Infinity Hotel Makkah

Where on earth do I start! First of all, this hotel was not my family’s choice, we were travelling as part of a larger umrah group organised by Diyanet - the Turkish government department for religious affairs - so did not have a choice. I read the reviews ahead of our visit, and they were pretty bad so I prepared myself for the worst, or so I thought! I liked the location of the hotel, it was one straight road down to the Haraam and our closest entrance was at the umrah gate, it takes about 10 minutes to walk, less if there are no so many people. However, it is on a bit of a hill, so if you are a wheelchair user or not very good with walking, it won’t be great for you, having said that there are ample taxi’s and workers at the bottom with wheelchairs who will push you up, for a fee of course. The hotel - dirty and smelly! As we travelled with a group we were saved the check in hassle as that was done for us and we promptly went to our room. As soon as we opened the door, the stench hit us, I can’t even describe it, it’s a mixture of all sorts. The hotel is dated which is not an issue, but the carpets and soft furnishings have not been cleaned for at least a couple of years. Our bathroom was filthy and smelt of urine, our shower curtain was stained yellow and brown, the sink and walls had water marks which showed it had not been cleaned properly in a very long time. Our linen and towels were clean but some had holes in. Our room had a none accessible balcony which was littered with pigeon droppings and sticks, so we kept the curtains closed as it was an awful sight. The room smelt the worst near this window. There were a lot of electric sockets in the room, but only one of them worked properly. God forbid anything bad happens in this hotel, but if it does, it will probably be due to an electrical fault! The room consisted of 4 single foldable beds, they weren’t the best, but not the worst either. I never felt clean in the hotel, we put towels down on the bathroom floor so not to walk on it. After my children has been walking on the floor with their white socks, the bottom of their socks would be black. We gave generous tips to housekeeping so each day they would come and knock on our door to see if we wanted anything, they would give us extra water and towels and do a little extra cleaning, so it pays to give tips, although one should not have to. It would not be fair for me to comment on the food as I think I ate breakfast twice and evening food once during my 11 day stay, I was concerned about the back of house hygiene given how bad areas were that we had access to. My husband, children and other family members ate here most days and said it was pleasant enough and ************* no one got ill. The Turkish groups have access to their own restaurant and it is quite big. The hotel had a large lobby area which was nice for relaxing if you didn’t want to be boxed in your room, children enjoyed playing here too. After our arrival, ourselves, other

The hotel was very good. Our room was large and well equipped. There was a mini fridge, kettle, mugs, tea, sugar. There was a big desk and a wardrobe with a safe. There was a prayer mat with a Quran on one of the shelves . The air conditioner worked well. Bathroom had towels, toilet rolls. The cleaners didn’t come every day but you could ring them and they would come and change your beds, bin and restock on everything. The two cleaners were very nice , they gave us extra mugs.sugar and whatever we needed. The only two things I would point out is 1) no microwave and 2) The hotel is a little bit of a walk to Masjid Al Haram. Coming back is a bit of a struggle because it’s on a steep hill. So a bit difficult for children and old people. Apart from that it was all great

Reasons not to book 1. It is on a huge hill. Your legs will ache whether you’re young or old. It is a very long walk NOT 5 mins. 2. There is no WiFi in the hotel. (They have WiFi but it does not work) 3. There is no service in the hotel (if you get a sim, mobile data DOES NOT work. 4. Breakfast. Is not even breakfast. You don’t even get toast. You will starve. They have random things that are not classed as breakfast and NOT filling. 5. So many elevators but they are so slow. On one occasion the lift started to shake and began missing floors. It was scary. The only good thing was the cleaning staff were very nice.