Riyadh has a plethora of hotel offerings that span all hotel categories. Many of the globally operating hotel chains are represented, predominantly in the 4- and 5-star segments. There are majestic, sometimes bombastic hotels with large parks, but also modern furnished houses. Some of the hotels were built at the beginning of the city’s first modernization phase in the 1970s and 1980s; however, a great many hotels date from recent years, reflecting the boom that this city is experiencing in the present.
The usual worldwide booking portals show an almost unmanageable number of hotels, and so you should give a couple of thoughts from the beginning, according to which criteria you want to choose a hotel.
One of the most commonly used criteria is certainly the number of so-called stars, although these can often only be certain reference points for a selection. A new 4* hotel can be a better choice than an old 5* hotel.
Above all, one should take into account that the opening of Saudi Arabia to general tourism (only) happened not too long ago, in 2019. This means that the hotels built before this period were mainly used by domestic, Saudi guests. And Saudis – it’s probably safe to say – at least at the time, predominantly loved plush, rather baroque home furnishings. Hotels have predominantly followed this habitus and, accordingly, many hotel rooms can still be found today with heavy carpets, dark curtains and furnishings. In my personal opinion, modern, airy and visually light hotels are still in the minority and of these, in turn, there are only a few that do without carpets in the rooms. In any case, you should look not only at the room amenities in the photos of the booking portals but especially at the bathroom amenities. Bathrooms that have the shower (only) integrated into the bathtub are actually no longer standard – in my view.
Another important criterion is, of course, the location of the hotel. Are they concentrated in the city center? Does such a city center even exist? This question is difficult to answer, and the more the city expands by leaps and bounds, the more likely it is to be answered in the negative. Nevertheless, the term city center is still used by many booking portals and it is indicated how many kilometers away the respective hotel is from the city center. This refers to the area of Olaya District between Kingdom Tower and Al Faysaliyyah Tower.
If you look at this quarter on a virtual city map, you will notice that many hotels are located in the quarter of Olaya Street and King Fahd Road, which form a kind of long spine of the city and thus a certain center. From here, it is easy to walk to Al Tahliyah Street (now: Prince Mohammad Ibn Abdulaziz Street), which runs across both streets and, with its numerous restaurants and cafes, is a popular destination for strolling, especially in the evenings, and where the pedestrian life that is rather rare in the city takes place. “Walking,” however, means taking 30 to 45 minutes or even longer, depending on which hotel you start from and which restaurant you want to go to. The iconic Al-Fayṣaliyyah (Al Faisaliah) Tower and Kingdom Tower are also on this axis. Another factor in favor of this district as a hotel location to be chosen is that it will be connected to a central Metro Line (Blue Line) in the near future, the opening of which in itself is long overdue.
Finally, a few remarks on the accommodation costs: these are – to put it bluntly – in general quite steep. The hotel costs reflect the generally high price level in Riyadh. Therefore, it is worthwhile to look closely at the booking portals, which usually offer appropriate search functions for the hotel prizes. Above all, however, you should think about when and at what time of year you would like to visit Riyadh. Because depending on the season, there are considerable price jumps. It is easy to understand that prices generally increase in the main travel season from around October to April compared to prices in the summer months. Traveling to Riyadh in the summer can have its advantages. Although summers are very hot, Riyadh has a rather continental climate with very low humidity. This is often around 10%, which makes the heat more bearable. When choosing a time to travel, one should also sufficiently take into account that Riyadh hosts many events, especially during the peak tourist season, some of which can stretch over many weeks. The visitor magnet of “Riyadh Season”, for example, attracts numerous visitors from outside the city from November to March, which causes the cost of hotel accommodation to skyrocket. So, if you do not attach any special importance to this you can save quite a bit of money by switching to other times of the year.
