Mövenpick Petra

There are 2 Mövenpick hotels in Petra : Mövenpick Petra that I am reviewing here and the Mövenpick Nabatean Castle. The former is super conveniently located, at the bottom of the valley/Petra town, just across the street from the entrance of the Petra archeological site, has very good reviews and is most of the time pricey. Regarding the latter, I drove by it and it is out of town, on the upper side of Petra town, offers for sure splendid views over Petra canyon, but has a lot of mixed reviews. It is also much cheaper than the other one. I have to say that the convenience of the location of Mövenpick Petra beats everything else. It is so exhausting to visit Petra (sincerely, yes it is even if it is of course super rewarding), that having just to cross the street to reach your room is heaven and “priceless”.

It was a 5-night stay. Before the stay, the hotel contacted me by email to know about my estimated arrival time and if I needed anything in the room. On the day of arrival, while driving from Amman to Petra, the Front Office manager contacted me again by What’sApp for any update because they wanted to make sure the nice room they selected would be ready on-time. I like that and clearly I think that pre-contact should be a mandatory procedure at least for Diamond and Platinum customers in my humble opinion. Most hotels do not receive hordes of Diamond/Plat every day so it takes what ? 5 min to contact the customers of the day? And then you can adjust your plans, room allocation, take into account specific needs, etc. What’s App being super convenient, I updated the hotel along the way about my ETA. 

Parking is also free for customers. I was clearly expected and was, as in Amman, very warmly welcomed. They said Diamond members deserve all attention at their hotel and so I was a very special guest for them. I had booked a Superior/King room and they said they selected a very nice and quiet room for me (a Junior Suite) but if I did not like it, I could choose another room. They explained all the facilities of the hotel. They gave me also an invitation for a lounge (see later). 

Pictures of lobby and main atrium. Note that some rooms are facing the atrium. Those are probably noisy if the atrium get busy. Note that this hotel hosts some package tour groups. Unfortunately, those are unavoidable in Petra. But doing the summer, there are less and I have never been disturbed by them and they were mostly present during the 1st half of my stay.

I liked the room, although it was facing the rear/pool and not Petra town but they told me is was very quiet on this side and I much prefer that. Pictures are self-explanatory for room description. Welcome amenity was a fruit platter, Arabic pastries and a small bottle of Jordanian red wine. Those 3 items were renewed on Day 4 ! Another gift was provided later during stay by Housekeeping staff : some Dead Sea soaps (100g each).

Bathrobe and slippers provided, as well as Nespresso (capsules replenished every day), plenty of water, and minibar content was free (soft drinks).

There was a small balcony.

Bathroom had a walk-in shower. Toiletry products were in bulk, but of good quality. At mid-stay, housekeeping placed some nicer brand products containing Dead Sea minerals. Housekeeping staff enquired several times during the stay if everything was fine and if I needed anything.

Turndown service was inconsistently provided : only on Days 3 & 4. Why ? I don’t know.

not a lot to say. Water was at perfect temperature. Very appreciable coming back from Petra site as it was quite hot (33-35 deg) and you come back always totally exhausted. I believe it’s closing at all 8 pm which is a much more relevant time than 6 pm in Amman…

There are several bars & restaurants in the hotel as well as a kind of lounge (but not exactly a Club lounge as you may expect).

On the ground floor, you have :

• the pool bar that serves drinks (all day) and food for lunch (salads, pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, meat, etc). See pictures in the Pool section of the review.
• the main bar that overflows in the atrium. It serves the same food as at the pool but all day, including for dinner. Food cannot be eaten in the Atrium.

• the Al Iwan restaurant serving local & mediterranean cuisine. Unfortunately it was closed during my stay
• the Al Saraya restaurant : this is the main restaurant proposing buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Of course, this is where you’ll find the groups. There was a very easy way to avoid them at breakfast : arrive at 8 am, they all leave the room max at 7:59 ! Buffets were of good quality with a wide range of choice, local or more international.

On the roof : Al Ghadeer bar & BBQ restaurant. A very pleasant place to be in the evening because of the view over Petra town and mountains. No reservation needed for the bar but mandatory reservation required for the restaurant. Excellent restaurant focused on BBQ menus (different meat or seafood options). The menu comes with a large selection of excellent arabic mezze for appetizer and a dessert. This restaurant is more expensive than the other ones. The service was super attentive there.

On the mezzanine, the Burckhardt lounge. At check-in, they gave me the invitation below, for drinks and canapé at this lounge between 17:30 and 18:30. I thought it was like a Club Millesime but the invitation was for a single occasion and the invitation needed to be presented upon entry. Too bad that they just don’t make it as a regular lounge. 

In conclusion, I had  a great stay in this hotel. The service was just great at every moment. Being ALL Diamond means really something there. I want to thank particularly Mr Ahmad Hasanat, FO Supervisor and Mr Mohamad Casbah, FO Manager for their wonderful welcome and for all the attentions provided. 

Now, time for the 3rd and last step : Mövenpick Dead Sea.