Jennifer W
Google
This was the worst place we stayed in Egypt because of the problems at the hotel. First, the room was too hot. We were in a family suite with two bedrooms. One of the bedrooms had no windows, only a door to the patio. Egypt in January is cool but there were no windows to open in our bedroom and you can’t sleep with the door wide open. We spent hours trying to get them to fix the AC. We were told that Americans like it cooler than their more frequent European guests, thus making us the problem. The room would cool down to 21 or 22 which was fine but then go back up to 23 or 24 which was too hot. They finally fixed it the third night but this was after a lot of hassle on our part. Second, the dining situation was problematic. We did bed and breakfast (not full board) and were told we did not need reservations at the restaurants. Every single time we went to a restaurant they told us that we needed a reservation but that they would seat us anyways. Annoying, to say the least. They post vegan menus online but apparently you have to order it 24 hours ahead of time. Which they don’t tell you online. And no one seemed to know the prices of anything on the vegan menu. I wasted another 1.5 hours ordering vegan dishes for our dinner the next night. We selected this hotel because some in our family are vegetarian. Given the limited vegetarian options on the restaurant menus, and the difficulties with ordering from the vegan menu, I would not recommend this place for vegetarians. They also add 12% service charge and 15% tax to all food and beverages, including snacks in the room. Which makes the restaurants expensive for Egypt and the food is just OK. Third, as noted by other reviewers, there are problems with wait staff not responding to female guests. Twice at breakfast, I was in the omelette line first, but the chef took my order last. He addressed the men before me even though they arrived after me. Didn’t even ask who was there first and automatically defaulted to serving the men first. It was also difficult to get coffee at my table when I was there alone without my husband. I have been working in Northern Africa and this subtle sexism is common throughout. But this is a global hotel chain with a primarily international clientele. I would expect the staff to be better trained to consciously watch out for this. Finally, some facilities could use an upgrade. For example, drawers were broken in the room, gym mats were old and dirty, and the yoga center appears to be permanently closed. They also charge extra for all recreational activities such as use of the tennis courts. Which is unusual since many resorts let you use the tennis courts for free. Filtered water was another issue. It was free in your room and at the gym but they would charge if you ordered water at breakfast or dinner. The rooms were not cheap so it was annoying to be charged extra for all these minor things. We did not experience this at other hotels in Egypt, BTW. The setting and grounds are beautiful and they appear to be sincere in their sustainability efforts, which I appreciated. There was no plastic anywhere and the coral reef was in great shape. They were keeping people off the corals and taking care of the marine ecosystem. But the resort caters primarily to European tourists on package tours with full room and board (all inclusive). Since we didn't fall into this category and experienced hassle, we did not enjoy our stay as much.
