Hilton Salwa Beach Resort & Villas

My husband and I wanted to take our teenage sons somewhere different so chose Qatar and in particular Hilton Salwa as we like the Hilton brand and we liked what we saw online. We arrived the early hours of the morning due to flight timing, delayed flight, then it was an hour transfer to the Hilton. First impressions nice hotel, extremely clean, lovely location overlooking the beach. On entering hotel security is good and reception staff all friendly and helpful. We booked Two Queen Bedrooms and were disappointed they were not closer together but at least they were on the same floor. The rooms are very nicely laid out, very spacious, 2 huge beds and lots of storage, a large bathroom with big bathtub, good size shower cubicle and separate toilet. There were lots of extras like toothbrushes, towelling dressing gowns, slippers, tea and coffee facilities, fridge, bottled water (included) etc which is always a nice touch. Outside balcony overlooking the ocean. As we arrived the early hours of the morning, we didn’t get the chance to see the view from our room until the following morning and so was disappointed to see a brick wall covering most of the view so could only see above when standing on the balcony. When we visited our other room they had a fantastic view and much larger balcony so we asked to move rooms. Habib on reception was very professional and helpful and immediately solved our issue and we were so fortunate to get the room next door so were very happy. We chose the All-inclusive package. We went to the Souk Kitchen, first impressions we had to queue to confirm our room number then wait to be called to the table which was very well organised. The breakfast buffet choices were good even for the fussiest of eaters, they have an egg station, pancakes, cereal, different cuisine and lots of other choice, though is well spread out.Wish they could have played more cheerful music too. We did try the all-inclusive restaurants for lunch and dinner but we did struggle to find much we all liked to eat and we are not fussy eaters. The all-inclusive package wasn’t quite all-inclusive some things are some things aren’t. We paid all-inclusive having 2 adults drinking and 2 teenage sons. We had to pay for ice creams from the all-inclusive bar unless we chose a small scoop from a different bar around the south pool. Snack bar said from 11am, our son missed breakfast one morning due to oversleeping. He chose a cookie and got charged the equivalent of approximately £4. When I queried they said all-inclusive is the bowl of small round biscuits on the end of the bar (not quite what expecting) The days of all-inclusive have sadly gone so be warned the price or your holiday is not your final budget! Little things no minibar or snacks in rooms even at extra cost Only other way to eat is through room service at extra charge. Sunbeds and cabanas are reserved for hours with towels no one sitting on them this happened every day we were there and hardly anyone around or in the pool, very frustrating when we woke up late or go to breakfast later as that didn’t finish till 11am all sunbeds were reserved!! During our stay only south pool was open as they were renovating north pool so didn’t help sunbed situation especially as hotel was very busy. The pools are lovely but only about 3 feet deep but do have lots of lifeguards which good. Service poor in South pool restaurant, our first full day we were served immediately whilst sitting down, every day after we had to join the queue to order and wait to be delivered to the table. They saw we were all-inclusive with our wrist band so gave us a small menu which was limited, but we kept seeing people with larger menus and when we asked they said not all-inclusive so after being bored of the same menu after a few days chose to pay for the alternative menu. Even this was showing as different all-inclusive lunch arrived in a cardboard box, whereas paid meals had table mat and bowl/plate. Shame there wasn’t a set meal price and then just pay for a supplement especially as we weren’t using our all-inclusive option. One day our sons went back to order and they said you can’t have anything else used your all-inclusive lunch quota today. So had no choice to pay for extra food!! (although they put out literally a couple of things behind the south pool bar in the afternoons) but if we hadn’t been sitting there would never have found) Our children who I think we paid as adults for their stay could only get in gym over 16, yet my husband saw a man in their with his younger son yet our 15 year old wasn’t allowed! Obviously they do not drink alcohol and the jet skis on beach have to be over 18 due to coastguard rules. Not sure why we paying adult prices when they so restricted!! DJ round pool which was good although rather close to where people ate lunch and the only place where the brolleys were above the tables to give shade, so couldn’t hear yourself talk. Would not really recommend for teenagers, the water park mainly catered for youngsters (except for a couple of slides) and the go karting was ridiculously expensive and 10 min ride. Also the hotel is in the middle of the desert so had an hour’s drive to get somewhere to explore further. Outside hotel, Electric scooters are lined up they were fun but expensive kids also could only get them close to the hotel as had no wifi signal and did stop randomly, leaving them stranded! One evening we booked Miss Wong (we already knew we had to pay) but wanted to try it. However we were the only ones in the restaurant so didn't have any atmosphere but the food was good but rather pricey. We decided to visit Levantine restaurant one evening, the outside space was very quaint, but we sat and waited 20 mins to be served waited another 20 mins for drinks forgot half the order! Main Course arrived before we had even finished starters arrived, such a shame as nice food but didn’t return due to service. Gyms are separate for men and women and well equipped. One day my son and i visited the spa, this too is separate for men and women which is nice and i had the spa all to myself before treatment which was lovely. Spa facilities good, massage was ok but have had better elsewhere. Would have been nice to have evening entertainment in a hotel of that size they only had the DJ during the day. Only place to go in the evenings after dinner is the sports bar which unfortunately had no atmosphere any night we were there. The hotel has so much space and potential which they are not using to its full advantage unfortunately. They had a couple of shops on site, a chemist and a gift shop but unfortunately no where to buy snacks. Staff would like a special mention to who looked after us: Kintu – All inclusive bar Samah – Dante Italian Restaurant Habib – Reception Soumitra - South bar always remembered our drinks Paid a lot of money for this trip but when we left had an additional bill due to extras not included.

Ovviamemte negli Hotel Hilton non si sbaglia e anche questo Hilton Salwa Beach Resort & Villas lo conferma, ambiente lussuoso molto bello, grandi spazi all'interno e all'esterno dell'hotel, camere molto confortevoli di notevole ampiezza nelle quali non mancava assolutamente nulla,due belle grandi piscine sorvegliate a vista dai numerosi bagnini per la sicurezza degli ospiti, una bella SPA, ristorante a buffet dell'hotel semplicemente fantastico nel quale veniva proposto una grande varietà di piatti, sempre disponibili, tutti gli ambienti super puliti,personale gentilissimo e attento a non far mancare nulla agli ospiti, posizionato a pochissimi metri dal mare.

Struttura molto bella, situata a pochi metri dal mare, SPA meravigliosa, due grandi piscine accuratamente sorvegliate dagli addetti, pulizia fantastica, personale gentilissimo e disponibile verso l'ospite, cucina superrr e quando sul buffet terminava un piatto veniva sempre prontamente sostituito, relax assoluto. Ci ritorneremo.