- BA lounge Review Manchester Airport
- Hotel Review: Holiday Inn London Heathrow
- BA Galleries full photo tour of the empty morning lounge (I was lucky!)
- BA Club Europe (business class) London to Istanbul review
- Review: Primeclass lounge Istanbul airport
- Saudi Airlines Istanbul to Jeddah
- Jedda airport immigration chaos
- Photos from Mekkah- the Holiest city in the world for Muslims
- Hotel Review: Hilton Makkah Towers
- Transporation from Jeddah airport to Mekkah and Medinah
- How Muslims Perform Umrah +Photo album of Haram
- Hilton Hotel review of the lounge and rooms
- Photo album of the road trip from Mekkah to Medina
- Hotel Review: Dar Al Iman Intercontinental Medina
& more to come
When I was in Medina I stayed in the Intercontinental Dar Al Iman.
I personally found this to be an awesome base and I think by far my favorite location.
I booked this hotel on points instead of the normal rate of $550 per night. One of the best redemptions ever!
I will write more details about how I worked out my redemptions and my trip to bring it down to £300 per person to show it is possible.
There are two Intercontinental properties in Medina, Dar Al Iman, and Dar Al-Hijra.
Dar Al Hijra is about 5-8minutes walk to the Prophets mosque and Dar Al Iman is only a few steps away. I have friends and customers staying in Dar Al Hijra and they liked it very much. Next time I will visit it as well to write up a full review in sha Allah.
Dar Al Iman is very conveniently located next to a mall and it has a rear entrance which leads straight to the mosque which is half a meter away.
The lobby was nice and when we arrived it was quiet so we were checked in straight away.
Our room had a haram view which was awesome.
We did have a small view of the public toilets too, but I assume this is the case with pretty much every room since they are in the middle.
The rooms were newly refurbished and you could still smell the paint in the room and in the hallway. I
must say our room was small compared to the massive Hilton room we had in Makkah but it did have everything we needed.
We had our welcome fruit basket as a Platinum member which was a nice touch and plenty of free water.
I had requested a double room however they didn’t have any available so we did have twin beds made into a double for us. I have to say the bed was very comfortable.
I liked that there was a small walk-in wardrobe in the room with a chair, makes it more private. I also loved the chairs in the room because in the evening we would just sit and admire the beauty of the mosque.
The bathroom had all the amenities we needed minus some hairs which weren’t ours!
The good points
- The location was awesome, the rear exits straight into the courtyard of the Prophet’s mosque was priceless.
- This hotel is the most expensive of both InterContinental’s and it can be great value redemption at 35,000 points per night. On our night they were raging from $350-$550 per night.
- Newly refurbished rooms. It is a nice touch and brings the hotel more in line with modern decor with a minimalistic clean lines style which I prefer.
- I was happy to walk alone to the Rawda (The garden of Paradise) and come back feeling safe.
The bad point
I think the most important for me in a hotel is cleanliness at all levels. Unfortunately, this hotel needs to work very hard on that part. Our bathroom was dirty and I had to ask for someone to come and clean it.
There was also dust everywhere even in places where you can’t simply miss. Such as the glass shelves next to the fridge where the water cups are. Not very tempting to use them when it is dusty and I am not talking about a day’s dust. I did write my name with it though.
Also because they pulled the beds to connect them, there was a lot of dirt and leftovers which they didn’t even bother vacuuming. Not the best impression.
Overall I would return to this hotel and the main reason is the proximity to the mosque. Everything in Makkah and Medinah is about proximity. It is very convenient to be able to make wudu and walk out of your room and be on time to pray. This is the reason why these rooms sell for such high prices.
Would I ever pay the cash price for this hotel? If the price is right yes.
When we were staying the prices were very high and I wouldn’t pay $500 per night simply because I would prefer to spend it on a handbag. 😉 After all, a girl has needs.
And until Mulberry starts accepting points for payment I will continue the miles and points game, which makes my hotels free.
This is one of the reasons why I love this hobby so much. It helps me gain experiences that otherwise would have been a struggle.
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