We booked our stay at Rixos Bab Al Bahr for 15–16 August to celebrate my son’s 8th birthday. This was our first time staying at the hotel, so I contacted the hotel in advance by email to explain that we were planning a special birthday celebration. I kindly asked if they could help with even a simple gesture, such as decorating his bed with towels or making a small room decoration. I was not expecting anything extravagant—just a small gesture to make my son feel special.
I also requested rooms next to each other because I wanted to stay close to my children. However, we were given rooms 2550 and 2551, and unfortunately, 2551 was not beside our room.
During check-in, I spoke with Ahmed at reception and specifically asked him to double-check if anything had been prepared for my son’s birthday. I even showed him the email communication, but unfortunately, nothing was prepared at all.
When we reached room 2550, I requested room 2549 so that our rooms could be beside each other. We waited for around 2 hours, and we were then told that the room would only be available at 6:00 PM. In the end we decided to stay in room 2551 eventhough I kept following up about the room change, but we were repeatedly told that the room was “being prepared.” However, I never saw housekeeping actually preparing the room, which made the explanation very frustrating.
We also spoke with Marjan regarding the room decoration, but nothing happened. We had to keep asking for assistance, and it felt like we were begging for something that we had already communicated in advance. We also spoke with Sheriff regarding the room change, but unfortunately, nothing was resolved.
The luggage situation was another major disappointment. We gave our luggage tag to Nabil, who took the tag from my husband. We understood that he was handling the luggage, but it appears that our luggage tag was not properly passed to the concierge. After 2 hours, our luggage still had not arrived, and we had to keep following up ourselves.
YOU MAKE MY SON BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION SO BAD IN HIS MEMORY…..
The overall service and attitude were very disappointing. Some staff were not helpful, and we felt that our concerns were being ignored. The staff represent the Rixos name, and I strongly believe that proper hospitality and customer-service training is needed.
I have attached our email communication to show that we clearly communicated our requests in advance.
What is most disappointing is that we came to celebrate our son’s 8th birthday and wanted to create a happy and memorable family experience. Instead, we spent so much of our time following up about the room, luggage, and birthday arrangement.
I sincerely hope management does not simply ignore this complaint because Rixos is a well-known hotel and assumes guests will continue coming back anyway. Every guest deserves to be heard, respected, and treated with proper hospitality.
This was our first experience at Rixos Bab Al Bahr, and unfortunately, it has been extremely disappointing.
