When The Chedi Katara Hotel & Resort opened its doors almost a year ago – just ahead of the FIFA World Cup – it brought to the city a different kind of hotel experience. One that felt palatial yet homely, opulent yet stylish, whilst blending rich cultures with a contemporary mindset. A heritage hotel built on Arabia’s beloved traditions of heartfelt hospitality, blended with Mughal and Ottoman design influences. One year on, and those intricate threads of old-meets-new still weave through the walls of this majestic hotel, having carved out a reputation for seamless service and one-of-a-kind experiences in an unprecedented luxury setting.

It’s a legacy well known to GHM hotels, who has a portfolio of six Chedi properties around the world. The Chedi Katara Hotel & Resort brings the brand’s inimitable style to Qatar for the first time, adding to the region’s existing portfolio of Chedi properties in Oman and Sharjah, UAE, and leads GHM’s global expansion plans that will see upcoming openings in Saudi Arabia, Maldives and Thailand.

When the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 kicked into town last year, The Chedi Katara Hotel & Resort took pride of place as the official FIFA hotel, with the likes of singer Jungkook, Bill Gates, supermodel Adriana Lima, FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino, and a roster of legendary football players all bedding down in its suites, firmly cementing the hotel’s place in the history books.

This beautiful white-stone architectural icon sits at the northern end of the city’s famed Katara Cultural Village. Sandwiched between desert, canal and sea, stretching across 66,000 square metres, graceful colonnades and a stunning Mughal-inspired courtyard welcome those who step through its doors. Intricate craftsmanship features abound, the design of the hotel – at the hands of multi-disciplinary design firm WATG and its interior design studio, Wimberly Interiors – reimagines Doha’s luxury landscape with its ode to the Ottoman and Mughal eras. Middle Eastern motifs are found in figurative elements and mouldings, while Indian influences appear in the beautiful façade that is adorned with chhatris, typical of Indo-Islamic and Indian architecture. Refined details carved out of stone were specially made to splay across the building, making the levels of craftsmanship – and first impressions – even more remarkable.

A regal lobby lounge fashioned out of a typical Mughal courtyard creates the first of many ‘wow’ moments at The Chedi Katara Hotel & Resort, with its 10-metre ceiling and walls peppered with original Mughal and Indian-inspired artworks, along with tapestries of Ottoman influence. The view from the outside flows through a vast window creating a moving canvas framing the nearby sea, whilst instilling a sense of calm that percolates through the entire hotel.

The infinite attention to detail continues to the hotel’s 59 room and suites and 32 standalone villas, each with hypnotic views of the Arabian Gulf. The luxury accommodation starts with the 45-square-metre Chedi Deluxe Room, extending all the way to the 142-square-metre Royal Suite, which sleeps four and features a sweeping balcony, and palatial living and dining areas. On the villa side, the One-Bedroom up to Four-Bedroom Villas are perfect for privacy, each extending to pretty gardens outside that wrap around private sun loungers and swimming pool. But for the utmost in seclusion and exclusivity, the two light and airy Royal Villas hold all the cards, with two-level luxury living quarters that include five spacious bedrooms, a private spa, fully-equipped kitchen, lush gardens and private pool.

Luxury naturally resonates across the wider hotel experience too, diving into holistic wellness at The Spa, with its Asian-inspired rituals combined with Eastern philosophies; the Chedi Pool that commands a prime location overlooking the hotel’s 300-metre stretch of fully-serviced private beach; and distinctive culinary experiences that take you on an around-the-world journey at The Restaurant, to a European flavour-filled fling at The Beach Restaurant, along a pier to Marsa Katara, an elegant over-water restaurant that fuses Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines.

With all this luxury at your fingertips, and centred around GHM’s ‘A style to remember’ ethos, this beachfront pleasure palace promises to be a stay to remember too.