-2 nights, solo, Platinum, points, 22-24 May. Base king room, included breakfast.

-About an hour ride from the airport, 600 EGP including tip. I did a bit of negotiating with the 'limo' desk. You can use Uber to return to the airport - much cheaper!

-There were not any pyramid view rooms available using points.

-Used two SNAs and those were cleared 5 days earlier to a 1 bedroom king suite with pyramid view. Pics on the website accurately depict the room. It is actually two adjoining rooms hence two full bathrooms. One room is the bedroom and the other is a living room. (There are regular pyramid view rooms for sale, but not via points, hence the SNA request. This suite was way too much room for just me for two nights.)

-Arrival at the property - the driveway is a bit away from reception. Even though I arrived at a 'normal' time, 7 PM or so, there was no one at the driveway to take my bags (on a golf cart) to reception. I thought it a bit odd. The driveway area was staffed at other times during my stay. Anyhow I walked everything to reception.

-Check-in was straightforward (a problem occurred later). Recognized as a Platinum, offered a variety of welcome amenities, chose 1000 points since breakfast was included in the room rate.

-Bellhop guided me to my room and showed me around. (On the way, he pointed out the lounge.)

-I was assigned room 420 (see floor layout). Room was a bit dated in terms of furnishings, but I don't care about such things. Bed was comfortable, room temperature was adjustable, and there was a balcony with two chairs and a small table; lots of water. I also had a handwritten welcome card (came in handy later) and a plate of fresh fruit. My only complaint was that the towels were of midrange hotel quality and that instant coffee provided.

-The lounge was accessible 24/7 with your keycard. Hot and cold drinks available. There were a few snacks available throughout the day, mainly pastries. There was light hot and cold food served between 5:30 and 7:30 as well as a total of two alcoholic drinks - beer and Egyptian wine were advertised, but I did see a few mixed drinks being served. Not sure if there was an extra cost or not. There was enough food to at least have a light dinner. Lounge staff was very attentive during those hours and there was a manager stationed outside of the lounge during working hours.

-Breakfast was at the 139 Pavilion restaurant. Full buffet. Staff served hot items and some cold items, but some cold items were self serve; although the following day, it appeared that staff served all cold items. By the way, this is of no concern to me if it had been a regular buffet. I don't eat with my fingers, so touching a serving utensil that someone else has also touched bothers me none.

-Pool was quite nice. Pool staff observed customers approaching and brought towels and setup the umbrella however you wanted. Note that there were a lot of kids present. Did not cause any issues for me, but it is certainly not an adults only area. The only downside was that there was just one waiter for the pool bar and he never had a break. Took awhile to get his attention, but once delivered, the beer was cold (in fact the mug and glass were brought in a bucket of ice) and the food was decent.

-I did have dinner at The Moghul Room restaurant - Indian. I explained that I was on my own, didn't want to order too much. The waitress suggested a starter, naan, and an entrée. It was just about the right amount of food and quite good. The rice for my entrée was an extra charge; a bit disappointing.

-Checkout was straightforward. I had a breakfast charge which she immediately fixed without question. I used Uber to go to my next lodging. Very easy to use Uber, but it appears that the bellhop has to contact the front gate to advise security that a Uber (using the license plate number) is authorized to enter. I didn't do the exact math, but points posted the day after checkout including the 1000 point bonus as well as points for lunch at the pool and dinner at The Moghul Room.

-The one problem was at 10 PM the same evening as dinner. I went to bed fairly early as I had some work to handle in the morning. I had just fallen asleep when the room phone rang. It was the front desk telling me that there was a problem with my credit card and I needed to 'immediately' come down and pay cash for what I owed. Of course I gave him my thoughts, in a professional manner. He was apologetic for waking me and agreed that I could resolve it in the morning. Of course he made sure of that by disabling my keycard. The next morning, I inquired as to the problem at the front desk as agreed. That staff member had no idea what the issue was and enabled my keycard. He said he would check into it. I checked back a bit later and I think what happened is that my credit card was not swiped at check-in for the standard hold and dinner pushed the system into some sort of alert mode. At checkout, I was asked how everything was; I provided the appropriate feedback thinking I'd receive some customer service gesture. I did not, but since I had the handwritten card with the GM's name, I took advantage of it; sending him an e-mail. I received a response in about two days and I am waiting for 10000 points to be deposited into my account. (Note my issue was the late call - not the fact that someone mistakenly forgot to swipe my credit card.)

-Only one pet peeve. The front desk has no small bills for change or so claimed. I wanted 50 EGP (or less) notes in exchange for 100 EGP notes so that I could tip. Everyone has hands out for tips; it is what it is. I asked on three occasions, and staff was checking their wallets, purses, bellhops, etc. for change. Each time, I received my change, but not having a cash drawer is curious especially when I saw customers paying cash at the front desk. Maybe cash is immediately placed in a safe? (I later found a bank near the entrance to the property that was happy to provide change.)

-Speaking of safe(ty). The property has a wide security perimeter. There are a number of gates, vehicle inspections, bomb dogs, uniformed and plainclothes armed officers, as well as solider-like personnel patrolling the property as well as the outer perimeter as well as all of the tourist areas.

-The hotel does not offer tour services directly. There is a company located in the property's commercial area that arranged tours. Normally I do not do arranged tours; I prefer to figure things out on my own. But the pyramids are a bit different, so I did a private tour, likely for too much money, but the guide was fairly good and in no hurry to move me along. I also arranged to see the evening light show, which was quite good, although I got cheated. The narration was in Spanish that particular evening. Why - I have no idea. The show is setup with several hundred chairs, but my night had 40 some people (I counted) and I can safely state that most were locals. My point is that I was offered, at my seat, an English headset for 20 EGP and my driver's license by a 'staff' member. I told him that I would not provide my driver's license. He came back to my seat with a headset for 20 EGP, which I accepted. I told the tour agency about this the following day. (Let me rewind for a minute about the tour agency. Five employees sitting in a small front office. 3 acknowledged my entrance, 1 did not say a word (playing Solitaire), and one glared at me the whole time without a word. The tours are booked with USD - cash or credit. I chose to use my CSR card. The staff member (who was friendly) took my card and walked to a back office with it even though she had two credit card machines in front of her. She came back and told me my card was declined twice. I said 'let's call Chase, there should be no issue'; called Chase (on speaker), Chase told me that it had no record of receiving any transaction and try again. Sure enough the transaction went through - it was a miracle.) Fast forwarding, the morning after the light show, I went back to the office to meet my tour guide for the pyramids. I mentioned the headset issue. The staff member that glared at me the entire time the previous day was the same one who was visibly upset about the headset incident. She told me that the headset was included in the price and should have been given to me at the entrance to the show. She was on the phone with someone immediately and was obviously doing most of the talking. (The tour guide translated a bit for me.) And I did not complain to the office; I made an 'observation' to please inform customers that they'd need to have 20 EGP for each headset.

All in all, this was a great property for a few days. Staff was truly appreciative of my being there - 'tell all of your American friends to come to Egypt' - things are still difficult re: tourism. I would presume that most of the hotel guests were relatively local. If you plan to see other Cairo-based sites, this is probably not the best location compared to staying on or near the Nile River. I wonder if the Bonvoy Lurkers pass these reviews on to the properties?


Floor plan - 4th floor - my room was 420 (note it included room 422 that is to the left of 420 as you are facing the entrance to the room).

View from the balcony of room 420.