The Moevenpick was highly recommended to us as "the best." I was suspicious just by looking online. We stayed instead at the Intercontinental Aqaba and were we glad. We had dinner at "the Pick" one evening. Most rooms have no real view of the sea, no balconies, and on the wrong side of the street. And the price! So overrated. We went for dinner and at $30/person for the buffet had an average meal. (Plus you've got to like having wild cats running around under the tables. It's on a patio.) Service at the dinner? Awful. Worst in our entire trip to Jordan. We had trouble finding a waiter who spoke anything but Arabic. Stay at the IC. Get a deluxe room with a balcony. Save your money. You'll not regret it. GMB

An excellent and comfortable stay. Great location and good choice of local Restuarants close by.

Finshed off our family tour of Jordan with 4 days chilling out at the Bay of Aqaba on the Red Sea and could wait to get to the Movenpick Resort & Hotel. Imagine our disapointment when we got there at 14.00 to be told our rooms were not ready. We waited until 15.00 before being told that it was best if we went to the beach for 1.5 hours. When we came back, we were told that the rooms should be ready in 30 mins which we said was unacceptable (by this time our 3 boys were getting very upset). Had to threaten moving to their main rivals at the Intercontinental and charging Movenpick with the price differential, before they took us seriously. Granted they up-graded us to a 3 bed-roomed suite but this is not what you expect from a 5 star hotel. Generally the Hotel is living on past glories, it looks good but scratch the surface and you will unearth a good international 3 star, maybe 4 star Hotel. Rooms are a little tired, housekeeping, over-stretched, resturant staff, useless and pool attendents, over zealous. Maybe if the pool attendents could help out at breakfast where you can wait 15 mins for glass's, bowles and general service, rather than hover over my 3 children who can all swim, they might start making progress. So if you want 5 star service in Aqaba, the only place to stay is the Intercon!

The end of our Jordan holiday we stayed at the Movenpick Resort in Aqaba. Quite a strange city looking towards Israel and Egypt. The resort is beautiful with multiple swimming pools and it own beach front onto the Red Sea. The beach bar and restuarant are both wonderful serving great food. Unfortunately we had come direct from a night in the desert in Wadi Rum and were looking forward to a good shower. We arrived early in the morning and told our room wasn't ready which was fine but told we could use the hotel resources such as pools and beach which was great. Unfortunately returning to reception at checkin time we were told that our room would not be ready as scheduled and it would be another hour. At the end of that hour and looking to book our lunch to our room we were again told our room wasn't ready and it would be an hour and we would have to pay with cash for our lunch. With no dinar's in our wallet obviously this became an issue. Ultimately the problem got solved and we enjoyed our stay but it seems that under pressure, thr reception reacts to whoever shouts the loudest leaving us waiting 7 hours for our room. The positives though, it is a wonderful property well located to good restuarants.When we were there it was hot, much hotter than Petra. It also quite different to the feel of the rest of Jordan with alot more tourists looking for sun and beaches compared to history of the rest of Jordan.

My partner and I stayed at this hotel for Xmas and New Year and had a great time. The hotel is clean and comfortable and the service is good. The room we had was at the back of the hotel with not great views but you pays your money and you take your choice. The room itself was clean and spaceous so no real complaints. During Xmas / New Year the temp was in the low 20 during the day and most days were sunny. It did get a little cold in the evenings so you needed to wear a jumper or fleece at night. But it was the coldest month of the year and we knew it would be like that. The hotel as a series of pools and it own private beach. My partner was able to lye on the beach 5 out of the 7 days so she was happy to top up her tan. There is a nice little beach cafe that does food during the day. NB there is a good restraunt on the beach but it is closed during Dec and Jan- pity. The breakfast is a buffet style and very good. Aqaba itself is interesting with some great little bars and cafes. I recommend Ali Bababas in the town centre for good local food at very good prices. Which brings me onto a few negatives about the hotel. Firstly its expsensive. Well its a 4 star hotel so you sort of expect it to be expensive, but a beer is about ?4 a pint when you can get a can of Amstel in town for ?1 (not all bars serve alcohol). So I recommend getting out of the hotel and trying some of the local eaterys a) you'll save a packet and b) its far more interesting. We did eat in the hotel once or twice and did have a bad experience. The Italian restraunt on the first floor (can't remember the name) was interesting. The food was some of best Italian I've eaten (and I've eaten Italian all over the world). Simple wonderful but the service was appalling. To be fair it may have been a one off. The manager was there when we arrived and we got our starters and mains in good time (20 mins or so) but then he appears to go and leave the waiters alone. Well it then that everything fell apart. Tables weren't cleared, no one took our drinks or dessert orders etc for an hour. We had basically eaten already so not too bad but other customers were much worse, sitting at uncleared table for 45 mins! I eventually got fed up of trying to pay and walked out telling the waiter that "i'd be in the bar if they want me to pay". Someone was there within 10 mins with the bill which I was happy to pay as the food had been so good. It's not the waiters fault really I suspect the manager had some sort of issue and left. I complained the next morning and was given some free fruit and half the food bill was taken from my final bill. So the management dealt with the problem. I'm happy to put it down to a one off and would recommend the restraunt because of the stunning quaility of the food. Overall Good hotel, good service a little pricey but no more than you would exspect form a 4 star hotel. Aqaba is great as is the rest of Jordan