Bab Samhan Diriyah Review: Unique Marriott Luxury Collection Hotel Near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

For the next hotel stay of my Four Seasons Yacht via Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia adventure, I got to check out a fascinating hotel near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which I had heard a lot of good things about. Specifically, I spent a night at the 134-key Bab Samhan Diriyah, Marriott Luxury Collection, which opened in late 2024.

Diriyah is a huge new historical cultural development on the outskirts of Riyadh, and Bab Samhan is the first hotel to open there. On the plus side, the property has a great sense of place, cool design, very friendly staff, and good amenities. The only catch is that Diriyah is still very much a construction zone, so I’m sure this place will be even more compelling in the future.

Booking Bab Samhan Diriyah

I paid cash for my stay at Bab Samhan Diriyah, and booked an entry level for around $300 for my one-night stay. For what it’s worth, I booked through the Marriott STARS program, which offers extra perks, including a $100 property credit, complimentary breakfast, a room upgrade, etc. Admittedly those perks partly overlap with my Bonvoy Ambassador status, though the $100 credit on a one night stay sure was nice!

As a point of comparison, if I had redeemed Bonvoy points for my stay, the cost would’ve been 44,000 points. At my valuation of 0.7 cents per point, paying cash was definitely the better value, especially factoring in the $100 credit I was receiving.

Bab Samhan Diriyah location

Diriyah is essentially a suburb of Riyadh, so you can practically stay here even if your intent is to visit the city. However, Diriyah is also a destination in and of itself… well, or it’s eventually supposed to be.

I’m not really qualified to give a history lesson on Saudi Arabia, but the idea is that Diriyah is the birthplace of what would eventually become Saudi Arabia — it was founded back in 1446 along the valley of Wadi Hanifah, and in 1727 it served as the capital of the First Saudi State.

More recently, Diriyah is the focus of a massive cultural redevelopment project. There are literally dozens of hotels currently being constructed here, ranging from a Ritz-Carlton to a Four Seasons, and Bab Samhan was the first one to open. While Saudi Arabia has scaled back some of its ambitions, I believe this project is still fully moving forward, since it’s not quite as outlandish as some of the other concepts.

While this is still a work in progress, that’s not to say that there isn’t anything going on here. The area already has Bujairi Terrace, essentially an outdoor shopping and dining destination, and there are also some museums, art spaces, etc.

As you’d expect for a cultural development, there’s a big emphasis placed on design, and Bab Samhan is no exception. You get a sense of that before even stepping inside the hotel.

As mentioned above, you can totally stay here if your intent is to visit Riyadh, as you’re just 10-20 minutes by car from many parts of town, and around 30-40 minutes by car from Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH).

For those curious about the hotel’s name, “Bab Samhan” translates to “gate of Samhan,” with Samhan being the historic neighborhood of Diriyah.

Bab Samhan Diriyah lobby & check-in

I had heard great things about service at Bab Samhan, and that was confirmed the second I arrived at the hotel. I was welcomed by the friendly bellmen and escorted to the front desk. One of the unique things about Saudi Arabia (compared to other countries in the region) is that Saudis actually make up a good portion of the workforce. So the front office staff were Saudis, and were super hospitable.

In particular, there was a friendly Saudi guy who had lived in Pittsburgh for a while, who told me all about the hotel, explained many of the design features, and even escorted me to my room. The reception area is beautiful, with incredible attention to detail with the finishes.

Prior to being escorted to my room, I was offered a date and cup of coffee.

I was also informed that I had been upgraded to a one bedroom suite (the base level suite) on account of my Bonvoy Ambassador status and Marriott STARS booking. I had tried to use a Bonvoy Nightly Upgrade Award for a premium suite, but that was rejected.

Bab Samhan Diriyah guest room

At Bab Samhan, all of the rooms can be accessed via the external paths around the property, as it’s quite spread out. The grounds are beautiful, and nicely maintained… I’ll let the pictures speak mostly for themselves.

I was assigned room 7009, just a short walk from reception.

While this room is marketed as a one bedroom suite, I’d say it’s more of a junior suite, in terms of there not actually being separation between the living area and bedroom area. As I entered the room, I first went down a few steps of stairs, and that brought me into the living area.

As you can see, an incredible amount of effort was put into making the rooms feel authentic to the area, and giving them a good sense of place. Admittedly that also makes for some quirky design elements, like the pillars in the middle of the room. The living area had a couch along one wall, and then a dining table of sorts with two chairs along another wall.

There was an incredibly generous welcome amenity waiting on the table, with endless sweets. As you can see, they figured out “who I am” (not that I am anyone, but you know what I mean), so good on them for Googling their guests, I guess.

That being said, most of the reviews I’ve seen online from Ambassador members show very generous welcome amenities, so I think this may have just been a bit more personalized, but otherwise I think I got the standard treatment (it’s not like they gave me an amazing upgrade, or anything).

There was also a chair with a desk in the far corner of the room, plus a chair with a side table closer to the bed.

The minibar was by the desk, and had a Nespresso coffee machine and kettle, along with some drinks and snacks for purchase.

The bed was then in the very back corner of the room, and the king size bed was very comfortable. As you can see, there was little art on the bed that read “Welcome Mr. Lucky.” Lol, cute.

The bathroom was off the living area, and had a sink, a toilet, and a walk-in shower.

I didn’t love the shower — it had good water pressure, but the temperature seemed to fluctuate quite a bit, and I’m also not a fan of these showers with half shields, in terms of keeping all the water in the shower.

Toiletries were from BYREDO.

In terms of views, there was a window near the bedroom, and it just looked at nearby desert landscape, which I found to be calming, though not particularly inspiring.

Wi-Fi in the room was fast and free, and turndown service was even offered. All-in-all, I thought the room was great, and I loved the effort put into design. Here’s the thing I will say, though, which I sort of struggle with. While I love the “authentic” design, it’s also not actually terribly cozy. Like, it’s all a little cave-like, given the lack of natural light and finishes, so it’s a tradeoff between authenticity and what we otherwise look for in modern times.

Still, I really appreciate what this hotel is going for, so I’m a fan.

Bab Samhan Diriyah spa, pool, & gym

The Bab Samhan wellness complex is where you’ll find most of the property’s amenities, including the spa, pool, and gym. The spa and pool area are open daily from 6AM until 10PM, and the hours are the same for the gym, though they will unlock it for you early, if you ask.

The Nafel Al Wadi Spa has five treatment rooms and offers a variety of services — you can find the full menu here. I didn’t get any spa services, but the pricing was on the steep side, given that this isn’t some $1,000+ per night hotel in the South of France. For example, a 60-minute massage cost over $200.

Anyway, all spa facilities are open to guests with or without a treatment, and I found the setup to be really nice. The hotel doesn’t have an outdoor pool, but there is an indoor pool, which even has some “seating” in the pool itself, as well as things like water jets. I do wish they had an outdoor pool, because I imagine this could get a little tricky if you had kids in the pool along with spa guests.

There’s also plenty of seating around the pool, along with a sauna, steam room, etc.

The gym is also located within the spa complex, and it’s on the compact side, especially for a newly built property where you’d think that space wouldn’t come at a particular premium. It had all the basics, though, so it’s not like it was bad.

Bab Samhan Diriyah restaurants & lounge

Bab Samhan Diriyah has three food & beverage outlets:

• Samhan Lounge is the all-day lobby bar serving refreshments and light snacks
• Medheef Restaurant is the all-day dining restaurant, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner
• Taleed by Michael Mina is the fine dining restaurant open for dinner

Let’s take a look at each of these venues, starting with Samhan Lounge. This is located in the lobby, and is open daily from 8AM until 11PM (and until 12AM on weekends). It’s a beautiful space.

I was rather exhausted during my stay and tried to avoid napping during the day, so I came here in the afternoon for a cappuccino, which was barista made, and delicious.

Next up, Medheef Restaurant is the primary dining outlet at the hotel, and it’s located right across from the lobby. It serves breakfast from 7AM until 10AM, lunch from 12:30PM until 4PM, and dinner from 5:30PM until 8PM.

The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating, and while I’m sure it’s lovely to sit outdoors in winter, I think sitting indoors is the right move in summer. 😉

This restaurant is where I had breakfast, which was included on account of my Marriott STARS booking, but can also be selected as the Bonvoy elite welcome amenity. The breakfast consisted of a combination of an extensive buffet, plus an a la carte selection that could be used to complement it.

The buffet included cereal, cold cuts, cheese, fruit, yogurt and muesli, veggies and dips, pastries, and several hot dishes.

Then you can find the Bab Samhan breakfast menu below.

I decided to order the spiced hummus and egg sourdough, which was great.

The coffee was also very good — I enjoyed my cappuccino.

Since I had a property credit on account of my Marriott STARS booking, I decided to also have dinner here, and I invited a local friend to join me. You can find the dinner menu below.

We were offered some delicious bread upon sitting down.

To start, we ordered the hummus and the za’atar and cheese flatbread.

For mains, I had the salmon with mufalak rice, salted lemon, and fennel, while my friend had the mixed grill.

The food was delicious, and we enjoyed the meal.

While I didn’t have the chance to eat there, I also had a look at Taleed by Michael Mina, the more premium of the two restaurants, open from 6:30PM until 11:30PM.

Bab Samhan Diriyah service

Across the board, I found the staff at Bab Samhan Diriyah to be friendly and hospitable. Admittedly the hotel was running really low occupancy, so it always felt like staff way outnumbered guests, and therefore you’d expect good service.

I also have to mention that just about every staff member addressed me by name, so that was a nice personal touch. I’m not sure if that’s because of my blog, my Bonvoy Ambassador status, or what, but it matches reports on FlyerTalk from other Ambassador members.

Bottom line

I had an excellent stay at Bab Samhan Diriyah, as this definitely isn’t your typical cookie cutter Marriott property. This is the first hotel in Diriyah’s new cultural development, and I had a lovely stay. The hotel has a great sense of place, friendly service, good food, and nice amenities. Given Diriyah’s proximity to Riyadh, this can also be a good option if visiting the city.

The main thing to be aware of is that Diriyah is still a construction zone at the moment, so it’s not ideal in that sense. Furthermore, while I love the authentic design, it’s not necessarily the most comfortable, and also offers limited natural light. That’s a totally fair tradeoff, though.

All-in-all, I’d highly recommend this property, and I’m happy I chose it.

What do you make of Marriott’s Bab Samhan Diriyah?