OYO 119 Jasmine Hotel Apartments

I would very much recommend Jasmine Hotel to any budget-conscious travellers / families seeking to vacation at Muscat, Oman. It is about 10 min away from the city-centre, at Ruwi (Wadi Kabeer), 2 streets away from the local bus station. I was taking a big risk when I booked this hotel in May 2012 as there were no reviews at all for this hotel. The only reason I chose this Jasmine Hotel was because I did not possess a credit card and this was one of the few hotels that gave customers the option of booking WITHOUT a credit card. Also because it was family friendly - no bars or noisy entertainment - very family appropriate. I am glad that I chose this hotel as it was worth every penny or riyal spent! The staff were very helpful even before we travelled over. I'd emailed them at the address provided to confirm my booking, clear queries, receive location directions and for other arrangements and I received prompt replies every time. Our room was on the 3rd floor, in the non-smoking wing. It was very clean and aired, with 2 large windows over-looking the mountains beyond. The room had it's own A/cThe beds were well-made on which 2pairs of clean white towels and toileteries (soap, shower gel, shampoo, body lotion) were laid out. There was a large LED TV (which had very few channels) on the wall right across the bed, next to a dressing table with mirror and drawers. There room also had a cupboard as well as bed-side tables with locker and keys.There was a mini-refrigerator and the best part which I loved was the kitchenette available with electric cooker, microwave, an electric kettle and a sink. There was also a tray ladi out with cups, saucers, sugar and coffee sachets. I knew before-hand that we there would be no cooking-ware and so I'd come prepared with some bare essentials for some light cooking as well as teabags, Nescafe, sugar, creamer, snacks n stuff and made good use of all the equipments provided. There's also a grocery right across the hotel. Cooking saved us money and time,n I enjoyed it too :) The bathroom was clean too and the shower-head was terrific with ecellent water-pressure, am sure Cosmo Kramer would have loved it ;) Oh and I must add that the staff were very helpful, even twice arranging for us bottled water on our request. The hotel restaurant was closed off for some reason and since our online booking included breakfast, at first it we waited for sometime for it to arrive.When it didn't we had to call them and inform them about it but they quickly made arrangements and provided a filling break-fast, very well-laid out. I had taken enough pictures with my mobile but sadly many of them esp those of the room were missing as the battery had been almost dead while I'd been capturing them. If I were to complain about anything it would only be about the shower curtain with mildew, the lack of a scrub and dish-washing liquid at the sink and the lone cockroach I saw on the wall that came out from under the sink! This hotel only charges a fraction of what other hotels charge but having read all the other reviews of similar hotels, I found none of the problems here and I must say that for such a modest price, the cleanliness, facilties and service is terrific!