Since staycations has been our official way of celebrating birthdays in our family, we booked ahead for our sons’ birthdays. Last May, we booked a stay at Hilton Garden Inn for our 3rd son’s 3rd birthday. We, however, didn’t anticipate that there will be a lockdown plus it coincided with Ramadan time. We planned to drop by Philippines Embassy for some transactions but we learned they are closed! Lesson learned that we should have checked the schedule first before dropping by. We also dropped by Oman Avenues Mall to learn that all commercial establishments were all closed. Oppss! We just bought take out from Jollibee before heading to the hotel. We couldn’t eat in the restaurant or even in our car because it was Ramadan. Out of respect for our Muslim brothers and sisters, we should not eat in public until sundown. This practice is not new to me because I experienced that too when I was studying in Saudi Arabia that we should be mindful not to eat in public before sundown even chewing gum is prohibited.
We, then, headed to Hilton Garden Inn which is strategically located in Al Khuwair. It just nearby Jollibee and Oman Avenues Mall.
We were greeted by a nice friendly Filipina hotel receptionist, Ms. Janet. She helped us with the checked in. Check in was swift and easy. We were informed that the pool in the top floor is closed because of the pandemic restrictions. We got the King Connecting Family Room. We was basically two rooms with one King bed in one room and two single beds in the other when our two older sons will sleep in, with a connecting door to both rooms. We got the room at 34 Omani rials without breakfast included.
The design of the rooms are pretty much basic hotel decor with lots of beige colour. The view from our room is the street with a nice little garden park and a playground below. I like best is the lighting streaming inside our rooms.
The bathroom has a bathtub which the kids are happy about. No pool? No problem, as long as there is a bathtub, they are happy. Also their toiletries are from Crabtree and Evelyn which smells divine and feels luxurious on the skin.
Once we settled down, we prepared Zeke’s birthday cake and our Jollibee lunch. We bought again at Isfahan Sweets for birthday cake. We got the Honey cake again which is the same cake we bought for my birthday.
We rested a bit and watched a bit of TV. Since there is no malls open or the pool is not open for swimming, we headed down to the playground for the kids to play. The kids enjoyed playing at the free public playground which my husband and I relaxed at the nice garden park. There were a few people jogging around and some using the public exercise installations at the park.
Since the lockdown was imposed at 7:00 PM, we ordered delivery via Talabat using their easy-to-use app. We choose Yellow Cab for dinner time and the delivery was fuss-free and punctual. We got our food from the Talabat delivery guy and headed up to our room.
We had a very filling dinner. We enjoyed the rest of the night in our hotel room.
In the morning, we woke up a little late. We, again, ordered our brunch via Talabat. We choose Chowking for brunch.
We made sure we had a heavy brunch before check out because we will be heading to do grocery before going back home.
REVIEW OF HILTON GARDEN INN
Service: The reception staff were all very nice and we were able to do a quick check in without any hassle. We commend Ms. Janet from receptionist for the wonderful welcome and accommodating us with our needs. There was just a bit of delay when we were asking for some utensils for our room and we need to call housekeeping several times. However, they compensated by providing us with more water for our room and extra toiletries as well.
Cleanliness: The room was clean and the sheets were comfortable. We saw some rooms that placed their bag of trash outside their room, out in the hallway but it was removed immediately afterward when we went outside the room.
Location: The location was perfected located at the heart of the city with lots of restaurant and malls nearby.
Amenities: Too bad we weren’t to access the pool. Even if we weren’t able to access their pool, it was nice to have the park and playground below near the hotel. The lobby was darkly lit but well-designed. There is the usual digital key and wifi is fast.
In conclusion, we plan to book next time a stay in Hilton Garden Inn . We hope that time we can already use their pool. If we ask the kids how they find our staycation, they just happy with the simple birthday of Zeke. Kids just love hotel staycations. We are looking forward to staying at Hilton Garden Inn Muscat again.
Hilton Garden Inn Muscat
Address: OM, Dohat Al Adab St, 118
Phone: 22 515555
