I just had the best experience in Qatar at this hotel! First, I had traveled 24hours and by the time I arrived I was exhausted and way too early to check in but they quickly got my room and I was escorted by a nice friendly guy so I could rest up. And speaking of rest, the bed was extremely comfortable. I was also very pleased with the suggestions from the concierge. The location was good. Although I had a problem with having a heater at room, but it was solved. Food is extremely nice, great variety.

After enduring the que's at the airport for over 2 hours, waiting for the shuttle to be taken to this hotel, which was 30min away from airport. We arrived only to find one staff member to check in over 20 passengers. What could of been a 6 hour comfortable transit waiting period turned in to a 3 hour sleep. We were told there is room service but could either order chicken and chips or fish and chips! Rather not!! the chicken was deep fried, crumbed...someone left it in the oil too long, and the fish was still frozen. Room nice and comfy, bathrooms very clean.

I had the great misfortune to stay in the Grand Regency, Doha for one night in November 2007. I was supposed to be there for two nights but moved out the next day to the Four Seasons which is immeasurably higher quality (and significantly cheaper).

To arrive at the Grand Regency (which is on a major roundabout/ highway out of town and nowhere near the water) my taxi had to drive across abandoned backstreet parking lots. I genuinely wondered if I was being kidnapped as the area was so alarming. On arrival I changed rooms three times to try and escape the noise (highway at the front and two constructions sites working 24 hours per day at the rear). The decor is extremely tacky, depressing and heavy with very cheap furnishings. The airconditioning in my room was not adjustable and even with it switched off the room was so cold that I had to sleep with my clothes on and with an additional blanket. After an appalling buffet dinner (tasteless/ dried out poor quality food) I managed a few hours sleep before the piledrivers on the building site behind my room started up at 5.30am. For the pleasure of staying there they charged me $750 per night. Needless to say I checked out as soon as possible the next morning (the staff, who were generally very pleasant, (the hotel's sole positive feature) did not seem at all surprised when I left early). There is no outside area and no swimming pool. There is a small gym with a few machines (one treadmill, one bike). There is nothing "grand" nor "regency" about this hotel. It is a member of the "Leading Hotels of the World" but that just shows how low grade that network must be. Presumably by paying enough a hotel can join the network. Oh and one last thing - the hotel does not serve alcohol (one of the only one's in Qatar). My advice: do NOT go there unless you are a wealthy masochist.

My husband booked this hotel soley based on it's rating as a "Leading Small Hotel of the World" thus he didn't research it's facilities, so we are partly responsible. We stayed 3 nights for vacation and were very disappointed; no pool (it's being build and will be ready mid to late 2008). No liquor served in the restaurants; we also knew it was a "dry city" but understood that cocktails were served in large hotels, thus we thought these services would be available in a "Leading Hotel.." We had to ask for bathrobs/slippers, the internet was VERY slow and kept dropping sites and the room was plush with nice amenities, but small. For breakfast you can only order the buffet.

Most frustrating to me was the hotel's location; outside the city and in a construction zone. We had to use the hotel's limo service to go everywhere ("fixed prices") which charged outragous prices (they will not call a metered taxi) and not even the same prices that other hotels charged. It cost 60 QR from the hotel to the Sheraton, and the Sheraton charged us 30 QR for the same return trip. Take a metered taxi and it will cost only 15QR. We went from the hotel to the Ramada for 40 QR and returned for the fixed price of 30 QR. My suggestion is to get the cel phone number of your airport arrival taxi driver and use it!

We were so frustrated that we brought our concerns to management. We wondered why there wasn't a shuttle service for hotel guests to the city center. They offered us the hotel minibus service for the following day, for one trip, no charge. I asked them to call several hotels to see if we could pay for a beach/pool day pass and wondered why they didn't already have an agreement with a resort inplace as they said this was a constant complaint! They located a pool (none of the beach resorts would offer a day pass) for 40 QR at the Rydges Plaza Doha. Our other complaints were handled and we were taken to lunch by management.

Management obviously couldn't do anything about the "dry hotel" but I feel this should be clear on their web site, as you expect liquor at 5 star hotels. We enjoyed the happy hour 6p-8p at the Sheraton Hotel and Resort, but getting there and back was frustrating because of the above limo situation.

We tried to book a half day tour at the hotel. ALL the tours they offered were for three people, we were only two and none of the tours were running! Either there are no tourists in Doha, or the hotel hasn't hooked up with other hotels to combine tourists for small group tours. The management offered to send us to SeaWorld, but we wanted to see the country, so we declined.

On the afternoon of our third day, they realized that we are both in the travel industry. Another manager (they have several!) approached us to offer the luxery suite for our last night. A nice touch, but our major complaints had little to do with the room, so we declined his offer. He promptly sent cakes, candy, chips and bottled water to our room. What we really wanted at that point was a late checkout asour flight wasn't until midnight, and we were pleased that they granted that request.

Overall the staff was very nice, helpful and friendly. Many times they tried to go the extra mile, but couldn't because of the lack of facitities. Management worked hard to address our complaints, but this hotel should never have been given the "Leading Hotels of the World" name, until all facitities were up and running. At this time, I would not recommend a stay here for vacation or business, based on the location and poor internet service. Wait another year, then give it a try!