Details: Qatar Airways’ new flagship Al Mourjan Garden Lounge

Qatar Airways has finally taken the wraps off its highly-anticipated flagship lounge in Doha Hamad Airport, known officially as the Al Moujan Business Lounge- The Garden (I’ll refer to it as the Al Mourjan Garden for simplicity’s sake). 

This complements the existing Al Mourjan Business Lounge- South at Concourse A, and the two lounges can host around 1,600 passengers at once. Guests can look forward to amenities like a spa, multiple dining venues, snooze rooms and a gym with treadmills.

Details: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Garden Lounge

The new Al Mourjan Garden Lounge is located at Concourse C in the Northern expansion of Hamad International Airport, which makes it easily accessible to most transit passengers (since they’re funnelled here immediately after clearing security again). If you’re departing from Doha, you can still visit the lounge by taking the monorail connecting Concourse A and C. 

In terms of size, it measures in at 7,390 sqm with seating for 707 guests. Surprisingly, it’s actually smaller than the existing Al Mourjan South Lounge, which occupies a footprint of 10,000 sqm with space for 900 guests. 

As the name suggests, it’s set amidst The Orchard, Hamad Airport’s take on a garden-in-an-airport. The design is always going to draw comparisons with Changi Jewel (Qatar Airways head honcho Akbar Al Baker all but accused Singapore of plagiarism), but whatever your sentiments on that, I think we can all agree it’s a gorgeous-looking space. 

Access is available to passengers departing on a Qatar Airways or oneworld-operated flight in:

• First Class (+1 guest)
• Business Class (except passengers on Qatar’s Business Lite fares, or those who have upgraded with miles from an Economy Class ticket)

All guests must be travelling on the same flight as the eligible passenger.

oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members travelling in Premium Economy and Economy Class cannot access this lounge; they will be directed instead to the Qatar Airways Gold or Platinum Lounge.

Qatar Airways has released the following photos of the lounge:

In terms of facilities, passengers can expect: 

• 24 Single and double quiet rooms (available free-of-charge for the first 6 hours)
• Showers and washrooms
• Nursery
• Children’s play room
• Game room
• Smoking room
• A gym with treadmills, elliptical exercise bikes and locker rooms
• A spa with seven treatment rooms, manicure/pedicure stations, neck and shoulder massage chairs, relaxation chairs and changing rooms

In terms of dining, the East Wing of the lounge features the main dining areas, with hot and cold buffets as well as sushi & salad, coffee & patisserie, and cocktail & bistro bar offerings, together with à la carte dining.

My take on Qatar Airways’ new lounge

I’ve been waiting a long time for this lounge to open, narrowly missing out a few months ago when I transited through Doha. I’ll have another opportunity in May to write a full review, but here’s my thoughts so far: 

• It’s exciting to finally see an airline lounge with a gym. While I’m not much of a gym rat, I can see many transit passengers grabbing the opportunity for a workout during a long layover
• I love that there’ll be a spa, though I don’t expect the treatments to be free since even passengers at the First Class Al Safwa Lounge need to pay for them
• The photos don’t show any sort of privacy dividers between seats or seating sections, which suggests the lounge will have a very open design. I’m concerned it won’t feel very private, especially given the sheer number of passengers it’s likely to see
• While “quiet rooms” sound promising, these will stop short of being hotel rooms with proper beds and attached toilets. Per reports on FlyerTalk, these rooms merely have recliner chairs

One more thing: back in February 2023, UK blog Head For Points received a behind-the-scenes tour of the Al Mourjan Garden Lounge, and teased two “world first” elements.

There are two elements in this lounge which will be a world first. One of them genuinely stunned me. Two of the biggest brands in the world will be opening ‘brand extensions’ here.

When I say ‘world first’ I don’t mean ‘first in an airport lounge’. I mean that the airport has persuaded two huge brands to do something totally different for the first time anywhere.

I can’t say any more. However, I can say without a doubt that some people – admittedly probably not HfP readers – will rearrange their travel plans purely to travel through Hamad in order to visit one or both of these facilities. Interestingly, neither will be free – in fact, the total opposite. Deep pockets will be required.

I fully expect that many people will stop using the Al Safwa First Class lounge and move to the new Al Mourjan lounge purely to try out these two facilities

-Head For Points

There’s been all sorts of speculation as to what these will be — my favourite prediction was a race car track — but it looks like it’ll be something much more mundane. According to FlyerTalk user fender5787, there’ll be a Louis Vuitton cafe and a Dior spa, both of which have yet to open.

I can’t say either of these are of any interest to me, particularly since they’ll involve an additional surcharge. Then again, this is very on brand for Qatar, quite literally. 

Conclusion

Qatar Airways has opened its new flagship Al Mourjan Garden Lounge, which significantly expands its lounge capacity in Doha and looks absolutely stunning to boot. 

That said, the proof will be in the visiting, and I’m going to do just that next month- stay tuned for the full review. 

If you’re passing through Doha in the next few days or weeks, do let us know what the experience is like!