How Qatar’s First All-Inclusive Hotel Changed The Definition of Luxury Travel Experiences

While the definition of “Luxury Travel” in recent years has been an abused buzzword in the travel industry and used as clickbait by publishers, bloggers and influencers to trick you into reading about average experiences for budget travellers.

You’ve probably also been fooled into many misleading reviews and inspirational “luxury” travel guides, ending up at 5-star hotels that felt like ran-down 2-Star hotels with no spirit of hospitality, leaving you frustrated in your simple search of a proper luxury experience. 

In This Article

The Upgrade of an Iconic 5-Star Hotel

In Qatar, the first iconic 5-star hotel under Arabian standards, and despite already being a proper 5-star hotel, a Turkish hotel chain recently planned to level up with a new definition of what luxury travel experiences can be.

In collaboration with Qatari authorities and a Turkish hospitality rebel making waves in the hotel industry around the world, there is a new premium concept in Qatar that might change the way you search for new travel experiences in the future.

The 5-Star Misconception

It might be confusing, and while you probably, like many other travellers who appreciate simplicity, value your time and love quality, the 5-star badge probably needs to be re-invented by the industry since more and more hotels acquire technical 5-star status, but lack the real DNA of what 5-star hospitality means making it challenging to find good hotels.

This can lead the creators of luxury experiences in the future to invent a new rating system that you can rely on. Not by stars that seem less and less reliable, but by seeing a logo that represents more than five technical given stars. 

Like Four Seasons, Shangri-La and St Regis that basically don’t need to use their stars to impress guests or hide behind faceless and technically given ratings. Most people know what can be expected when checking in at one of their hotels around the world, without the need of validating what these hotel brands stand for by reading reviews or bet on the hope that the given stars are genuine.

Just by hearing their names or seeing their logos ignites a feeling and visualization of an extraordinary experience. Just the rumour of what the logo represents makes people desire it.

Similarly, there is a new hotel chain putting itself on the global stage, changing the way how many travellers now choose their luxury experiences. Not only what hotel to book, but also decide where in the world they want to travel to the next time based on the availability of the new contender in the luxury category. This is the Rixos Hotels All-Inclusive, All-Exclusive experience. 

Managed by Lebanese and Egyptian leaderships, you’ll feel the DNA of Middle Eastern hospitality from the entire staff. Rarely you hear the sentence “Thanks for staying with us, we look forward to seeing you again” from the housekeepers as if they were your private butler.

Showing that the hospitality is not just a vision statement by the hotel group but a genuine implemented culture you can feel is the same from the hotel manager, to housekeepers and gardeners. Rixos Gulf Hotel Doha is yet another example of why Rixos Hotels attract people just by the Rixos name.

Extra Charges Luxury vs All Exclusive Freedom

While most real 5-star hotels, actual premium hotels and known luxury hotel brands set the standards high. You’ll most often still end up with a stay packed with hundreds of tiny choices, decisions, bill approvals and signatures to every sip, bite, snack or amenity you enjoy. Adding your every move to the bill of the room, while moving around the hotel during your stay as if it was an Extra-Charge-Marathon experience for every moment you enjoy.

Though the extra cost from the happily enjoyed mini-bar, amenities, hotel restaurants, and bars around the hotel during your stay is not the problem, you’ll most often still end up acting as a full-time accountant or ticket inspector while navigating around and exploring the corners of your hotel or resort, rather than just paying one bill for enjoying everything.

The choice of a luxury experience is also the freedom to escape from making decisions and signing bills for a moment and, enjoy having a break away from your everyday hassle. The All Exclusive concept gives you this exact freedom, the mental space and time to just relax and enjoy.

“No restriction with regard to restaurants and no unexpected additional spend. 

Treat yourself as we take care of you!” 

– Rixos Hotels

Is All-Inclusive an Exclusive Experience?

Despite the sceptical perceptions of the all-inclusive hotels for most people. You may have concerns about the quality of food and drinks at all-inclusive hotels when looking for an exclusive travel experience, as well as the crowded or touristy atmosphere that often is present at traditional resorts. And, at most places, you may also have limitations on certain amenities or activities.

With these concerns and maybe past experiences, imagining an exclusive experience at an all-inclusive resort will probably alert most people in their search for a premium hotel stay. This is one of the core principles behind the Rixos All-Inclusive concept, converting all what you know from genuine luxury hotels into an All-Inclusive premium experience. 

Besides the high chances of you changing the way you choose future hotel stays, Rixos Hotels also makes a deliberate effort to change how you think about the All-Inclusive concept and definition.

Boring Standard Gourmet vs Authentic Quality Meals

Chances are that even though you checked in at one of the usual suspects of the luxury hotels industry, maybe even at a “7-star” 5-star hotel, your marathon of ticket inspections is still only giving you admission to the high-end of the average beverages and cocktails you can buy in any supermarket around the world.

And the same boring gourmet menu of safe standard dishes you can get at any restaurant with a little hint of gourmet to its name.

While Fours Seasons and St Regis may stay on the top mind of most people when thinking of Luxury. Rixos is making waves around the world, being able to upgrade even hotels with already high standards into new gastronomical experiences every hour of the day or night, from midnight buffet to 24 hours lobby bar serving you the same quality of food as if it was your main meal of the day.

When Gourmet Faces The Raw Reality of Artisan Authenticity

While most chefs can throw a gourmet dish taught at any chef school and boast about the high-quality ingredients flown in from around the world. It’s rare to find authentic artisan food experiences that make the midnight buffet better than most 5-star hotels’ flagship dish. And when found, even sophisticated Michelin awarded restaurants and chefs will struggle to give you better experiences of enjoying your hungry moments, than the Rixos All-Inclusive experiences.

And when even the pool bar has a more extensive selection of rare and artisan liqueur brands than most cocktail bars have of all liqueurs. Very few places and even cocktail bars around the world, can compete with the Rixos mixologist lounge corners and special Middle East editions of rare liquors created just for the Rixos hotels.

Making the black Johnnie Walker stand silently in the shadow waiting for no-one to choose him, simply because he’s shadowed by the new flavours and curiosity to explore everything from numbered special editions to rare artisan collections.

Just sitting in the bar area takes you back to the chic 1920s of Chicago’s true cocktail bar scene, making the cocktail moments elegant and memorable. More exciting, having any artisan moment included in the new ultra-exclusive concept of your stay, as if it was an all-inclusive package.

Guests around the hotel still behave as if it was the billionaire clubs and lounges hidden around New York City, cosy and relaxed moments in elegance while enjoying the rarest liquors and cocktails from hidden corners of the world.

Very rarely, does any hotel make you feel cravings to return to a hotel, or seek destinations where you can find the same hotel chain. Simply, humble artisan food, exciting refreshments and relaxing moments, a simple concept that makes your stay memorable.

See Also

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A Premium Experience That Starts Before Takeoff

Supported by the country and Doha’s curated choices of high quality, the experience of Rixos Gulf Hotel Doha expands their value of a premium experience beyond the hotel property, amenities and views. with Doha itself giving you a feeling of elegant affluence, and your premium experience even expands to airports around the globe.

From the moment you’ll be taking off from your local airport heading towards the destination of Doha, you’ll notice that no low-cost airlines will join the fleets of Middle East’s premium airlines and private jets with the same destination coordinates of Doha, knowing that none of the low-cost airlines will dump off loads of charter tourists. 

The feeling of exclusivity from takeoff, lets you know that not only the local population will be different, but the tourism and people you’ll occasionally meet visiting Doha will be an intellectual and enriching experience.

Accompanied by the Rixos All-Inclusive concept, you’ll most likely create a small addiction to seek more exclusive moments of staying at their hotels.

5 Star Luxury vs 5 Star Luxury

While Qatar and Doha in itself already cater to the local high demand for Qataris and affluent people flying in for business and leisure from around the world, what makes an all-inclusive resort relevant in the middle of a prosperous region and surrounded by other iconic hotel brands?

The secret can be found in the Middle East’s desire to compete with the best of the best worldwide and make something better than what people already know as the best of luxury today, and an investment hunger from the Qatari region combined with a Turkish entrepreneur missing something important in the hospitality industry, a new understanding of what all-inclusive can be. 

This alliance paves the way for the new “5 Star Luxury” concept to compete with traditional “5 Star Luxury” hotels, changing the way affluent travellers can enjoy their premium experiences in more pleasant ways.

Location of Rixos Golf Hotel Doha

• Address: Ras Abu Aboud, Street 920 Zone 28, DOHA, 1911, Qatar
• Phone: +974 4429 8888
• Email: reservation.gulfdoha@rixos.com

Conclusion

Is Rixos Golf Hotel Doha changing the luxury hierarchy in Qatar? 

It’s definitely inviting, and while reputation, history, iconic buildings and centuries of extraordinary luxury, most sleeping hotel giants and best luxury brands are facing the same faith as David and Goliath, the new underdog of luxury is fast paving through to establish itself in the fast lane to the top of a better luxury experience.

Having the government of the wealthiest population on earth, invest in a new way of enjoying life, is a silent bluestamp of extraordinarity from a population of wealth. The smooth experience at Rixos Hotels & Resorts might change the way you choose travel destinations in the future. 

The mix of Qatari’s hunger for extraordinarity, a Turkish Hotel Chain re-inventing the 5-Star Hotel definition, the Rixos Gulf Hotel Doha being managed by Rosette Fares with her spirit of Lebanese hospitality and Sherif Kasseb with his Egyptian welcoming culture, you probably have to travel for a lifetime to find another hotel chain that can match up and give you the experience how humble and authentic hospitality in the context of luxury.

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