We recently stayed at the Conrad for 4 nights. Booked exec suite and asked for/received upgrade to royal suite. Suite was stunning. I get the decor issue, but it didn't bother us. Everything in the room worked fine and seemed well thought out (other than not enough electric outlets and non near night stands). No smell of smoke at all--perhaps we were lucky. Exec lounge had tasty snacks and a decent happy hour. Concierge was incredibly helpful with some non-standard requests (though not so helpful with others). Honestly didn't notice big-time smoking in the hotel, but then again my standards in Cairo are a bit different. Restaurants were excellent. Big surprise was the bar/lounge; asked for and received a proper dry martini, a minor miracle for Cairo.