Hey all, and yes it is time – for another accommodation review. Today I am reviewing the place I stayed in Muscat, Oman – the Muscat International Hotel. This is a great little budget option only 20 minutes or so from the airport.

The price was 12.6 Omani Riyals per night, which comes in at a touch under $50AUD so around $33USD at the moment, which for what you get is excellent. Now, it’s fair to say that the hotel experience was tempered with a very strange patron who was also staying there which made life uncomfortable – see the post HERE to find out more, but that is down to luck and not the fault of the hotel.

The reception staff vary – some are super chatty and friendly, others more reserved but generally speaking whenever I needed help I received it. They were happy to organise Uber’s for me (I would pay in cash) as the roaming charges for Oman were expensive to say the least. I would turn on data here and there but I was burnt at the airport when I use it for 40 minutes flicking through Instagram and racking up a hundred bucks just like that!

The hotel is clean and there is daily room service should you want it. The room was incredibly spacious, had a tv, WiFi that was decent, a large bed, a couch, cupboard space – really it was every thing you could ask. It lacked the finer touches/the polish of more upmarket hotels, but that didn’t really matter to me. There was from time to time a bit of corridor noise, but it wasn’t anything that affected me.

The bathroom was the poorest aspect of the room, it was smallish and the shower did tend get the entire floor wet. You had a button to heat up the hot water, which I guess is good because theres no point in heating it until you want to use it. It was pretty quick to heat up too.

Location was probably the biggest drawback. It’s located in the Al Khuwair district. The roads in Muscat are wide and the cars drive fast, and yet it was a 15 minute or more walk to get to the bus station and so I had to cross a few roads to get there. The problem with Muscat is its drawn out nature, nothing is really close to another.

The Old Town/Mutrah Corniche was 30 minutes by cab one way, the Grand Mosque 15-20 minutes in the opposite direction. The Avenues Mall was on the way to the Grand Mosque. The hotel itself was between a couple of local restaurants, and on the way to the bus station there were more choices and a supermarket too but its still a bit of a hike. Having said that, it’s in the middle of a lot of stuff and the distance from the corniche is the main reason the price is what it is!

All in all though, the place served its purpose and I was happy there. They also had room service and would bring you a basic but decent range of snacks and light meals.

Andy’s Ratings:

Location: 1.5/5

Cleanliness: 3.5/5

Noise: 3.5/5

Service: 3.5/5

Value for Money: 4/5

Total: 15/25 (75/100)

Thanks for popping by! May the Journey Never End!