Movenpick Petra Resorts Hotel *****

We stayed at the Movenpick Petra Resort for 2 nights. We booked a superior king double room. The room size was good, and the bed was very comfortable. The bathroom included a good power shower - crucial after those long walks to Petra. The soap provided by the hotel smelt wonderful. The room was equipped with TV with several international channels (a flatscreen would have been good), a small kettle and a choice of mint tea, English breakfast tea, green tea and camomile tea, but no coffee.

The hotel's main selling point and great advantage is the closeness to the Petra entrance - 2 minutes and you're walking into Petra. This was, for us, the most important reason for booking - the walk into and out of the Petra valley can be gruelling, and it's great to be able to get to your hotel immediately after exiting the site.

The downside to the hotel was inconsistent room service - the tea we used the first night was not replaced, and neither were the shampoo bottles we used. Furthermore, prices are extortionate - a 250ml can of coke will cost you 2.5JD, when in the restaurant next to the hotel it retails for 1JD, and in the supermarket up the road a can of coke is 0.25JD. The buffet lunch is also very costly, at 22JD. Also, the room was clean and supposedly non-smoking, but there was a smell of cigarette smoke in the room. The 'no-smoking' sign had been thrown in the trash can, perhaps by the previous guests.

great!