The Grand Hyatt Doha is roughly an hour from Doha’s Hamad International Airport. Taxi fare was between 55 and 70 QAR. We selected the hotel primarily because it was a Hyatt, had a cash and points option, and because we hadn’t stayed there yet.

Overall, our impressions were that the hotel was beautiful. Its only 5 floors, with, I think only 3 or 4 that had rooms. The architecture seemed to be traditional. We were upgraded to a gorgeous sweet at the end of the wing on the third floor, room 367.

Check in occurred in the very nice Lounge.   It was efficient and the staff was fantastic.  They show a great desire to make us feel comfortable before heading to our room.

Arrival Tea and Snacks

The lounge was wonderful, it was open and a big space. As far as service, the staff really excelled.

Lounge

During the 2 and a half hour evening cocktails, we never had an empty drink in front of us, which, I have to say, I tested a few times – truly the staff really excelled. In addition to the canapes set out—which were substantive—they also had two “hot” options, a minced lamb, and hush puppies. Let me just say, these hush puppies were on par with the best I’ve ever had, and that’s comparing them to the Southern United States, where I think they were first created.

Hush Puppies!

The only detractor of the lounge was that being an open space, one large (we’re talking 15-20 people) crowd got boisterous and it was hard to have a conversation, but that didn’t last very long.

As I mentioned, we were updated to a gorgeous suite. It was a large room, with a sitting area, a dining area, and a desk, then a separate bedroom and bathroom.

Living Room and Dining area

Another view of the living room.

Spacious Bedroom

Two Sinks in the Bathroom.

And outside of all of that, was a wrap-around porch that went on forever!

Porch

More Porch

We had the chance to walk around the property, and were impressed with its two primary pools (one indoor, one outdoor):

View of the Pools from our room.

as well as a robust fitness club. There were two “clubs” in the lobby area—which was expansive as well—in addition to a hookah lounge outside—which happened to be under our balcony. The property also had a beach, and a good amount of outdoor space that looked like it was used for events. Overall, it was beautifully manicured, and traditional looking.

Our biggest complaint about the property had to do with what was directly underneath our room. That being a club, that on a Friday night had the bass going until 2am. We both realized what we had gotten ourselves into when we got back from the lounge and the party was in full swing. Eventually we fell asleep, only to have the doorbell to the room rung around midnight by a staff member trying to deliver a baby crib. As you probably would’ve guessed from 90 minutes in Cairo, we had absolutely no need for a baby crib. I had mentioned something, almost offhand at checkout, and ended up receiving an e-mail from one of the hotel’s guest relations officers not 3 hours after we checked out. I was impressed.

Overall, the hotel is quite beautiful, the staff mattered where it counted, just go for a room on the higher floors.