Reviewing the Hilton Riyadh Hotel & Residences
A review of our three-night stay, including check-in, amenities, food & drink, and the room.
We visited this hotel in May 2024 from Friday through to Monday, flying to Riyadh via LHR on BA, and returning to MAN on Qatar via Doha. You can read our review of the Hayyak Lounge at RUH. The hotel cost us 3,923 SAR, which equates to £825 or $1,045.57. The nightly rate averaged as £275/night or $348/night.
We chose the Hilton for three reasons. Firstly we had not visited Riyadh before so we were unfamiliar with local brands, and wanted to go with a known product. Secondly I've also just migrated to Hilton Gold, which opened us up to some useful offers. Getting breakfast for free helped keep the costs down, and there's potential for a room upgrade - more on this later.
Finally, we chose this hotel because it was located close to a shopping mall. This meant it easy access to food and drink if we didn't want to eat at the Hilton.
The Hilton Riyadh is an attractive hotel, with a great location and suprisingly large rooms. There are some minor niggles, but the positives far outweight the negatives. Compared to your typical Hilton this is far ahead of it's European or US compatriots. This hotel will be an even better option once the Riyadh metro opens (and the covered walkway from the hotel, to it).
Getting to the hotel
We checked in at around 11 pm as we were flying in from London. The transfer from the airport was effortless, with minimal traffic and a 20-minute total time. An Uber cost us approximately 100 SAR (equivalent to £22 or $27).
The hotel is located off a primary road so it's easy to access, with drop-off via a dedicated entry lane and a covered drop-off area. I've been to hotels where you're dropped off in awkward locations, or the drive-in area is small, but this was not the case with the Hilton Riyadh. Ten cars could easily be accommodated at a time in the drop-off area, and it also featured a dedicated holding lane for pre-booked cars.
Check-in at the Hilton Hotel Riyadh
The check-in desk is large, but at the time of arrival, there were only two people manning it. There's also a dedicated concierge desk and a secondary desk that catered for airline staff. It took us five minutes to check in, including time for us asking questions.
The receptionist confirmed that we'd be given free breakfast based on our Hilton status, but there were no upgrade options available as the hotel was busy. This was expected as there was a sporting event taking place in Riyadh, and as it turns out the hotel was full of people either attending that event, taking part in it, or part of the media covering it.
We booked a twin room and ended up on the third floor, quite close to the elevators. I had some concerns about noise from either outside or guests due to the proximity to the lifts but we had no problems with either despite the hotel being busy.
There's a bank of six elevators to access the hotel rooms. Sometimes the wait could be quite long. The stairwell is not well signposted but it is possible to use it to get downstairs, although it takes you on a convoluted route.
The Room
The room was much bigger than expected and was therefore a great base for three nights. There was a lot of storage, with full-height wardrobes in the entrance area, bedside storage, drawers in the desk and small cupboards underneath the media unit.
A large, single TV with a good selection of international and local channels was in the room. You could easily connect a laptop to watch your own shows if you desired. The room included a safe and a Nespresso coffee machine, with two pods included.
The external wall was full-height glass which was great during the day, and at night the curtains were full-blackout curtains which included velcro strips at the sides and in the middle so that you could pin the curtains together, and against the wall, which blocked out almost all light. This was especially useful for us as we ended up staying out late, and getting up late.
The Bathroom
The bathroom was well-sized, included a shower and a half-sized deep bath, along with a sectioned-off toilet. It took a long time to get the water temperature right in the shower, and it was also one of the hottest showers I think I've ever been in. You have to adjust the temperature control regularly, as the water gets hotter and hotter over time. However, the water pressure was great.
The was a single sink in the bathroom, with a large, well-lit mirror. There was a generous amount of Crabtree toiletries, with shampoo, conditioner and body wash in both the shower and next to the bath. Body lotion was provided next to the sink, along with soap.
Breakfast at the Hilton
Breakfast was served in the Teatro restaurant, which is on the first floor. It's an attractive open space with a lot of natural light. If the floor-to-ceiling windows aren't enough then you can opt to sit outside. (In mid-May no one was braving the mid-morning sun). The hotel has a dress code for breakfast, which means no shorts. I fell foul of this on the first day, but they were polite about it.
We were not shown to our table upon entry, which meant that we spent a few minutes wandering around trying to find a space. The hotel was very busy that day due to an event taking place, but it did make the breakfast experience a little frustrating.
Our last breakfast at the hotel was on a Monday morning and it was much quieter. The staff were also more attentive on that final day, and checked in to see if we wanted a hot drink and if everything was ok. This did not happen on the first day but I will mark that down to the volume of diners.
The breakfast options are varied, including some live cooking stations. There was a good selection of Western options, but also localised and Eastern breakfast items, baked goods and juices. I adore breakfast at hotels, and given my age I've experienced the good, the bad and the downright miserable. The Hilton Riyadh was up there with the best of them. If you're living in hope of an amazing breakfast then you will be happy.
There was a cute coffee truck parked in the reception area which was not listed on the hotel website but felt permanent. It serves a wider selection of coffee than breakfast, and some simple snacks.
Eating and drinking at the Hilton
There are a lot of options for food and drink:
- Teatro for breakfast
- Mayrig, an Armenian restaurant for lunch and dinner (Open till an astonishing 7am on some days)
- Lotus, an Asian restaurant for lunch and dinner
- Anar, open for dinner only (till 3am) which had a more upmarket sports-bar vibe
- Ambar, a really beautiful bar located off the lobby, open from 8am to 2am
- Finally the coffee truck in the reception area
Room Service
We arrived late and ordered room service as soon as we got into the room. You do this via a QR code which takes you to a website, but after an hour of waiting for it to be delivered we called the room service team and they said they had not received the order. It was past midnight at that point so we just went to sleep as the wait to rectify it was expected to be another hour. We chose not to use the room service again during our stay.
Gym and Spa
The hotel has a gym and spa facilities (including a pool) on the first floor. You access the gym through the spa reception, where they'll take your name and point you in the right direction. It was small but a good gym for a hotel, with running machines, free weights, spin bikes and weight racks. I've been to much worse hotel gyms, and there are complimentary hand towels and water.
I did want to use the spa but language became an issue. The receptionist in the spa was friendly but could not understand my request to see a price list, so they brought in a colleague who also struggled, and they ended up connecting me to another person via a phone call.
I was given the price for just one treatment type, when what I really wanted to see was a list, so given the confusion I headed back to my room
Things to do around the Hilton Riyadh
The Granada Mall is located next to the Hilton, and it's a five-minute walk. At the time of our visit, the only way to access it was to exit the hotel, walk around the back and then across the mall car park. This was easy and safe, but it does mean exposure to the sun and the heat.
A covered walkway is being built between the soon-to-be-launched metro station and the mall, with the hotel in the middle. This was close to completion in May 2024, and that will make it really easy to access the mall.
The mall had a lot of food options, some great shops and a Carrefour supermarket. It's also just been through a recent expansion, with more shops expected to open. There's no website for it, and not all options are listed in Google Maps, but it turned out to be a great option for breakfast, lunch and grabbing some food and drink for the room. The mall was modern and mid-to-upscale.
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