Our package stated it was in Mecca, but when you googled the hotel, it was in Azzizyah. The hotel provided half-board meals (2 meals, breakfast and dinner). Shuttles were provided to the Haram from day one to perform Umrah and stopped when folks were transported to Mina. After Hajj, it took a day or two to reinstate them.
Aziziyah is a district, part of the city of Makkah. Yes, the hotel wasn’t walking distance from the haram but it was very helpful being 20-30 minutes walk from the jamarat bridge during hajj. I walked to our Mina camp and back once a few times too, not ideal but doable given the circumstances. Of course, visiting the haram could be challenging and expensive due to the transportation inconsistencies at times.
Moving to Aziziyah is preferred during hajj because of the proximity to Mina and jamarat, which is the value of “shifting” packages (benefit of staying by the haram before and after hajj and shifting to Aziziyah during hajj). I would’ve been a wreck had I not been afforded the time to rest at the hotel Alhumdulillah (where I slept better than at Mina). Getting to the haram was a pain during hajj and so we would’ve definitely spent more time getting to our hotels there if at all.
I thought the Makkah Al Azizyah/Holiday Inn’s accommodations and staff were great and the dining room breakfast and dinner buffets hours were convenient from 7-11am and 7-11pm. There were also shops, cafes, restaurants, and a prayer hall. The only issue I found, which I’m sure occurs at all hotels, were the extensive elevator wait times around prayers. Best way to mitigate that was heading to prayers 30 minutes early and waiting longer to leave and taking the stairs down to the ground floor to catch the elevator going up.