs per night - I recommend it. The nicest place I have ever stayed in KTM was the Hotel Vajra, where we spent our wedding night - we've already booked the same room for our anniversary

Edited November 3, 2007 by Pattu Rani

[PetraPerson101 0]

AW man ... horrible terrible.

Even if you are a "local" by definition, do yourself a favor. Stay with the tourists. The good place is expensive they say. I listen like an idiot.

Zomg! Well the good place has a bathroom I say. But I saved money. Uh, the good place was $100.00 a night. Yeah, wow, that's expensive. More like it's cheap as the comfort inn here in the USA. Ahem, the "bathroom" had a squeegee for the floor. Need I say more? Man that drove me nuts.

We've got different economies here-and-there.... Treat 'em. They'll thank you for it later. XD I hereby declare I will never stay in a dive again! LOL! ( I hope... )

Then telling me to stay overnight in Petra was expensive, arr? The dive in AQABA was more expensive than PETRA. Grumble grumble ... coulda stayed there for a week ... grumble grumble....