Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea

The Italian restaurant was very good, and the views from the one beach were wonderful.

The check-in process was extremely slow and took almost 40 minutes despite the fact there was only one person in line in front of me. The hotel -- despite my having a confirmation with the correct dates -- had mis-entered my arrival and departure dates into their system. As a result, they almost didn't let my car into the gate given that I wasn't on the reservation list, and check-in took a long time. Several staff members also had something of a poor attitude, treating me as if I was bothering them by asking for directions. One individual, who was handing out towels, spoke to me very rudely -- insinuating I wasn't a guest there -- since it took me a minute to find my "get a towel" card. (The fact that they give one towel per person -- and that you need to carry around a card to get it -- is ludicrous if they claim to be more than a three-star hotel.) There were several other little issues that made the experience somewhat unpleasant. One was the inclusion of a large service charge on every bill. In addition, the hotel had no real shop -- except a souvenir shop -- thus requiring that guests pay exorbitant rates for everything from a bottle of water to a piece of bread. In addition, as a steak lover, I was angry that they had shut down the steakhouse for Ramadan, which hardly seems justified on any religious grounds given that they continued to serve alcohol. Lastly, the breakfast buffet was atrocious and minimalist with floppy waffles and not even an omelet bar. Really, it was a three-star breakfast equivalent to what you would expect at a Holiday Inn Express...which is a decent characterisation of the whole hotel with the exception of the wonderful location and view. Shape up.