Doha is Qatar’s capital and an upscale metropolis with perfect weather, and the sparkling Persian Gulf nestles against the city’s eastern border. We have reviewed hotels in Doha, Qatar, with the best club or executive lounges at Doha airport, city, or beach.
If you fly with Qatar Airways, you will most likely layover in Qatar, but don’t just stay in the airport. Doha is a destination in its own right, with some wonderful beaches and hotels.
If you want club lounge access for free, book a standard room at a hotel that partners with our luxury travel concierge, and you will get a room upgrade and free club lounge access. This free lounge access has to be one of the best hotel deals available.
The best luxury hotels in Doha, Qatar, include The St. Regis Doha (no club lounge), Ritz-Carlton Doha (club lounge), Grand Hyatt Doha (club lounge), Ritz-Carlton Sharq Village & Spa (no club lounge), and Banana Island Resort by Anantara (no club lounge), an alcohol-free island with beautiful beaches, just 25 minutes from the heart of Qatar’s vibrant capital.
I have compiled a list below containing the club lounges available across luxury hotels in Doha. I list the lounges in Doha that I consider to be the best of the best. I will be reviewing each of these hotel club lounges in detail in turn so that you know what you will get if you book a room with club lounge access or get upgraded to a club lounge for free because of your loyalty status. Please note none of the Doha Club lounges serves alcohol during Ramadan, but they do serve alcohol during their happy hours throughout the rest of the year.
1. Best Club Lounge: The Ritz-Carlton, Doha
The Ritz-Carlton, Doha is a gorgeous luxury hotel located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, with a world-class spa, modern fitness center, and elegant restaurants and bars as well as indoor and outdoor swimming pools and lush landscaped gardens.
The hotel has its own private beach on an island adjacent to it. This Ritz-Carlton is a 10-minute drive from the cultural center of Doha, Katara Cultural Village. It’s conveniently located across from Lagoona Mall. If you are spending your Marriott Bonvoy points, this hotel costs 35,000 Bonvoy points per night.
The Ritz-Carlton, Doha, celebrates the city’s progressive spirit with an exclusive Club Level, distinctive dining options, modern rooms and suites, a unique spa journey, and legendary outdoor pools. With distinctive features that include the largest chandelier in the Middle East, this 5-star luxury hotel bridges the past with the present. There are 374 well-appointed guestrooms with views of the city or Arabian Gulf, 61 luxury suites, and 42 club rooms with free internet.
Book into one of the 42 club rooms, and you will get access to the sophisticated club level which is, in our opinion, the most luxurious and best club lounge in Doga. Here, you can enjoy an elegant setting (pictured above) with five areas: Warm Welcome, In Residence, Library, The Dining Room, and Kitchen.
A selection of offerings and amenities has been carefully crafted to enhance the five senses of a guest’s experience. From food and beverage offerings and entertainment programs to exclusive events, all are now available for club guests.
The highlights are the 24-hour access and the culinary offerings available throughout the day, including breakfast, light lunch, afternoon tea, and evening hors d’oeuvres, followed by chocolate and cordials.
“To Go” snacks and beverages are available throughout the day.
You can also use the club lounge’s personal check-in and check-out service. You get a seasonal welcome drink, complimentary photocopy and fax service, up to 20 sheets per stay, a dedicated multi-lingual club concierge at your service, a Nespresso coffee machine in your guestroom, complimentary packing and unpacking assistance, and complimentary shoe-polishing service.
You cannot get free access to this lounge. You either need to book a club-level room or pay a fee. This is the best club lounge option in Doha for both food quality and quantity and luxury ambiance.
The other Ritz-Carlton in Doha is Ritz-Carlton Sharq Village and Spa. While this is a great hotel, it does not offer a club lounge, which is unusual for a Ritz-Carlton hotel. However, we can offer free benefits at both of these Ritz-Carlton hotels and similar benefits at any other luxury hotel in Doha.
2. Grand Hyatt Doha
The Grand Hyatt Doha has a brilliant club lounge and a particularly gorgeous and safe sandy beach. Here, the water is shallow, and the water temperature is around 30 C in its lagoon-style bay. Because of how the water flows in the lagoon, this area of the sea has become very saline, so you get to swim in a very buoyant and pleasantly warm sea, which we loved. When we personally visited this luxury hotel, we reviewed the Grand Hyatt Doha in detail.
The club lounge at the Grand Hyatt Doha is exceptionally spacious, so you can find a space away from other guests even when it is busy. For breakfast, there is a vast spread of continental breakfast items and the option to order eggs. Evening cocktail hour offers an excellent choice of still or sparkling wines, beer and spirits, and a buffet, including a cheese board, crackers, bread, meat, hot snacks, pitta, dips, nachos, and little desserts. The Grand Hyatt Doha’s club lounge is one of the Hyatt chain’s unsung heroes and closely resembles another of our favorite club lounges in Muscat and Oman.
Beyond the club lounge at the Grand Hyatt Dubai, there is a wide choice of restaurants, from traditional Arabian Mezza through Italian to genuine Thai. Isaan is a real Thai restaurant staffed entirely by Thai personnel, and it has won a Time Out award as the best SE Asian restaurant in the Middle East.
Santa Monica Breakfast Club is more eclectic and the site for breakfast as well as absolutely sumptuous brunches and lunches, which include all the traditional Arabian dishes. Try the mouthwatering shish kebab cooked on a real charcoal grill. The Dunes bar offers a large selection of wines and spirits in a cool environment, and if you get peckish or want gifts, there is Biscotti selling beautiful chocolates, cookies, a bakery, and coffee.
The large free-form swimming pool is accessed from one level below reception, so you can exit your room discretely attired in swimwear and bathrobe without offending locals in the lobby area. It is understandably very popular with families, making it feel hectic. Stroll through the delightful gardens down to the very safe, shallow sandy beach. The water temperature is about 30 C, as the bay is a virtual lagoon. The water is very saline, too, so you are very buoyant, making swimming even more fun. As if that were not enough, there is a separate, more conventional swimming pool along the far end of the beach surrounded by hedges.
The gym is huge and extremely well-equipped for a hotel fitness center. Alternatively, if you prefer to brave the heat, there is an outdoor jogging track. The spa contains two private couples’ suites, different in style, but each with its own water feature. One has a small plunge pool, and the other a jacuzzi.
The leisure facilities and restaurants at the Grand Hyatt Doha are superb, and the club lounge offers excellent service. The food and drink offering is easily good enough to avoid additional spending. We recommend staying here, especially if you can access the club lounge.
3. InterContinental Doha
The luxurious 5-star InterContinental Doha is located on the longest private beach in the city and is just minutes from the city center. It boasts an excellent Club Lounge with spectacular views.
Located on Doha’s longest private beach and nestled in landscaped gardens, the InterContinental Doha features 12 restaurants and bars, including the famous La Mar Doha, a range of recreational facilities, a free-form swimming pool, and the exclusive Spa InterContinental.The hotel’s prime location is just minutes from downtown Doha and central government and corporate offices and within minutes of the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre, City Center Mall, and Doha Golf Club.
The Doha Club InterContinental at the InterContinental hotel in Doha is available to guests who book club rooms. Located on the hotel’s Mezzanine floor with stunning views of the Arabian Gulf and Doha skyline, Club InterContinental at InterContinental Doha offers an elegant area to work and play for those who book club rooms and suites. Club InterContinental offers complimentary breakfast, light refreshments, afternoon tea, and evening cocktails.
Club lounge privileges also include a Personalised check-in and check-out at Club InterContinental, welcome drink and fresh fruit upon arrival, breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, evening cocktail, and all-day refreshments at Club InterContinental, complimentary two pieces of garment pressing per stay, complimentary two-hour use of meeting room at Club InterContinental per stay, complimentary local landline telephone calls, complimentary use of the Club Floor business center equipped with fax, printer, scanner and photocopy machine and priority reservations at their award-winning restaurants.
4. W Doha
The W Doha is one of the few W branded properties with a club lounge. You will feel hip and trendy at this hotel as there is a constant background of soft dance music, and the rooms here are gorgeous.
If you upgrade to the club level, there is a free breakfast and evening buffet, including alcoholic drinks, before you dance the night away in the Crystal Lounge nightclub on the Mezzanine level. Platinum Bonvoy members should get free club lounge access along with guests staying in suites. If you don’t have club lounge access, it’s worth paying the extra for this club lounge upgrade.
The restaurants here are excellent, and there is a basic pool (by Doha standards), so you can enjoy the outside, at least when the pool is in the sun, which tends to be late in the morning until mid-afternoon when the sun falls behind surrounding buildings.
5. Westin Doha Hotel & Spa
Located in the heart of central Doha, just 20 minutes from the airport and only minutes away from landmark destinations such as Souq Waqif and Doha Corniche, is the Westin Doha. The hotel is set in stunning landscaped gardens with 364 guest rooms, suites, and some rather lovely private pool villas.
Rooms feature Heavenly® Beds and the invigorating Heavenly® Shower. Guests can enjoy a variety of dining options from 6 restaurants, ranging from award-winning Thai cuisine at Sabai Thai to a modern steakhouse experience at Hunter’s Room & Grill. There is also a Heavenly Spa by Westin™ and spacious WestinWORKOUT Fitness Studio®, along with a really nice pool area.
The club lounge is spacious, with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Throughout the day, food offerings include a great breakfast, lunch with salads, sandwiches, light bites, and evening food, which is again salads, light bites, and hot dishes, usually a mix of warm salmon fillets, chicken, and beef options. An evening happy hour includes beer, sparkling wines, and a selection of spirits.
6. Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel
Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel is situated in the heart of downtown, near the diplomatic quarter and the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center. The rooms and suites are well-appointed, get great reviews, and the hotel also has a spa, a pool (which isn’t as nice as the one at the Grand Hyatt or the Sheraton but is sufficient for a city center hotel), and a fitness center. Nine in-house restaurants, ranging from casual poolside dining to an authentic Italian or Brazilian experience, will keep you fed, but a highlight here is the club lounge.
Marriott Marquis City Center Doha hotel has an executive lounge on the eighth floor, overlooking downtown Doha with one of the best outdoor views in the city. The view is also overlooking the hotel’s heated swimming pool. There is a continental breakfast spread, which is very good, and an evening happy hour available in the executive lounge. Alcohol is usually served here except during Ramadan, and the food is good too, with salads, pasta, chicken dishes, pad thai noodles, curried fish, as well as the usual veggies. They also have a decent selection of desserts for sweet tooths.
What is noteworthy about this hotel is that it is usually cheaper than the equivalent Starwood Sheraton and Westin in Doha. The location is also slightly better because it is near the Corniche and is attached to a large shopping mall. I would pick the Grand Hyatt or the Ritz-Carlton for a family holiday as their facilities are much better. The Grand Hyatt, in particular, has a marvelous beach.
7. Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel
The Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel is a gigantic hotel situated in a central location by the beach in Doha.
The hotel’s architecture is unusual, making it look like a pyramid from certain angles, and the inside and outside feel very 1980s, even though it has been recently refurbished. This hotel’s main advantage is the extensive beach and pool facilities, both with hot water. The pool here is much better than the Marriott Marquis in Doha.
Platinum Bonvoy members will get a room upgrade and club lounge access for free, much like at the Marriott and the W. The executive lounge is decent here and very spacious. The food at happy hour is a generous range of salads, hors d’oeuvres, sushi, hot dishes, and desserts. Enough to fill you up and with plenty of free alcohol in the lounge during this time, too.
8. Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha
Book an executive room at the Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha, and you get a comfortable 40 m² room with a king-size bed, work desk, and sitting area. You also get a complimentary lavish breakfast buffet prepared with Swiss hospitality at the ForKnife Restaurant and exclusive access to the executive lounge. Other perks are late check-out and complimentary airport transfer (both subject to availability). Executive Rooms can accommodate a maximum of 2 adults and one child in existing bedding. An extra bed at a charge is possible.
9. Hilton Doha
The Hilton Doha has an executive lounge has a plentiful breakfast and dinner buffet and excellent staff. Kids under 14 are not allowed in this executive lounge during the daily evening happy hour when staff serves alcohol and light evening bites.
The hotel itself looks a little dated. Although the lobby is excellent, the rooms can be worn, and the pool area can be crawling with kids. Some of the rooms in this hotel suffer quite severely from night-time noise, especially on weekends, so remember to bring earplugs.
10. Hotel Crowne Plaza Doha West Bay
While the Hotel Crowne Plaza Doha West Bay is not a 5-star luxury hotel, it is worth mentioning that they also have a club lounge with an extensive buffet in the morning and evening consisting of high quality, tasty food. Don’t expect a spread as good as our top choices, but the food here is solid, sufficient, and nicely presented.
11. Millennium Hotel Doha
Millennium Hotel Doha is a much cheaper hotel in Doha, and this hotel offers a rather low-quality club lounge with breakfast that has been described as “awful” with cold and dried up food and cheap runny toiletries in the rooms.
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