The Hayyak Lounge at RUH (Riyadh)

A review of the Hayyak Lounge, based in Terminal 3 at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

This is a catch-all lounge at RUH that caters to a lot of ticket types, airline statuses and lounge passes. You can also pay to enter the lounge. It covers so many options that they span six digital screens at the front of the lounge, but here's a quick run-down (entry requirements at the time of writing):

• Qatar (regional) First Class, as well as Silver, Gold and Platinum status holders.
• Etihad Business or First Class, as well as Gold members
• KLM Business class tickets, plus Gold or Platinum members
• China Eastern business class tickets, plus Silver or Gold members
• China Southern First Class, Business Class and Gold Member
• Skyteam Diamond and Elite Plus
• Turkish Airlines Business Class and Elite Card
• MEA Business Class ticket holders, Gold, Platinum and Elite status holders.
• Priority Pass, Lounge Pass, Lounge Club, Lounge Key, Wala Plus, STC and Dragon Pass and both Visa Infinite Privelge and Signature members.
• You can also pay for access to the Hayyak lounge using Apple Pay, credit cards (including American Express). You can also pay with local payment methods including Mada
  
• The cost for entry is 230 SAR (including taxes) which equates to around £50 or $61.

We accessed the lounge while flying to Doha on Qatar, in regional first. Our time in the lounge was from 10am on a Monday morning to 11am.

I was pleasantly suprised by this lounge. As an outpost lounge for Qatar I did not have high expectations. It was an attractive space that was light and open, and it did what a lounge should do (but often they do not): it made the trip more relaxing.

Although every man and his dog seemed to be able to access the lounge it wasn't significantly busy when we arrived. It did start to fill up a little before we left at 11 am but there were still seating options available and it didn't feel overbusy.

Finding the Hayyak lounge

The lounge is accessed via escalators opposite gate 307 in terminal 3, very close to where you appear once you get through passport control.

There's a small cart next to the reception area, just as you walk into the lounge, which allows you to pour yourself an Arabic coffee and help yourself to dates.

There are four zones in the Hayyak lounge: firstly you'll find a quite compact seating zone with large screens, closest to the door which would be best suited to groups or families. Beyond that, there's a restaurant-style seating area next to a self-service food counter, and to the right of the L-shaped lounge you'll find a series of pods suitable for couples, and then another seating area next to two fully enclosed sleeping pods.

There were three screens in the lounge showing flight times.

Food and Drink at the Hayyak Lounge

There was a good selection of hot and cold food options, with Western and Middle Eastern options. The more UK/US-friendly breakfast foods included waffles, pancakes, hash browns and...chicken nuggets. There were self-service soft drink options, fruit juices and no alcohol options.

We sat in what I can best describe as a semi-enclosed private pod. We faced into the terminal itself, with a glass wall facing us and our backs to the lounge. It meant we could talk easily, but it blocked out most of the lounge noise. Each of the pods has British-style power sockets in the floor, and two USB-A ports attached to the sidewall of the pod. Most pods had a small side table or lamp close to them.

The lounge was well serviced as attendants were roaming constantly to remove cups and plates, and clearing space for new guests, and whilst we were in the lounge one staff member came around offering us Arabic coffee.

There was also a separate coffee station located away from the main food and drink counter.

Toilets & Showers at the Hayyak Lounge

The lounge does offer a shower facility, which you can access by going into the male or female toilets. Each toilet had an attendant, and they were clean and modern, with a mirror that seemingly did something clever but I didn't have the time to give it a test drive. You can buy access to the lounge just to access the shower, at a lower cost.

The verdict

This was a clean and modern lounge that was punching above its weight. Despite catering to a wide selection of airlines, plus access to anyone, it was better than most public access lounges in the UK or US.

Although it lacked runway views, it sits on a mezzanine above the main terminal floorplate and its ceiling is the raised, scalloped ceiling of the terminal itself, around 50m above you. That led to a light and airy lounge that was a joy to sit in for an hour. With the semi-private pods, and the fully enclosed sleeping pods, plus three other distinct seating areas, it also feels like a comfortable home for a long layover.