Review: Four Seasons Hotel Doha

I spent five glorious nights at the Four Seasons Doha and loved every moment of it. This is a lovely hotel in Doha that offers comfortable accommodations, delicious food, and a great staff of caring employees.

Four Seasons Doha Review

I had planned to spend just a few nights here, but after a booking mix-up at the Grand Hyatt Doha, I ended up spending five nights here…and I am so thankful I did. Room rates were about $300/night, which is an excellent value considering the amenities I enjoyed, including complimentary breakfast each morning, a beautiful room with a terrace and view, and even a complimentary spa treatment (I booked via American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts).

To enter the lobby area, I had to pass through a metal detector, which is common at finer hotels in the Middle East.

Room

My room, 814, was beautiful. Although just a standard room (premier sea-view room), it was spacious (474 square feet) and I loved the white colors with blue accents. When the curtains were drawn back and you could see the sea below and I think the layout and design of the room was perfect.

Great views from the room:

Look at the intricate detail on the walls:

The bathroom included a shower, tub, toilet, and bidet.

Shower amenities were from Christian Lacroix.

In addition to a full minibar, there was a Lavazza espresso machine, from which I enjoyed an espresso to start my day each morning.

One other note: the room was cleaned twice daily…morning and evening.

Ambassador Suite

My friend was in a beautiful Ambassador suite, which was lovely as well, though I was quite happy with my “base” room:

Laundry

I had my clothes washed and I loved how the clothes back came perfectly pressed and folded.

Dining

Dining options abound at the Four Seasons Doha.

Elements

Breakfast was an amazing treat at Elements. I will not list all the items available on the breakfast buffet, but think of it like this: if you wanted it, they had it. There was cuisine from around the world and it was all beautifully presented and absolutely delicious:

Of course, I had my usual omelet, fresh berries, fresh-squeezed, and croissant, but I also enjoyed superb Arabic mezze each morning with freshly-made za’atar Manakish. What a delicious dish!

By the third morning, the staff knew me, called me by name, papered my coffee and very bowl without me even asking, and pampered me in a way certainly commensurate with a five-star hotel.

Some mornings I sat outside:

Others inside:

Elements also has its own bar.

There are many things that distinguish this hotel from others I have stayed at in Doha, but breakfast here is simply the best. I loved it.

Le Deli Robuchon

The beautiful Le Deli Robuchon is a coffee shop and a pâtissière shop. Located one level below the lobby with soaring ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows, I enjoyed excellent coffee here over and over again. While it was nice to have an espresso machine in the room, the coffee here was tremendous and sitting here with a great flat white writing was a great part of my day each day.

Apres Spa Cafe

I worked out twice a day while here, once when I woke up in the morning and again in the late afternoon. After each afternoon workout, I stopped by the Aires Spa Cafe for a protein shake. While not on the menu, the ingredients were simple: fresh berries, plain yogurt, ice, and protein powder. It really hit the spot.

There’s also an outdoor terrace at Apres:

Seasons Tea Lounge

One afternoon we seat in the Seasons Tea Lounge for coffee and scones. After a massive breakfast a few hours earlier, I had no appetite for the full afternoon tea, but greatly enjoyed a scone with clotted cream and a cappuccino beautifully prepared and presented in a china cup.

There’s a large dining room, which is nice enough, but go for the sunroom beyond it, which really is a beautiful place to spend a few hours.

Library Lounge

The beautiful dark wood Library Lounge offers an excellent atmosphere for social settings and excellent drinks.

JT, the bartender, took such good care of us. We enjoyed drinks here a couple days and I loved how he carefully made them in front of us and was such a conversationalist.

This is a smoking area and most people in here were smoking cigarettes or cigars. In that sense, whatever you wear in here you should expect to smell like smoke when you step out.

The Terrace

I stayed clear of The Terrace, the hotel’s shisha lounge, but if that’s your thing there is both indoor and outdoor seating available.

Isle Lounge

The outdoor pool area offers a sit-down dining area with food and drinks. Poolside or beachside service is also available.

Room Service

My friend had a lighter appetite so four of the five nights I ate in my room. First, I must commend this hotel for such an expansive room service menu. I never got bored. Not only was there a wide selection, but the quality and taste was excellent as well. Eating every night was a pleasure.

The first night, having eaten plenty onboard Qatar Airways, I just ordered a pizza:

The hotel boasts a wood oven grill and the pizza was excellent.

On my second night, I enjoyed a mixed grill with lamb, chicken, and beef.

It was delicious, but the best part of the meal was my appetizer, kibbeh in yogurt sauce. Kibbeh is usually made by pounding bulgur wheat together with meat into a fine paste and forming it into balls with toasted pine nuts and spices. It was so good I ordered it every night.

I tried a filet mignon one night, which was cooked a perfect medium rare and served with a green salad:

I also tried sea bass filet, with was tender and flavorful:

And more kibbeh of course:

One morning I slept in and ordered breakfast in my room (available all day), which was just as good as in Elements downstairs.

Nobu Doha

Doha’s Nobu restaurant is located on the premises. We considered eating here one night, but ultimately determined it was too much trouble and room service was too enjoyable to go out to a chain restaurant.

Spa + Wellness

The locker rooms in the spa complex included a superb wellness area with hot tub, sauna, steam room, and ice room.

My package included one complimentary spa treatment, which I used for a one-hour full-body massage. The massage was excellent and I appreciated the hot tea and dates after my treatment.

I want to give a very special shout-out to Yahya and Rasel, two spa attendants who so warmly greeted me twice a day when I used the wellness facilities and ensured I always had a dry towel and cold bottle of water.

Fitness Center

The Four Seasons has a large fitness center in the spa complex with modern machines. I began each morning here and also spent afternoons here and loved that my workout routine at home could be continued here.

Pools + Beach

Several outdoor, as well as an indoor pool, were available, plus therapeutic plunge pools. For the kids and young at heart, there are numerous water slides as well.  I would not call the beac world-class, but it was serviceable.

Tennis

Outdoor tennis courts are available.

Florist

There’s a number of shops on the lobby level of the hotel, including a jeweler and florist. The fresh-cut flower adorns the lobby and the smell of fresh-cut flowers fills the common areas of this hotel.

Service

What often separates a four-star hotel from a five-star hotel is the service. Every interaction with every staff member here was gracious. From the restaurants to the bar, from the pool to the spa, from maids to the front-desk staff, every member was polished, genuine, warm, and many impressively learned my name after only a day in-residence.

I also loved that you could easily converse with staff via telephone or the Four Seasons app.

The service here was such a distinguishing feature from other fine hotels in Doha.

Location

Located on a beach about seven miles from teh financial district, the hotel is easily within reach of most of the important institutions in Doha, but removed enough such that you can escape the hustle and bustle.

Car Service

We had arranged dinner at Souq Waqif one evening and the hotel graciously. offered to take us there and pick us up after. Otherwise, we used Uber for transport.

CONCLUSION

In every possible way, the Four Seasons Doha was a great hotel. I loved it and look forward to returning with my whole family. Indeed, if we are ever traveling on Qatar Airways, I will deliberately schedule in a stopover in Doha just to return to this hotel.

Next I’ll review the Park Hyatt Doha.