A visit to the ruins of Petra often requires several days in order to take it all in. The neighbouring town of Wadi Musa offers many hotels, including the Petra Marriott Hotel located a short distance from town. We would end up using this hotel as our base of operations for our visit to Petra. Read on to see how the hotel fit into our visit to Petra.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to Jordan, Israel and France during the end of the pandemic. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

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Review: Petra Marriott Hotel, Wadi Mousa, Jordan

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“An Old School Marriott in Every Way, that Happens to Be Graced with Stunning Petra Mountain Views and good Marriott Bonvoy Elite Recognition”

Booking The Petra Marriott Hotel:

Our travels to Jordan took us to one of the “New Seven Wonders of the World”; the Ruins of the City of Petra. While the tourist town of contains a number of hotels, we ended up staying loyal to Marriott Bonvoy for the sake of earning our Titanium needed elite nights for the year. As a result, instead of booking at the conveniently located Mövenpick Petra, we ended up at the slightly out of town Petra Marriott Hotel.

When booking at the Petra Marriott Hotel, I was able to get a regular Marriott Bonvoy Members rate of 146 JOD ($213 USD) for this property which booked into the basic 1 King Bed, Guest Room. I booked direct on the Marriott Bonvoy website. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Level member, I would also be entitled to Upgrade to best available room, including select suites.

I did find that the price variability at this hotel was extreme and verging on Las Vegas casino pricing. I found rates as low as 99 JOD ($139 USD) in the off season, with rates as high as 635 JOD (895 USD) in the peak tourist travel seasons of April and May. If you’re coming here, make sure you book well in advance. We were able to get a reasonable price just under the pricing pressure by booking at three months in advance.

Marriott Bonvoy Reward Opportunities:

The Marriott Petra Hotel prices pretty well in the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. The property generally prices between 23,000 to 30,000 Marriott Bonvoy reward points, for a standard level room.

The lower reward price point under that magical 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy Reward point level, it also means that this property can be redeemed against the annual free night awards that come with the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card. If you happen to have these certificates that come with this credit card, you might find value redeeming them here.

If you value Marriott Bonvoy Points at 0.005 cents, you’ll come out ahead by redeeming points against a room at the property if you rate is above 106 JOD ($150 USD). You’ll possibly find some outsized value in the event the cash rate is exceptionally high, with often seems to be the case in high tourist season between April – June and Sept – October.

Suite Night Awards:

Marriott Suite Night Awards are for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Titanium or Ambassador members and can be used to upgrade to a selected room in the suite (or almost suite) category, confirming it 5 days in advance of arrival.

The property participates in the Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Award program. However, there is only limited suite inventory in the hotel. Since we were expected to be off the property for almost all of the day, I ended up saving our Suite Night Awards to use at Al Aqaba by Luxury Collection.

We were only on the property for one night, as a result, we didn’t use any Suite Night Awards for our stay. This turned out to be the right move, as we’d get upgraded courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status anyway.

Getting to the Petra Marriott Hotel:

We were driving in from the Dead Sea Marriott Resort and Spa and an afternoon of River Canyoning at Wadi Mujib. It was a twisty county and highway 3 hour drive down from river canyoning, so it was fully dark by the time our GPS Google Maps led us to the front doors of the Marriott Petra Hotel.

The Petra Marriott Hotel is located a little ways out of town from Wadi Musa; the tourist town that serves as a base of operations to and from Petra’s Ruins. It’s located on the southern highway out of town, and almost on the edge of the southern city limits.

You certainly won’t be walking to and from anything in Wadi Musa from this particular hotel property. Although the hotel offers a shuttle to and from Petra, it will be very helpful to have a private vehicle (as we did), if you plan on staying at this hotel.

Checking into the Petra Marriott Hotel:

As we arrived to the hotel in our rental car, we easily found the property. The hotel doesn’t have a whole lot of street appeal. It is an older property that faces a secondary highway with most of the great views on the opposite side of the property that faces the mountain range.

Like at other Marriott Bonvoy properties in Jordan, we had a security check at the nearby front gate. After our reservation was confirmed on a master list, we were asked to drive right up to. the porte cochère to unload our vehicle.

As our bags were unloaded, they were placed through a full X Ray security check. We also had a security wand of our purses and passed through an airport styled security check point.

We arrived into a high ceiling lobby that was a little dated in appearance, but was still very clean and well kept. The lobby had views into the smaller conference facilities on the second floor.

We were offered a small tea as a nice welcome drink. I always appreciate this as its something you never get when you’re on the work circuit back in North America. We were also informed that we had been given a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium soft upgrade to a nicer room from the base deluxe that we had booked, particularly a Premium Guest Room, 1 King, Petra Valley and Mountain View. While it wasn’t a suite upgrade, I’ll take any upgrade available over nothing at all. I appreciated the hotel’s efforts at recognition.

We were given the breakfast hours of an early 6 AM to a leisurely 11 AM. We were also explained that there were three options for dinner on the property, a buffet in the Hala Hala Arabic Restaurant, a BBQ in the outdoors Al Matal Bedouin Tent or the Aretas Bar and Lounge. All the dining options ended at 10 PM.

We were also explained that the pool was open daily between 7 AM to 7 PM.

Throughout out check in process, as Marriott Titanium members, we were also offered a number of complimentary amenities.

We were offered a welcome amenity of layered sand bottle with our name etched into it. While these were all over Jordan as a souvenir to purchase, I hadn’t ever been presented one as a welcome amenity. It was a pretty neat souvenir and one I actually brought home with me. It was so appealing, MrsWT73 wanted one of her own. It was selling for about 15 JOD ($21 USD) in the lobby bottle shop.

We didn’t seek out a late check out, as we were headed off to The Al Manara, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Saraya Aqaba after our stay. The hotel valet parked our car for us during the check in process, which made arriving very convenient.

lt is also worth mentioning that the Marriott Petra Hotel does not offer an Executive Lounge or M Club Lounge typically found in a Marriott hotel. You won’t miss it on your particular stay, but its worth mentioning that there isn’t one at this location.

The Room: A Premium Guest Room – 1 King, Petra Valley View Mountain View

With porter assistance, we were guided ourselves up to Room #708 which was our upgraded Premium Guest Room. The hotel lobby is on the fourth floor, meaning that there are rooms above and below the lobby level.

The hotel has a nice atrium or central courtyard that adds a bit of flair to the stay. In terms of ambience, it’s certainly nicer to look at a courtyard than a hallway with no natural light.

The hallways are decorated in the traditional marriott reds with black doors. With a traditional feel, they certainly look the part.

We entered into the Premium Guest Room. The room had recently undergone a full renovation and upgrade, as everything was shiny and new. The room also presented much better than on recent reviews, which had described the fixtures and fittings as dated. I’m happy to report that the rooms are looking sparkling new and recently upgraded.

The Bedroom:

Immediately on entering the room, we found ourselves in the short hallway leading to the bedroom area.

There was a giant Marriott King Size Bed in the middle of the room. There were small mats on either size of the bed, which was appreciated instead of just stepping onto hardwood flooring.

Given that the room had limited space, there was a pair of occasional chairs and small cocktail table that rounded out the relax space for this room.

There was a single luggage rack and a small wall desk that allowed for some storage of our baggage. As a couple travelling together, and thanks to the compact foot print of this older Marriott property, we did run out of room to store our bags on the provided shelving. We ended up spreading out on the floor adjacent to the bed.

In Room Amenities:

The room also was reasonably well appointed with the usual comfort amenities. There was a tea and coffee maker although the coffee offered is of the instant Nescafe variety.

There was also a small (at charge) mini bar with sodas and beer available in the room. I also appreciated that they offered proper glass ware and complimentary bottled water.

The hotel also brought up our Marriott Titanium Welcome Amenity of a half bottle of Jordan River red wine, potato chips and dip. It’s pictured next to the compacted sand bottle with my name removed.

The Bathroom:

The bathroom of the Premium Guest Room was a standard variety compact bathroom. It offered space for only one person with a single vanity sink. a toilet and a bidet. There was also a very compact shower, which in our case was a little leaky on the floor.

Overall, the room was nicely upgraded. The only down side to the room was its slightly compact foot print that was consistent for a hotel of this particular generation.

Food and Beverage:

Aretas Bar & Lounge:

On the date of our arrival, we snuck down to the Aretas Bar and Lounge for Dinner. After having driven all day, along with a Canyoning Adventure, it was a dark but comfortable way to get some dinner.

The Aretas Lounge was located just off the lobby in a slightly dark room. It was a straightforward steak sandwich avec frites for me and a Margerita pizza in the lounge accompanied with a beer and a red wine for 34 JOD ($47 USD). While it wasn’t over the top luxurious, it sure hit the spot.

Although the lounge offered the opportunity to eat outside, we weren’t at the hotel during meal hours when it was warm enough to do so as the temperatures often cooled off considerably in the evening to single digit temperatures. The space also wasn’t set up with winter heaters and appeared mostly to be used for a smoking area.

Dushara Restaurant

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite Breakfast

Our included with our room rate breakfast was located in the Dushara Restaurant. The Dushara Restaurant was located on the 3rd floor of the hotel below the lobby. The room itself was a standard variety and didn’t have an open air feel to it. The views out the windows were towards the mountain valley.

The buffet itself was extensive, although perhaps not as elaborate as the Dead Sea Marriott Resort and Spa. The buffet at the Petra Marriott Hotel offered everything that you’d imagine including continental items, a bread station and an Arabic station offering foul medames.

I didn’t know of this at check in, but the hotel also offered box lunches to take away for those heading on day trips to Petra. We ended up not taking advantage of this and just dining at the restaurants in Petra themselves. However, this a great alternative for those that are a little squeamish about eating local food.

We would end up enjoying breakfast at the restaurant on both mornings of our stay.

Around the Hotel Property:

Petra Shuttle

The hotel offered a three times a day shuttle to Petra. Instead of driving our own car down and worrying about trying to find limited parking at the Petra site, we would end up using the free shuttle.

We didn’t need a reservation and the shuttle ran both ways on time. The shuttle dropped us off at the bus coach parking lot at Wadi Musa adjacent to the main entrance. There were only two other passengers travelling with us during our day journey, so it wasn’t as busy as I might have expected during our high season October visit.

It’s worth noting that the complimentary shuttle doesn’t run for Petra by Night. As a result, you’ll need to have your own transportation if you’re visiting this attraction. We ended up self driving and locating parking with out any issues.

There was so much to see at Petra itself, I’ve authored a separate post on how we tackled the Ruins of Petra and during Petra by Night.

Sand Bottle Station:

The hotel offers a neat sand bottle station. The local vendor will etch your name with black sand into a compressed sand bottle. A hit with kids (and MrsWT73), this station allows you to watch your sand bottle being made before your eyes.

The small sand bottles were priced at 15 JOD with an additional 5 JOD (totalling 20 JOD or $28 USD) for your name to be personalized into it. It wasn’t exactly the cheapest souvenir, but certainly one of the most memorable ones I’ve gotten. It also set off every airport security screening alarm on every flight after this. Credit Cards were conveniently accepted.

Outdoor Pool:

The Petra Marriott Hotel offers an outdoor pool and terrace. The terrace had a spectacular view over the mountains, along with some artificial grass.

The pool itself was seasonal in nature and only open during the summer months of March – October. The pool was mostly a hit with children staying at the resort. With the hotel being on a windy mountain bluff next to a desert, there was a little bit of sand that would tend to accumulate in the pool. The pool still hits a beautiful view when the sun is shining.

The pool was also deserted throughout most of the day, while many visitors are taking in the sights of Petra. Assuming you were looking for some rest and relaxation for the summer months, this spot might suit you nicely.

There was also a spa at the resort. However, the spa seemed to have limited hours and be occupying a darker corner of the property. As a result, we didn’t further explore any of the features of the spa.

Sunset from the Petra Marriott:

It goes without staying that the property has some pretty inspiring views. As a result of its out of town location, the views over the mountains of Petra are second to none. We found ourselves at this property having dinner prior to going to see Petra by Night.

We were blown away by these gorgeous sunsets from the property. The views are very inspiring and pretty. It’s always special to enjoy a sunset when travelling internationally, but it’s super special to enjoy them over mountains in a far away land.

While the Petra Marriott Hotel isn’t a full resort property, there is almost enough at the property to keep you entertained during your off time.

Checking Out of the Dead Sea Marriott Resort an Spa:

Our check out the next day, our check out was without incident. We were thanked for our loyalty. We didn’t have any surprises on the bill and our car was packed up professionally by the valet staff.

We headed from the Petra Marriott Hotel down to Aqaba for our stay at Al Manara, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Saraya Aqaba.

Bottom Line: The Dead Sea Marriott Resort and Spa

Overall, I was satisfied with the Petra Marriott Hotel. While it didn’t blow me away with any one feature, the sunsets were great, the room was upgraded and comfortable, and the elite recognition was really good. It sounds silly but I’ll treasure that welcome amenity sand bottle for quite some time as it was wholly unexpected. I’d easily return to this property if I was coming back to the area.

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If you have stayed at the Marriott Petra, how did it meet your needs?

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