Ewa Alysamin District

Extremely rude staff member. Very insulting; will never make a reservation here. It was late Sunday night. Me and my dad had a flight delayed, due to fly the next day. So I decided to go into Riyadh and book a room at St Regis for one night. We took an Uber and got dropped off at the other side of the hotel. We were traveling light, so we decided to stop for food outside of the hotel before making a reservation. As we were walking to the hotel’s entrance, my dad stopped to take a picture of one of the light displays just outside of the entrance. While he was taking a picture a guy kept on looking at us with suspicion. I was on a business trip to Middle East, and was my first time in Riyadh. So I was not sure what to expect and why this guy was staring at us. I stayed in one location, as my dad was taking pictures. I quickly searched for the emergency number for Riyadh, but while I was doing that, this guy walks up to me, and says “Do you speak English?” I said, “Yes”. He said, “ You’re not allowed to wear Flip Flops in this location, and you need to leave”. At first when he said it, I thought he was joking. But then he said it again and touched my arm, as in he was gonna escort me off the property. I told him that I am about to stay at St. Regis for the night. After I said that, he just walked away and said nothing. My dad came running towards me to make sure I was okay. I told him what happened with me, and we both decided to go to Ritz; which was across the street. I have been to a few other St Regis before, but this was by far the worst experience so far. For a hotel that charges a premium for hospitality and first class service, I expected a lot more decency and respect. I’m a Titanium Elite member in US, and I know for a fact that if this happened in US, I would have reached out to the higher management to address this issue; but this was Middle East, and we didn’t wanna take any chances.