City Hotel

Avoid this hotel like the plague

We stayed for the night before the RAK half marathon. My wife was running and we wanted a good night's sleep. We parked the car at 18:30 and checked in. The hotel doorman saw us park and welcomed us inside. Reception checked us in with no word about parking.

We went for dinner. My wife ordered salmon and specifically told the waiter to make sure there was no cream in the sauce as she is allergic.He read that all back. She was served chicken. In a creamy sauce. Had she not noticed, my wife would have been SERIOUSLY ill. In addition, they served my wife's starter on its own. They then brought my starter and her main course together!!! Meaning my main course was served AFTER she had eaten hers. Awful.

It got better. Bearing in mind that the whole reason for staying was to ensure she was fresh for the race, we received a phone call. From the police. At 2am. Telling her to move her car. It turned out that the police did not want the car moved. The hotel had phoned the police and asked them to call the registered owners of every car in the car park and tell them to move it. At 2am. Why? Because they wanted to put tables there for the race. They had ample opportunities to mention this to guests at checkin, but no. They chose to wait until 2 am and then get the police to phone their guests. Ridiculous. We (along with many guests) were livid. The manager told us our stay would be free. Apology was accepted and we went to bed to try and recover what sleep we could.

Next morning the hotel completely denied ever offering a refund, had already charged our credit card BEFORE we checked out, and point blank refused to issue a refund. Then an Arab man attacked me personally, physically, in reception. It turned out he was the owner. Who had been in the coffee shop watching the whole thing, and in an extremely cowardly fashion, refused to step in and offer any help or apology. In the end, they threatened to call the police. I ended up having to go to the police station myself, and charge the manager with assault and the hotel with fraud. When we came out, one of the hotel staff had written the "F" word in the dust on my wife's car.

This hotel is awful. Avoid it. Stay ANYWHERE else.

Unique Quality: Rooms and carpets were dirty. Hotel feels like a Victorian prison. Staff unhelpful and rude. Showers unclean with some sort of fungus or mold growing in the shower door area. Uncomfortable beds and pillows.