Read more from this trip – 17-days in Europe and the Middle East:

• Introduction: 17-days in Europe and the Middle East
• Finnair Business Class New York to Helsinki (JFK-HEL)
• Finnair Business Class Lounge – Helsinki (HEL)
• Finnair Business Class Helsinki to Brussels (HEL-BRU)
• Hilton Antwerp Old Town
• Iberia Dalí Premium Lounge Madrid
• Nakar Hotel – Palma de Mallorca
• Sala VIP Formentor Palma de Mallorca
• W Barcelona
• Tickets Food Review
• Royal Jordanian Crown Business Class Barcelona to Amman (BCN-AMM)
• W Amman
• Hilton Dead Sea Resort and Spa
• Royal Jordanian Crown Lounge Amman
• Hilton Tel Aviv
• Dan Lounge Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv (“TLV”)
• Iberia Business Class Tel Aviv to Madrid (TLV-MAD)
• Iberia Velázquez Premium Lounge Madrid
• American Airlines Business Class Madrid to New York (MAD-JFK)

Introduction

• Dates of hotel stay: 2 nights – August 4 – August 7, 2019
• Where: Amman Jordan
• Paid stay / points: Paid

I had originally booked the Four Seasons Amman, but when I heard about the Petra inspired W Hotel that just opened in April 2018 I decided to change my reservation. Don’t get me wrong I love the Four Seasons, but the allure of this sleek new W was just too much to be ignored.

Location

The W is located in district of Al-Abdali, in Amman, Jordan. It’s 21.6 miles from Queen Alia International Airport (AMM). There’s a taxi queue right outside of the airport, but after hearing that some taxi drivers swindle giraffes I decided to look into rideshare options. You’re not technically allowed to order an Uber from the airport, but a lot of drivers are more than happy to meet you across the street. Alternatively, there’s another rideshare app called Careem, which is permitted to pick up passengers at the airport. Uber recently purchased Careem so I’m not sure how this will impact the ridesharing legal landscape in the future.

Pro-tip: Take Careem or Uber everywhere. It’s cheap and they pickup directly in front of the hotel. As I found out from personal experience restaurants aren’t really walkable from the hotel. I got ambitious one night and tried to walk to a restaurant called Levant, but turned around. Without continuous pedestrian walkways and crosswalks a simple 30-minute walk can be a harrowing feat.

Check-in

After passing through some security formalities, which are quite common for hotels in the Middle East, you walk through a neon-lit “canyon walk” that’s modeled after Petra. It leads you to the elevators, which take you to check-in on the 6th floor. The check-in agent was friendly and thanked me for being a Bonvoy Gold member. I was originally booked in a Spectacular Room, but was upgraded to a Marvelous Room on the 24th floor. Score!

The lobby of the hotel is beautifully designed with plenty of seating areas. This is where you’ll find the fully stocked “Living Room” bar.

There’s contemporary artwork everywhere and it really makes you feel like you’re staying at a W. Take this beaded tree for example:

There was even this interesting piece promoting Amman Fashion week:

Room Details

I was really impressed by the the Marvelous Room. The first thing you’ll notice upon entering the room is its size. It’s huge! This non-suite room comes in at 678 square feet. It features a super comfortable pillowtop king sized bed, living/sitting area, 43″ LED television and floor to ceiling soundproof windows.

If you need to get some work done the room features a small work desk and chair with several power outlets.

The Marvelous Room is positioned in the corner so you get sweeping city views in every direction. Here’s the view you’ll see in front of you if you’re laying on the bed:

Here’s the view to the left of the bed:

Unlike my room at the W Barcelona, my room at the W Amman had a huge separate bathroom. There’s double marble sinks with lighted vanities, a medium sized soaking tub and a separate toilet room with bidet. Some added luxuries include bathrobes, slippers and a professional hairdryer. One thing to note is that there’s no power outlets in the bathroom so if you want to dry your hair you’ll have to do it in the bedroom.

The bathroom also has a large rain shower with excellent water pressure. You could easily fit 3 or 4 giraffes in this shower.

Pro-tip: For whatever reason the hot water direction is reversed on this shower. Left is cold and right is hot. Normally you would expect left to be hot and right to be cold, but not in this room. At first I thought there was no hot water, but it was simply a case of user error.

The room features an iperEspresso espresso machine, which is Illy’s version of Nespresso. It also had an instant hot water machine for tea and complementary Aquafina bottled water, which was refreshed daily.

The minibar was fully stocked in true W Hotel fashion. Some interesting items included Belvedere vodka, a cocktail shaker, local Jordanian wine and an intimacy kit. As a foreigner drinking at hotels in moderation is acceptable, but avoid imbibing beyond your limit and remember that many Jordanians don’t drink so conduct yourself accordingly.

The refrigerated portion of the minibar was stocked with still and sparkling water, beer, champagne, hard liquor and juice.

Wet Deck

The Wet Deck spans the 6th and 7th floor outdoor terrace area. There’s a live DJ every night. When I arrived at the hotel late Sunday night the Wet Deck party was going strong with people dancing, having cocktails and smoking shisha. When I returned on Monday night it was bit more subdued as pictured below.

On the 7th floor of the Wet Deck you’ll find this cool neon lit wolf:

The pool area is small, but chic. The pool itself is heated and open seasonally. There’s 5 day beds directly on the pool and several sun loungers at the end of the pool. When I visited on a Tuesday morning it was partially shaded so I assume it only gets sun for part of the day.

The pool came fully stocked with complimentary apples, tanning oil, sunscreen, cucumber lime water and orange water.

Fitness Center

W Hotels brands their fitness center “FIT.” It’s open 24-7 and was never crowded while I was there. It’s definitely on the small side, but is well equipped with Technogym equipment. You’ll find a variety of cardio equipment and free weights.

There’s also some weight machines and exercise balls available.

Breakfast

Breakfast is free for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum and above elites. Luckily for me it was included in my room rate. The W Amman has hands down one of the best city hotel breakfast I’ve ever had. It rivals most 5-star resorts. It’s served at Mesh from 6:30AM – 11:00AM daily, which is nice because many tours to Petra or Wadi Rum leave early in the morning.

Mesh has a boozy Friday brunch served from 12:30PM-4PM, which features a live DJ and free flow champagne. It’s JOD 37++ per person. I’ve been to Friday brunches elsewhere in the Middle East and they’re usually a great time so I’d be curious to know how the W Amman compares. Next time.

Back to the regular breakfast offering. The service at breakfast was attentive, but almost too attentive. Consequently, I wasn’t able to take photos without attracting attention and suspicious looks from the staff so I wasn’t able to capture all of the delicious food they had on offer.

The first station had Perrier Sparkling Water, detox juice, detox water, grapefruit juice and orange juice.

Those looking to experience some local Jordanian specialties will not be disappointed by the W Amman’s breakfast spread. The dish on the top right is Athan Al-Shayeb, which translates into “the ears of the old gray-haired man.” Pasta is stuffed with ground beef and spices, cooked in jameed and then served hot. They also had samosa available.

The next station had some Jordanian sweets including halva, which is made with sesame flour and milk mixed with pistachios.

You can’t have a Jordanian breakfast buffet without cheese and soft labneh. Labneh is cheese made from strained yoghurt.

At the back of the restaurant there was a massive selection of pastries and dessert breads.

If you’re a giraffe on low carb or keto diet I highly recommend you avoid this entire section.

Next up they had fresh baked bread topped with za’atar. This was delicious. There were only 2 pieces left because I ate the rest of it.

Behind big glass cases they had various breakfast items including some comforting Western options like yogurt with granola. Eggs and omelets were also available and cooked based on your preferences. It’s worth noting that it took almost 30-minutes for my omelet to be delivered and required me reminding the server.

Overall Verdict

First Class Giraffe Approved

The W Amman is a beautiful property with modern decor, stunning views and a fantastic breakfast spread. If you’re looking for a place to base yourself while you explore Petra, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World or other attractions in Jordan the W Amman is your hotel.