Overrated - minimalism gone mad

We visited over New Year. I complained to the manager in writing about a number of issues and have still not received a reply, so perhaps they have been reading their own press a la Conde Nast etc and believe they are the latest and greatest thing.

The service was pretty bad across the board - restaurant, room service, housekeeping, you name it. The rooms - the Serai rooms are awful, avoid at all costs. Minimal - no bath, shower only, nowhere to hang up your towels, no shelf space, an open wardrobe no door at all between wet area/toilet and bedroom so you better know your room sharer very well! No outdoor space and the corridors of this block of rooms were reminiscent of a prison. Pool service - non existent near the childrens pool, erratic elsewhere. Don't bother trying to get after dinner drinks - they seem to have an anti-service policy after 11pm. We were told that although the restaurant has a licence till 2am they stop serving when the last people leave. Fair enough, except we hadn't left and stiill couldn't get a drink.

The restaurant - the food is very good, especially the Indian and Thai. Wine - don't know why the wine list is there, they never had anything on it. For a 5 star hotel, why you have to book times for dinner is beyond me. You can either have 7pm or 9pm. They don't seem to have the capacity to serve otherwise. You can't get alcohol anywhere after 3pm in the afternoon, till 6pm. So, no happy hour or afternoon cocktails then. It was all very anti-customer. It felt like we were in a holiday camp all the time with rules for everything. "No" was the usual answer to most requests - no, you can't eat here, now, at this time etc etc. I came home feeling like I needed a holiday.

That said, Omanis are very friendly people, those we met were happy to help. If you are expecting Dubai-like atmosphere, Oman is not for you. There is limited shopping and tourist attractions.

The Chedi should look to a sister hotel The Datai to see how things really should be done.

Could not be better

Having been to the Oman in November 2004 we stayed in the Chedi-Hotel in Muscat.

The place where you want to stay!

Quiet, private beach, excellent hospitality.

Forget about the AL Bustan Palace, which is supposed to be one of the leading beach-hotels of the world.

A bit overrated

Chedi was like a postcard: Beautiful pictures but blank on the other side...Although the food was very good, you need to reserve your place in advance in the restaurant. The spa is mostly booked as well. Apart from those two, there is nothing much to do in the hotel, so make sure you have enough books to read by the poolside. The noise from the airport was not a big deal, since it is not a very busy one. The staff was not as flexible and as helpful as I expected them to be (given the room rates). Do not go at high season as the facilities and staff are not enough to handle full capacity.

Chill!!

Five star luxury, 3 metres Gulf of Oman. Adult only pool is a plus, but kids are catered for in 2nd pool both have food drinks at the wave of a hand. Beautiful water gardens, restaurant xxxxx, Arabian tents for Arabic food----mint tea and sheisha in the moonlight excellent! Trips to the Wadis and desert 4 wheel drive a must , booked ours at the hotel. Dolphin trip is worth doing. The boat captain let us catch a 27kg tuna!!!!!MUSCAT and muttrah worth a day! Otherwise chill out winter months ideal. 33oc with gentle breeze---GO!

Chedi Hotel

Good things - visually stunning, staff very helpfull and friendly, food quality good. Not so good things The Hotel is in the flight path of the airport mostly landings, starting at 7am up to 15 in the 4 hours to 11am they start again at 2pm for about 2 hours. We stayed for 2 weeks the menu did not change at all and was quite limited, also you have to book your table in advance,so on our first day we cound not get a table. After five days we managed to get a table outside, this is not what I expected; Sunbeds were in short supply, this is perhaps the only 5 star hotel happy to see guests lying on towels on the beach. During our stay the hotel was fully booked, however the facilitys and staffing level seemed more suited to half that number.

Just got back - loved it

Fabulous place. Just got back ourselves, and we are very refreshed! Stylish, good service, chic... Would agree with all the previous reviews.

Beach is a slight disappointment, and there are little in the way of watersports, but you come to the Chedi to chill out. The hotel was 100% full during our stay, and although sun loungers were a little difficult to come by, otherwise, it was still a serene place, which is a tribute to its design and staff. There are few hotels in the world where we'd go back to, but The Chedi is definitely one of them.

Great Luxury Hotel, Modern with classic clean cut design

Excellent hotel, where all the staff try to please. Beautiful architecture, modern design and chic with it. Brilliantly lit walkways through stunning water fountains and pools. Traditional arabic design themes all executed at high quality.

Pros

Excellent rooms and comfort. Suites are great, with sitting room, huge bathroom, patio and domed bedroom. Numbers 1008, 1009, 1014 all in a pretty good position.

Good choice of food - Arabic, Indian, Indonesian and food is good but rarely approaches excellent, when compared to top London restaurants. Four good restaurants in one, with good patisserie. Breakfast very good - a very wide choice of almost everything including the famous beef bacon.

Two good swimmming pools - one is enormous and for kids / adults, one smaller and for adults only.

Cons

Beach is a bit stony / pebbly. Aircraft noise from nearby (10km) airport sometimes a bit distracting but not very noticable or too often.

Out of the norm requests (could the two of us have a cup of tea and I'll have a cappucino as well) sometimes difficult for the friendly staff to understand first time.

Best by miles...

I agree with the previous reviews and would even add that the dining was the best I have ever eaten in a resort hotel and easily suprpasses most top-end London restaurants for variety and finesse. Good cocktails and wine list as well. Not as good a location as the Datai in Langkawi (same group of hotels) but equal in rooms, service & food.

Superb!

Quite simply, The Chedi is a top notch hotel. It's far from the largest, or the grandest when compared with some of the glass and steel palaces in Dubai but this hotel simply oozes style and character from the moment you step inside. The hotel has a very modern minimalist style, but at the same time manages to be very opulent and not at all impersonal as some ultra-modern hotels can be. Even the most inexpensive rooms are large and luxurious, with immensely high ceilings and huge picture windows with views of the the calming little pools that are dotted everywhere around the hotel grounds. The shower is a screened off walk in area, and the shower heads are the size of a dinner plate. The furnishings and fittings are brand new and clearly very expensive.

At night The Chedi is even more stunning, as dicreet lighting fills the corridors, floating candles appear in the pools and enormous real flame torches are lit in the grounds. The restaurant has a selection of Asian, Arabic and Mediterranean food but the staff will pretty much cook you anything you fancy in my experience. Just dining here is a breathtaking experience and the hotel staff are the most attentive I've encountered.

The downsides? They're few and far between. Don't bother with the City Tour as it's overpriced and boring, unless wading through fish guts in the market are your thing. The souq is dirty and smelly and unlike those in Dubai and Abu Dhabi there's precious little you'd actually want to buy.

The hotel is nearer to the airport than any other in Muscat, which means that aircraft noise can be a little intrusive as the jets are generally on final approach with flaps and gear down by the time they pass overhead. Muscat airport is hardly Heathrow though, so this was not really a problem, although there are a few late night arrivals.

That said, I had an amazing time and wouldn't hesitate to stay again.

Chedi Muscat, the ultimate destination in Oman

I have traveled often through this region, and find the Chedi Muscat to be the superior hotel in creating an atmosphere of sophistication and style, allowing the guest to relax and reflect amongst a perfectly designed site. Swimming at the infinity pool as the sun sets over the sea, and enjoying the restaurant with its four kitchens and French bakery, are highlights each time I have stayed at this property.