Since there does not seem to be a master thread about this hotel, I am creating a new one to include my recent experience here at the hotel.
General Information
This hotel is well situated in Sharm El Sheikh. It is well maintained. There is no club lounge, but there is platinum recognition (see below). The staff is very attentive and many speak Arabic, Russian and English. The hotel is located on a sloping hill, so there is some walking involved, if you do not want to use the complimentary golf cart shuttles. The complex has multiple pools, one of which is heated. There is direct beach access. The beach has a lot of corals, so most will prefer swimming beyond the reef. A new pier is being constructed and will be completed in around three weeks, which will allow exactly this. The beds were comfortable.
Rate Options
The bulk of the tourists that are here are staying on a package holiday. I would guess that 80% of the customers are not booking the hotel independently. Most of these have an all inclusive food package and some of them seem to also have a drinks package additionally which seems to be indicated by a brownish wristband.
Similarly as an independent booker, you can choose for a room only option, or go for an option that includes half-board, full-board are full-board (plus alcohol drinks). The latter option is the one we went for, which was around USD 200 for three persons in a suite. When we checked in we all received yellow wrist brands. I think this indicated our choice of packages however, it may have also indicated the fact that we were platinum guests. I am not quite sure.
Our "all inclusive lifestyle benefits" package included:
- Breakfast (6:30-10:30), Lunch (13:00-15:00) and Dinner (18:00-21:00-different themes daily) at the Coast International Restaurant (buffet style)
- Buffet snacks at the Zinzina Lounge Bar and Aqua Bar (outdoors) from 11:30-13:00 and 15:30-17:30.
- Unlimited soft drinks, still water, juices, tea coffee, local red and white wine, local beer and local spirits from 11:00-23:00 at all F&B outlets
- Ice cream at Zinzina Lounge Bar and Aqua Bar (outdoors) from 12:00-16:00.
- 80 LE per adult credit for dinner at the a la carte restaurants La Casa (Italian) or Calamari (Seafood and outdoors).
- One hour daytime usage of tennis court per stay
- Espresso-based coffees are not included, as well as imported alcohol.
Food and Beverage Quality
As a side note, I would say that I like the Egyptian beer, but did not like the Egyptian coffee or wine. The Egyptian spirits are drinkable in a pinch and always as part of a long drink. Others may certainly have different tastes.
We mostly ate from the buffet restaurants and were generally happy with the quality. I am not a big fan of buffets but found the selection varied, tasty and offered reasonably healthy options. We never went to the a la carte restaurant, but did try out room service and were very happy with that.
Platinum Benefits
According to the sheet given to me a check in, these include for up to two people per room:
- Upgrade to the next level (subject to availability)
- Daily snacks at the Zizina Bar or Lobby Bar from 17:00-19:00. These apparently can be ordered from a menu. We never did this, since we never felt hungry enough to go there.
- Daily happy hours (17:00-22:00) at the same two bars including 4 local drinks per person and unlimited soft drinks. We never used this, since drinks were already included in our package.
- Late check-out up to 18:00
- High speed internet in the room and public areas
- Nightly room refreshment (I think they mean a secondary cleaning and not a drink, but I am not 100% sure)
Internet & Communication
I was speaking to Yasser from their IT who happened to cross my path. Apparently the hotel has invested a serious chunk of change into their internet connectivity. Each suite has two indoor access points and each room has an indoor access point. I found that the internet worked very well all over the property, both indoors and outdoors.
We also received a simple mobile phone to use during our stay to communicate with the hotel and make local calls. Not sure if that is related to the package or the suite. I actually only used it once.
Staff
Staff members are always willing to help and are very friendly. For my taste they were sometimes were a bit over attentive, but I prefer that over the "under"-alternative. Many of the managers would personally greet when they saw me. In particular the front desk manager, Hany, went out of his way to check up on us and our comfort.
Things to Do- Diving (on-site dive centre), snorkelling and swimming directly from the pier/beach
- Fitness centre, tennis courts (extra cost), pools, bocci, table tennis, billiards (extra cost), beach volleyball, darts
- Animation program that includes some of the above items, but also stretching, yoga, trivia nights, etc.
- With a taxi you can go out to Sharm's nightlife. I only went to Hard Rock Cafe, but I was not really interested in exploring the nightlife.
Tip - Although this does not directly apply to this hotel, book your excursions and airport transfers online, if you are concerned about prices. The price inflation at the hotels is pretty impressive.
If you have any questions, please feel free to post them here.