In a surprising twist, I found the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class lounge in Doha to be completely underwhelming. People constantly rave about this lounge in reviews that heap praise on the whole concept. I just don’t get it!
My best description for this lounge is large hotel lobby. It has about as much personality as one and certainly had no wow factor as far as I am concerned. Let’s have a look at a few things.
Excellent Shower, Annoying Staff
Once in the lounge you need to walk quite a way to find the relatively hidden shower rooms which are down the back and through the restaurant. As they were busy there was about a 5 minute wait before a shower was free. No problem. An attendant then showed me to my shower suite.
Al Mourjan Hotel Lobby
Since I had flown 6 hours from Pisa and was connecting to a 16 hour flight to Auckland, I had no plans to eat anything during my stopover. The Qatar Airways cabin crew had fed me well on the first flight and if that was anything to go by I knew there would be a food frenzy on the next one.
The sweeping staircase above the large water feature is quite nice and the feature itself probably helps cool the air. All around are banks of seating with tablet devices for use if you wish. It is very easy to find a private area to perch.
I relaxed until it was time to head off to my gate, which thankfully was not very long. Leaving the lounge, my overall feeling was one of puzzlement. That was it?
Overall Thoughts
Qatar’s Al Mourjan Lounge at Doha’s Hamad International Airport is airy and nice and when I visited, it was quiet and soothing. That being said, it is so anonymous that you could be sitting in any quiet spot in any building in the world. There is nothing that made it stand out as unique for me. The lack of a view outside makes it feel disconnected from the whole experience of being in an airport. Perhaps that is the point, but I prefer to see the airport action.
I found it to be the most un-lounge like lounge of any I have ever visited. Literally it is like a hotel lobby and that is not to my taste at all. Several other business class lounges I have visited have been far superior. For example the Qantas Hong Kong lounge has superior styling and a much nicer atmosphere. Both Cathay Pacific and Qantas’ First Class lounges in Hong Kong and Sydney respectively leave this lounge for dead in their design.
Perhaps this lounge really comes into its own when you are eating there. For those that aren’t, it’s almost not worth visiting at all. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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I’m with you Andi.
I totally disagree.
Reading this article makes me realise how unfair it is for all of us to review a place after only 1 visit. And I don’t mean just for this place, I mean for all reviews. I have passed through DOH 18 times already this year and it never lets me down. Maybe my standards aren’t as high as the English or Australians LOL.
Once you explore this place and realise there are so many options I regard it as one of the best in the world. There is full a la carte dining in 2 restaurants, spa, showers, 2 sets bathrooms, quiet / sleeping rooms, smoking room, a business centre bigger than most UK and USA lounges and so many staff to take care of everyone. An extensive wine and beverage list that is better than most Western airlines.
And even when it is super-crowded late night and early morning, when the US flights depart, it still feels open and and airy and uncrowded.
As I said, go back a few times before you give us your “informed” opinion.
For the record, I’d be interested to know which lounge/s you regard as a great Business Lounges in this world? BA at LHR LOL, UA at ORD LOL, QF at SYD LOL, BA at BOS LOL ( even the new lounge is so undersize already ), ET at ADD LOL.
PS: I do agree though on the bathroom attendants. Quite intimidating. I have never even considered giving a tip at DOH as tipping is not etiquette in this part of the world. But I read-up on tipping before I went the first time. I choose to be informed. I don’t think they would have been hanging around for a tip so you probably wasted €5.
I can see your point on reviewing something after a single visit. I really can see both sides of the argument though. For a person visiting once, the experience should hopefully be similar to those who visit many times. Of course, once you are familiar with something you will have a different perspective altogether. It is the same when people visit hotels once. I am sure sometimes people are blown away on one visit whereas regular travellers can find fault that comes with being so familiar. It’s a little damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I have since been there again and now I have experienced more of what is on offer, I will be writing a follow up post in order to expand on my thoughts. I still stand by my thoughts and feelings on the first visit, but as you say, perhaps it is unfair to draw conclusions from one visit in this instance.
For business lounges, CX at CDG is pretty good for an outstation lounge and the various offerings in HKG are good. I thought BA at JFK and IAD with the pre-flight dining options were very good and decent food too. QF in SIN is very good too as is the QF HKG lounge. So there are other decent business lounges out there.
Good to know re the tipping for DOH. Perhaps next time I should research a little more to make sure I understand more on a transit. Appreciate your comments. Keep an eye out for my next review of the Al Mourjan lounge, hopefully it will reflect more of what is really available. I tried the restaurant and the food so that certainly is something worth writing about!
I totally agree, the lounge is huge and has a decent restaurant, rest areas/showers that some others lack, but is very underwhelming. My main problem with it is the only place to drink alcohol is in the bar/restaurant, where there are no power sockets. So you need to choose between drinks and dining, or recharging devices between flights. With so much space, it really is a waste and not well thought out. Compared with Virgin LHR (which is also business not first) it’s miles behind. The facilities, variety, personality etc. are also much better with Qantas as mentioned, or even perhaps the recent Plaza Premium lounges at LHR.
Good to know regarding the sockets, though it does make sense as people would never leave the restaurant if they were charging and using devices. You can’t take your drink out to the main lounge then I guess? That’s interesting. I have not tried the Virgin lounge at LHR but everyone I know who flies VS loves it plus I’ve seen some good reviews of it. One for the future for sure! Thanks for the comment!
LOL
I completely see where you’re coming from. Viewed objectively, no other business lounges offer a restaurant or the dining options that this lounge has. That on its own elevates it above other business lounges instantly, along with the sheer space of this area. From that angle, of course, this lounge is one of the best in the world.
However, if you are not planning to avail of the facilities for food – which could be quite a high percentage of connecting passengers – there is not really much there to attract a passenger. I could just as easily sit down in the gate lounge waiting for my flight and have a similar experience to what I had, shower notwithstanding.
Agree with you on the first class lounges – I almost took that out. However, as Qatar are trying to make their business class experience better than some airlines first class, I thought it a fair call to throw it in. Overall, I was going by my experience and how I felt about this lounge, rather than a direct comparison or review. It would be unfair of me to class it as a review when I did not sample all of the facilities on offer. This is why the title is what it is and not “Review: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge Doha”.
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it 🙂
Seeing no difference between being in AM and at the gate (except showers) is ridicoulous, sorry! This statement devalues your report completely.
Okay, I agree that comment was unduly harsh. Clearly a nicely designed space restricted to business class passengers is going to be a nicer place to sit than the gate area of an airport. I have since been to the lounge again and I will ensure I expand upon my thoughts.
I’m pretty much with you Trent. Too big for me and not particularly comfy when you are breaking your flight in the middle of the night. I have a recollection of being similarly stalked by a shower attendant. I didn’t break. I’d choose the Cathay J lounges in HKG to this one any day.
It seems like it’s pretty well set up for people with long connections. If I had 6 hours to kill, I’d probably have plenty of time to visit the restaurant and have a meal. I wish I didn’t break on the tip either – it’s entirely possible he was just being overly courteous, but I don’t think so. Cathay have the right idea, with multiple lounges spread throughout the terminal in HKG rather than just one big huge lounge. Thanks for the comment!
Like you I find this lounge impersonal and underwhelming though it does offer just about every element one could ask for. Hotel lobby is a pretty close analogy to the ambiance. Not to mention it took me several visits before I “discovered” the private rooms and less frantic showers located behind the light dining area on the main level. (I miss the a la carte menu in the main dining room, no longer having access to some of the finest filet steaks I’ve eaten.). As for the shower attendants, I’ve never even thought of tipping them or anyone else in a lounge I’ve just paid several thousand dollars to access. And my negative shower experiences relate to the rooms still being too hot and having to request a hair dryer, not having them as part of the standard equipment.
I agree have used al mourjan an about 10 times never once considered to tip the shower guy. I have to admit I think the food is much better and the lounge much quieter in the Al Safwa (first class lounge) but compared to any USA or European lounges (except maybe virgin’s in Heathrow) I would still put either Qatar lounge higher on the list. I think the point is to go in and disconnect. I haven’t used the resting rooms there (always seemed to be full) but I always liked the al safwa little sleeping hotel rooms, very nice and so far haven’t had to wait more then 30 minutes for either a shower or sleeping room but maybe just lucky.
I totally see your point with regards to the lounge. As I mentioned in another comment, taken as a whole with the restaurant and the light dining room, the Al Mourjan offers a lot more than comparable business class lounges. A whole lot more! However, if you’re not eating then everything else lets it down. I’d certainly love to try Al Safwa one day! I hear it is excellent. Appreciate the comment!
If you feel uncomfortable in AM because of lack of personal atmosphere – which I can understand due to the size – then most probably you will not like Al Safwa either. It is more like a museum.
A museum? That’s something I’ve never heard applied to a lounge before and even that makes me interested in finding out what it is like.
They’re the showers I used, behind the light dining room. I only knew about those as one of the people I’d met on the flight had read about that in a review, so we went there. Some other forums online have pointed out that the offering in the lounge has been reduced from when it first opened. I would have been setting off fireworks in celebration if there was still Krug! 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
The Krug offering was due to the fact that Al Safwa was not ready at this time and first class passengers hat to use Al Mourjan. BC passengers have taken advantage of this but stopping serving Krug after completion of AS is no “reduction”.
You are correct, I also heard the same thing and it makes perfect sense really. Thanks for pointing it out!