Alila or Anantara?

There are 2 luxury hotels in Jabal Akhdar - Alila and Anantara. They are both high end hotels with similar amenities but that is where the comparison roughly ends. We booked the Jabal Terrace in Alila and the cliff view villa with pool in Anantara and here is our take on how they compare:

- Location: Anantara is easier to reach and closer to the village

- Hotel design: highly subjective we personally prefer Alila. It is built respecting the environment and simply beautiful - more photogenic as well.

- Rooms: it is not a fair comparison since the pool villa in Anantara is more exclusive, but it was just hands down better. Alila prides itself of the views and we were super disappointed to realize that our big terrace looked at a wall. Truth to be told, from our other (small) balcony we could see the canyon, but when you pay extra for a big terrace, not having a view from there is a disappointment clearly. Word of advice: if you book the Jabal Terrace room ask for room 39 and if it is not available, stick to a standard ridge view suite. 

- Food: this is a bit let down in both places. It  can be that it has to do something with COVID - never the less at the price level both hotels operate, you would expect really high end quality food. And it was just not there. It was not bad, but it was not delighful either. Breakfast in Anantara was boring, in Alila it was actually quite nice. Dinner: in Anantara they served in the room and it was cold. In Alila our lovely steak came with boring steamed vegetables as a side dish. Plus point for Alila: the fresh bread served as starter is divine, shame you cannot order it as snack!

- Entertainment: both hotels seem to be strong on this point, Alila however offered more fun programs for free (spa kitchen, star gazing, movie under the stars). They both have via ferrata, we tried the one in Alila and it was just great! I also tried the yoga on the deck in Alila  and it was just out of  this world - the location, the instructor, the views, the whole package (I believe in Anantara they also offer yoga but did not try it).

- Service: overall they are both attentive and try to provide individualized experience. When we complained about the room and lack of view in Alila, they really tried their best to move us to an other room and when it was not possible, they offered complementary dinner. Alila also offers personal concierge service which seems to be little hit or miss, depending on who you get assigned to. 

In short: if you prefer a more resort like feeling, go for Anantara. If you are more eco-lux - Alila is your place.

Which one we would choose if we had a chance to go back? The answer is :

ALILA