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Need aid discovering the hotel in just Doha’s airport? Look for the 23-foot-tall teddy bear produced out of bronze and hang a proper at the Hermes retail store.
Passengers transiting by way of Hamad Global Airport in Qatar’s cash can select to go away the airport and sign up for a absolutely free tour of some of the capital’s most popular attractions, including Souq Waqif and the Golden Masjid.
But others can choose to e book a room at the Oryx, a Qatar Airways-owned resort conveniently situated close to the C,D, and E gates.
As a swanky resort in a swanky airport that frequently ranks at the prime of the once-a-year Skytrax list of the world’s finest, it is no stretch to say this could be a single of the planet’s most high-class transit accommodations.
If you can identify it.
For the reason that the oryx – a kind of antelope native to the Middle East – is the emblem of Qatar Airways, the identify is in use all over the airport, sometimes to baffling outcome.
Scenario in level: The Oryx lounge is just just one flooring (second) below the Oryx resort (third), which means that a staff member is utilized to hold out in the hotel lobby to run interference for dropped tourists.
To verify in, passengers will want to demonstrate their passport and boarding pass. Doha is a “quiet airport,” which implies that there are no oral announcements about boarding gates and passengers are anticipated to use screens or mobile phone applications to determine out where by to go. They’ll also have to element with upwards of about US$450 for every keep – drastically far more high priced than a standard night’s lodging in Doha.
Entrance desk employees at the hotel are efficient and beneficial. As only transit passengers are remaining there, reception will double and triple-look at passengers’ itineraries and offer a wake-up phone to make positive they’re awake in time to make their subsequent flight.
“Hamad Intercontinental Airport operates as a 24-several hours, 7-days-a-week facility and for that reason all the distinctive passenger touchpoints follow the same timeline,” suggests Badr Mohammed Al Meer, main operating officer for the airport.
“We are continually striving to offer the greatest and bespoke experiences for vacationers, together with our airport hotel featuring. We want to give them with an unmatched encounter with a magnificent attraction, which is synonymous across the airport as a full.”
The Oryx is the only lodge inside of the airport by itself, building it a sensible preference for people with shorter layovers (by regulation, transit stays in the airport must be significantly less than 24 hrs). And there are also methods to encounter the lodge devoid of booking a place.
Tourists may perhaps entry the Oryx’s “vitality center” at a cost of 175 riyals ($48) for every person for up to four hrs.
This wellness-centric area, 1 floor above the rooms, has a squash court docket, golf simulator, spa and hydrotherapy pools and sizzling tubs in addition to a swimming pool.
The slender 25-meter (82-feet) prolonged pool seems to be like it is encased in a glass jewel box.

Silver geometric types are a key motif all over the airport, and that carries on to the pool, whose blue drinking water shimmers in opposition to the light coming in from the lattice form of the metallic partitions and ceiling.
Whilst there are some costume codes all-around community beaches in Qatar, the lodge is privately owned – that means that guests can put on western swimwear. They can also order a poolside cocktail, as liquor is permitted right here as well.
Unlike the resort, which is open up 24 hrs a working day, the vitality center closes from 2-6 a.m. Access to these places is free of charge for lodge company, although you however have to shell out for spa therapies.
The therapies are designed particularly for tourists, like a therapeutic massage for weary feet and a facial that addresses the dryness brought about by recycled airplane air.
Many thanks to Doha’s role as a important world transit hub, some visitors obtain by themselves returning to the Oryx on repeat visits.
A single of individuals is Jane Jones, a Canadian travel agent who lately invested a 12-hour layover sleeping and swimming at the Oryx. It was her next time there – the initially time, she had a shorter layover and opted for a pool and gymnasium pass.
Jones, who was en route to a vacation in Thailand this January, says the hotel’s facilities are “top notch.”
“One matter I significantly appreciated was the usefulness,” she reported. “I was pleasantly surprised by the high-quality of the home.”
Her particular highlights have been the speedy cost-free Wi-Fi, which enabled her to get some work accomplished prior to her flight and the wide wide range of possibilities – namely pounds schooling and cardio – in the health club.
“I would undoubtedly do it all over again,” she adds.
There are 100 rooms at the resort, all spread out together just one floor.
Contemplating that an normal of 40 million persons go as a result of Hamad International Airport for each year, there is high demand from customers for rooms at the Oryx.
Booking in advance is hugely recommended. People today whose strategies have changed or are dealing with last-minute cancellations can arrive to the reception space and stand in a lengthy line to try and get a area, but those people who have pre-booked can skip ahead and check out in with relieve.

The rooms themselves at the Oryx are light-weight and ethereal. The partitions are simple and product-coloured with the occasional burst of purple or gold, even though mattress linens and towels are crisp, thoroughly clean white. General, the style scheme produces a emotion of lightness.
There are 4 most important place kinds – remarkable (with 1 king mattress), deluxe (just one king mattress and one twin), family (three beds), and government suites (one king mattress, but more flooring house), as effectively as a posh presidential suite complete with a personal lounge and powder space.
Features make the rooms cozy for a rest and recharge.
Every single room has a kettle for coffee and tea producing functions, two complimentary bottles of water, and a huge rainforest shower – just the point for a rejuvenation amongst flights.
The other usual hotel facilities are there far too: outfits hangers, an iron, a hair dryer, bathrobes, and slippers. In the toilet, constructed-in shampoo dispensers and disposable toothbrushes signify you could not even need to have to get anything at all out of your own suitcase in order to freshen up.
In-place power points are global, and there are also USB ports.
And in spite of the ethereal, open up experience in the rooms and typical areas, there is a single critical region where by points come to feel large: window coverings.
For folks in desperate need of shuteye, the Oryx’s bedrooms can be created incredibly darkish even with the existence of Doha’s excellent sunshine outside the house. And a excellent night’s – or afternoon’s – rest may possibly be the ultimate luxurious of all.
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