Karbala Rayhaan Hotel & Suites

All great. Even health center was offered with hammam. Breakfast was fine, but could be better fir 5☆ hotel. Health center had limited services. Sauna was off. There is no normal coffee for breakfast. Just instant. Restaurant and coffee shop have great views of the city.

The lack of room controlled air-conditioning was the biggest factor why we cancelled our stay after 1 night, and moved to another hotel. The hotel as a whole is ok. More 'upper market' appearance than other hotels. The whole hotel is controlled by central heating and cooling, either all the rooms have heating or cooling. Big downside. If you plan on staying in this hotel, request a suite with air-conditioning, which will be more expensive. The buffet food range was ok but the food not hot; luke-warm at best. One of the male staff members, who clearly had a bad cold and sniffling everywhere, was very impatient. Bus-ride every hour to the Shrines was very good and on-time. If the air-conditioning and food issue is fixed, this place would be a 4-star.

Last year, we stayed at this hotel, and it was a terrible experience. The room service and location were the worst we’ve encountered. The buffet was awful, and the staff were rude. We decided to switch hotels and later discovered that this property is not managed by the Rotana Group as we had initially thought. One Persian-Iraqi receptionist lied to us about the buffet price and overcharged us. Additionally, the hotel is far from the holy shrines, requiring a long walk to reach them, and their shuttle service is not consistently available.