The hotel is well maintained, with good clean bathrooms and some vintage touches (monogrammed towels etc.) that I thought added character. It's in a good location in Hamra, and the bar is hopping a couple times a week for happy hour. I would add that the reception staff is frosty. That said, I would stay here again.

Greetings, I just came back with my wife from our stay in the Mayflower hotel. Although we are Lebanese, however, we have used Expedia before and we always managed to get very good rates and thus we decided to book a hotel in our home country via Expedia as well. While booking, the Expedia confirmation page said that the rate MAY NOT include taxes. Therefore, we called the hotel and asked whether this rate includes all applicable taxes. The answer on the phone was that this rate DOES include all taxes. Also, while checking in, we validated with the gentleman on the reception desk that this rate includes taxes. To our surprise, while checking out 10 days later, the Hotel manager (who is a very blunt character) gave us our bill which included 10% taxes. This nasty hotel manager did not even listen when we tried to explain to him that his employees confirmed twice that the rate is all inclusive !! ADDITONALLY, we were shocked to realize that the rate that we got through Expedia was not good at all. For 75$ (+10% Taxes), we could have gotten a room in a 4 stars hotel on the Raouche area (a much more luxurious location with amazing sea view). Also, the other hotels in Hamra were less expensive as well. PEOPLE WHO WALKED INTO THE MAYFLOWER were given a better rate!!!! I did not explain how the service in the hotel was since for a 3 stars hotel, one expects to have a bad service. However, it is worthwhile mentioning here that we were melting in our hot room while the hotel maintenance never fixed the AC. ALL IN ALL, I recommend that you do not go to the Mayfair. There are so many other great hotels in Beirut for the same rate (if not less). One last tip, call the hotel to see what is the rate that they give to people who walk in. You will be surprised to see that these guys get a better deal.

The Mayflower is a relatively cheap and very clean hotel located in the Hamra neighbourhood of Beirut and in walking distance of Downtown (20 mins) and the main gate of AUB (5 mins). The hotel is popular with journalists, UN personell and staff from various of the international NGOs operating in Lebanon. The best rates are to be had by calling the hotel. I got a twin room with breakfast for US$60 per night (though this was a reduced rate due to the instability in Lebanon at the time I stayed in Jan. 2007). The hotel decor is somewhat lacklustre and bathrooms are pretty basic, but rooms have all the usual amenities and are very clean. Wireless Inernet access is avilable in rooms on the purchase of a card at reception. It costs approx. US$50 for unlimited access for one week, but access can also be purchased for lesser amounts/time. Breakfast is served in a dreary room in the basement and is not great, but the hotel's Duke of Wellington pub on the ground floor is a nice spot for a nightcap.

Its a cheap and cheerful 3-star hotel offering good value for money. The location is fine, in the heart of the safe Hamra district where there's plenty of restaurants and shops open at all times of the day and night and if that gets boring nothing in Beirut is more than a quick and cheap taxi ride away. The Pigeon Rocks are 5 minutes walk away, as is the Corniche/seafront. The rooms are basic to say the least, but why stay in when there's a great bar downstairs ! The Egyptian barman was a great host and there are plenty of Anglophile locals who come inside for a drink, it was mostly educated Lebanese drinking in there, all good for a chat. The beers were also amazing, served in old-fashioned English pint glasses kept in the freezer so that the beer turned to ice when it was poured into them. Bliss ! And the free bar snacks were a meal by themselves. Breakfast in my opinion was fantastic, a traditional British fry-up (with pork sausages and bacon !!) as good as any found in the UK. Apparently this place (the bar at least) was an expat hang-out before the civil war and then the place to be for foreign journalists during the war. Its easy to see why.