Crowne Plaza Resort Salalah, an IHG Hotel

Check-in was not great. Seems their system's integration with Hotels.com is faulty, and so they did not see we had booked 2 King rooms with beach access (i.e. ground floor facing the ocean). In the end, we had to settle moving to a 1 king room and 1 twin room, since 2 Kings with beach access weren't available. Beyond that though, our stay was pleasant. The hotel and rooms are quite dated (90s look) but the grounds and facilities are fantastic - 3 different pools, golf driving range, a dive center, children's playground, table tennis, two restaurants, a pub, and not to mention a deserted white sand beach on the Indian Ocean lined with an unlimited number of lounge chairs and barasti umbrellas. Staff were super friendly and helpful. Outside the hotel, it is surrounded by coconut, papaya and banana farms that creates a canopy and landscape that looks like Sri Lanka.