Al Bustan Palace, A Ritz-Carlton Hotel

Having just returned from what must be our seventh stay at Al Bustan Palace, my husband and I agree that, once again, our five days at the Palace were simply perfect. We have visited Oman a total of 11 times now, usually spending the first part of our holidays making our own off-road tours throughout this beautiful country from North to South. Whenever possible, we like to wind down these visits with a relaxing stay at Al Bustan. For us, a typical day at the Palace begins with the incredible breakfast buffet in the Al Khiran Restaurant and a warm-hearted welcome from the inimitable Ali who ushers us to our favourite table with its magnificent view over the long, central infinity pool and the turquoise sea behind it. The buffet itself offers an endless variety of delicious options, both Arabic and international. As usual, I am drawn to the pastry section where the patisserie team have again surpassed themselves – this time my favourites are the Lemon Meringue Croissants and the Berliner donuts. All the food is fresh, and the service impeccable. After breakfast, we like to head down to the beach, where we relax under umbrellas on comfortable sunbeds decked out with towels and with a cooler full of water and ice provided by Khalid and his wonderful, never-tiring team of Mohammed, Khem, Firoz and Munir. We love the stunning views of the ocean and the beautiful bay and long private beach on which the hotel is situated. Our highly esteemed Blu Bar Pool & Garden family – Pradeep, Ganesh, Nasser, Bandana, Seda, Altinai and Utsav - are attentive at all times, always ready with a friendly greeting and interesting news, and bringing us cool drinks to keep us refreshed throughout the day. In the evening, we either eat an early snack at the Blu Bar Restaurant (please never remove that Smashed Burger from your menu!) or indulge in a large dinner from the expansive themed buffet at Al Khiran. Both dining experiences are exceptional, the first one offering that wonderful view over the ocean as the sun goes down, and the second a diverse selection of dishes catering to all tastes. Finally, as the day draws to an end, we return to our Garden View room along corridors scented with frankincense. The room is opulent but not overly so, with elegant mahogany furnishings and a small but ingeniously designed bathroom featuring both rain shower and bathtub – altogether a perfect retreat after a day of harmony and relaxation. I’m sure that other guests will cherish other amenities offered by the hotel (and there are many!) but, for us, a day at Al Bustan Palace such as the one described above is simply perfection. A perfection that we hope to experience again during many more unforgettable stays at the Palace.

Upon arrival at Al Bustan several entitled service elements were not honored by the property staff. Room options were not presented despite prior requests and the 2 PM late checkout, which is a standard benefit, was neither confirmed nor accommodated. As a loyalty member, I have consistently received a welcome gift during check-in at other Marriott properties such as JW Marriott and St. Regis in Oman; however, the team at Al Bustan seemed unaware of this practice. The check-in process itself was unusually prolonged, taking close to 40 minutes, with no orientation or briefing provided about the property’s facilities and services. The room was ordinary with water leakage in the washroom. While the property is often surrounded by considerable hype, the on-ground experience did not meet expectations.

The drive into the reception area is amazing the reception area is just a Wow! Moment. The gardens are immaculate, the beach is amazing, the setting of the hotel is perfect....but then it starts to fail a little. The room is not that large, the cupboards and drawers are dark stained wood,80s style and are showing their age. The bathroom is quite small with a strange shower next to the bath arrangement which I've never seen before, works okay but feels a bit of a add on. The food is plentiful, well cooked, and lots and lots of choice. No complaints there at all. The restaurant staff were all top notch. The pool is nearly 50 meters long. The staff around the pool were a bit hit and miss, every day I had to go and find them for towels and water. Occasionally they come to see if you need a water top up but it was rare. The Cabanas are comfy but are a bit shabby now, curtains ripped and falling off their rails. They have a water sport club, but please don't bother the lads in there, they don't seem interested. More interesting things on their phones by the looks of it. Overall the hotel is butt ugly! Immaculately clean and feels solidly built but needs a face lift. Full marks to restraunt staff, but the rest needs to up their game a little. Will I return? No. Shangri La, Kempinski and The Chedi are better I'm afraid to say.

Such a mixed bag, but overall left with the impression that it would be our last visit here. We’d stayed here twenty years ago and then recently favoured the Shangri-La and Kempinski, but decided to give this another try. Perhaps it’s having come pretty much straight from the Four Seasons and One and Only in Mauritius that this fell so short, but it really is so obvious when compared to other 5* hotels that this just isn’t it. Booking the updated rooms in the side wings is an absolute must- we had 3 Mountain View rooms booked and they smelt dreadful- like damp and must. We were staying here to celebrate a birthday, graduation and marriage and had been assured we’d receive a good room- so to walk into one that smelt so awful was v disappointing. Whilst two of our family members had fully unpacked and just used room air freshener, our room was so bad that we moved, and were faced with a room with a view of some traffic cones and a roof- a way worse view than previously. It seems odd that to make up for having to move, we get an even worse room. This was flagged and we were FINALLY moved into a garden view room which had been renovated, and it was like night and day. Service around the pool was incredibly inconsistent, with some staff just handing us towels in the morning, and some actually helping us. Drinks orders were often wrong, and it did seem like the language barrier often got in the way of comprehending orders. My main gripe, is that on one our last day, we headed down to the pool around 7:30 to make the most of the last day, and managed to snag one of the last remaining cabanas, as we had a couple of times this week (they go VERY quickly and people seem to be down from 6am to reserve). We spent two hours here before somebody came along and told us that the guests in a better suite than ours wanted this specific one, so we’d need to move. The way this was handled was appalling, and though we politely explained that this hasn’t been flagged when somebody assisted us with our towels earlier that morning, we were told under no uncertain terms that they wanted THIS one so we’d need to go. Though we managed to stay here, it left my husband incredibly on edge and uncomfortable all morning, with 0 apology for how this has been Food and drinks was v expensive- eg £50 for a bottle of Barefoot wine.. (£3 in supermarkets), but that is Oman generally, and food was good. On the plus side- food was overall good, gorgeous pool and spa, and great ladies beach. We were also met with a lovely cake in our room and able to checkin an hour early and three hours late. Overall, think next time we’re in Oman will be trying out the nearby Jumeirah instead.

Hotel splendido, tutto curato nei minimi dettagli. Manager super top, piscina bellissima e spiaggia di grande livello. Alta qualità e cortesia in tutti i ristoranti. Il migliore in assoluto in tutto l'Oman. Qualità e cortesia di tutto lo staff.