Staying at a hotel overnight with Qatar Airways

I had a 9-hour layover in Doha while flying Qatar Airways last year. Meant to write this up earlier but never got round to it. I thought I would try to get the “STPC” or overnight package that is sometimes offered.

I had not booked anything in advance (which they prefer you to do, I think), but it seemed I could try my luck, so at Doha, I went upstairs to the transfer desk and asked. After some waiting, I was told I had been granted a hotel stay and was given a bunch of forms and told to wait downstairs for the shuttle bus.

I went back to the doors downstairs and showed my forms to the guards. They indicated to wait inside till the next bus came. I waited around near the gate (unfortunately not much seating there), and was duly put on a bus. I had to get out at the departure terminal (same as for those entering Qatar), and again it was a wait at a transfer desk while they arranged more things. Good thing there was a single toilet available.

After that waiting, was finally given papers and went through immigration. After that it was more waiting for the shuttle bus from the hotel. Where to wait was not clearly marked, but waving the forms around was helpful so people told me where to go.

Finally the shuttle bus for the hotel arrived, and we were taken to the hotel. It was a short wait for check-in, and wake up call and breakfast was provided. The hotel room was dark but clean, and after a shower, I saw I had about 4 hours of sleep time before it was time to wake up and go back to the airport.

Breakfast was basic, and then it was bus back to the airport, go through immigration (not long), and on to the gate to wait for the flight.

All in all, it was not bad as the hotel room allowed me to get some sleep which I hadn’t got on my flights (also the airport was very busy and it would have been difficult to get a quiet rest, much less stretch out, otherwise), though with all the waiting around prior to going to the hotel, and the need to get back to the airport early, it wasn’t as many hours it may have seemed. So it’s a toss-up.

There apparently is an option to pay for entry into one of the lounges – I had thought that to be my back-up plan if the hotel failed. The airport is nice enough for waiting at the gates, but it was very busy while I was there.