Review: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge, Doha

After my short visit inside Qatar borders, it was time to go back home! So I headed to the Qatar Airways departures counters at the Hamad International Airport. I proceeded to the premium check-in area and went straight to the business-class check-in counters. At the first look itself, I was impressed with the high ceiling and spacious design of the Hamad International Airport, but this time around, I was getting to see a part I hadn’t seen before.

The Check-in counters were very well designed, with a whole row of them created with the general contours of the Hamad International Airport, giving the feeling of space.

There were also lots of couches, in case you are babysitting while your other half is processing the check-ins, or if you’re waiting for someone who is yet to arrive. The whole place gave a feeling of space and privacy.

After completing the formalities, I moved on to the private immigration and security check area that only premium customers have access to. It was a couple of minutes here, and I was on the other side, standing in front of the giant teddy bear again.

After my last experience at the Qatar Airways Business Class Lounge, I was surely looking forward to my time at the Al Mourjan Lounge.

The Al Mourjan lounge is exclusive to passengers who are flying Qatar Airways Business Class, or oneworld First and Business Class passengers, and does not include comparable economy flyers with status. I was told the lounge could host a 1000 passengers in one go.

I walked up to the escalators where they scanned my boarding pass and waived me to the lounge. I went WOW the minute I walked in. The Al Mourjan lounge is organized on two floors, and the lower level has a massive waterbody in the centre of it.

The lounge is stunning, and it is only for business class passengers. Qatar Airways has created many zones inside the lounge, but as many people as it would take in, you’d not feel them around you. The high ceilings give a lot of space, and like you would see, smart placement of barriers amongst various seating zones keep people distracted from how many people are actually around them.

Most seats had power outlets next to them, along with a tablet, which would tell you about the airport as well as replicate the status of the departure board for you.

The lounge reception had informed me about the cloakroom where I could stow a bag if required, but since I had already checked in my big bag, I did not need to go there.

I was slightly hungry since I’d skipped lunch and had risen early (Europe time!) to catch the plane. So I wanted a quick bite before I would go about exploring the lounge. There was a large map to guide me around the place, right as I entered.

The Lounge has a restaurant on the lower level, and then a whole floor to eat on the upper level, what they call the Dining Resort. For the time being, I headed to the restaurant to grab a bite.

The restaurant was spacious and had various sort of spaces organized to accommodate multiple groups sizes. There were a couple of high community tables as well. Waitstaff was attending to the tables quickly and attentively. As soon as I was seated, someone came to me immediately, and I requested a drink of sparkling water while I checked out the menu.

Open counters along the walls had a lot of food on display. You could make your coffee, pick up a dessert, or grab a drink.

There was also a deli, which could help you with salads and a sandwich, along with a quick drink.

A menu was placed on each table as well.

I requested for a Cajun Spiced Chicken in Ciabatta, and it was brought to me pretty quickly, along with a small side of salads. It was pretty juicy and delicious and took care of my immediate hunger pangs.

The lounge had that one irritating loud westerner who’d love talking at the top of their voice telling someone thousands of miles away about their sob story of how they missed their flight sleeping. Yeah, that was the lady everyone was looking at, and she was sitting right next to me.

Throughout the lounge, there are drink stations, which have water, hot beverages, and canned soft drinks. At other places, there are reading materials placed.

At other places, wall side counters had tonnes of Arabic sweets waiting along with cupcakes and other desserts.

Most of the lounge is built on the lower level, with tonnes of lounging spaces. There is a family area, which has some semi-private areas where groups could hang together. Also, there is a quiet area round about which there are the showers. Unfortunately, all the showers were occupied while I was around so I couldn’t check out one.

I happened to walk into the games room, which I was impressed with. There were Playstations and Foosball to keep your kids entertained while waiting for the flight, though no one was using it this evening.

There was also a children’s play area for the very young kids.

While the lower level is all about the lounging, no trip to the Al Mourjan lounge is complete without a meal on the top level restaurant, called the Dining Resort. It is impressive to open up a whole level for dining, along with a bar in the centre which serves top-shelf alcohol.

Access to the higher level is going up the spiral staircase, built right next to the water body along with a massive chandelier which makes it stand out.

While there is not as much seating as the lower-level lounge, there is a lot of space so you’d never not get a table to catch your breakfast or dinner around here.

My favorite place was the high day chairs that lined up the glass wall, which gave a view of the lower level, as well as a booth feel.

Set right into the centre was the bar, which offered a choice of champagnes along with other sorts of alcohol. Clearly, they were not running out of liquor anytime soon even if they tried.

There were two vast aisles set up for food, one for the vegetarian options and one for the non-vegetarian ones, with tonnes of options.

Here are some pictures of the fantastic options on offer the evening of my departure for dinner, including the vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Apart from the hot options, there were salads, bread rolls, soups and Arabic mezze options as well.

At this point, I settled for a quick meal of some biryani, a weak point of mine, and it was very tasty. I also tried some of their other Indian options, and everything was spot on. I try not to eat a lot in lounges, given it may make me feel sluggish on the plane, but those rules had to go away today.

As much as I wanted to lounge around and settle down with a glass of champagne, I was going to have to soon make a move to the gate for boarding my flight. But the waitstaff recommended I’d try some of their fabulous desserts, and brought me one of his personal favorites.

That orange pastry with a dash of chocolate was indeed the perfect ending to this meal of mine.

Another thing to mention was the tonnes of private nap pods that had been put out throughout the lower level. They were lit up lesser than the rest of the lounge, had a daybed, and anyone could just walk in and go off to sleep. The ones I saw were all full this evening. Too many people on long connections I presume.

Bottomline

It is hard not to be impressed with this Qatar Airways effort. I’ve seen some great lounges being made for First Class passengers, but this one was for Business Class passengers, and equally impressive. The lounge, on the whole, is a great place to spend a few hours between flights. The Qatar Airways lounge operates 24/7, so that is another plus point for them. Apart from that, the thing that struck me the closest to my heart was the modern, minimalist design.

If you frequent here, then you know it all. But if you come here off and on, I’d highly recommend you build in some time between your transits to experience this lounge fully.

Have you visited Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge? What has been your experience with this lounge?

Comments

delhi_traveller says:

May 27, 2018 at 9:19 am

What a coincidence. Read your review while sitting in the Al-Mourjan lounge on my way back from the US.

Priya says:

May 25, 2018 at 9:30 pm

This is my favorite lounge. I generally don’t mind having a longer layover at Doha airport, just for this lounge. The first time around, I could easily kill 7 hrs at this lounge. After that it’s just been an hour but still beautiful lounge

FredM says:

May 25, 2018 at 7:51 pm

If you like Indian curries, you’re all set at the buffet upstairs. Otherwise, you’ll have to settle for a sandwich at the deli-type eatery downstairs. I was underwhelmed.

DavidB says:

May 25, 2018 at 7:23 pm

Alas this lounge used to be even grander but the restaurant downgraded its menu and service last year. One used to be able to order a perfectly grilled steak or lamb shank, delivered to your table but this was ended for cost cutting reasons. Also, there are some much quieter, private spaces hidden away but I won’t reveal that insider secret! Still one of the best lounges on the planet.