Flying Lawyer

Both Hiltons are franchises and and "a little bit" outdated. Lounges are nice. The Conrad is the by far nicer and newer hotel. Nile is close to the Egyptian Museum. To get to the Pyramids or to the big mosque you need a taxi anyway. Though, I hardly do anything in Cairo without a taxi. Taxi are bloddy cheap (adventorous) and the heat in CAI prevents you from walking around after 10 pm and before 4 pm

SanDiego1K

Conrad is a gorgeous hotel, much more upscale than the Nile, which was quite tired (though adequate) when I stayed there 3 years ago.

Blue Roman

Thanks to you all ^ I stayed at the H. Paddington last night and the guy on reception was Egyptian and he backed up your comments, the Conrad

Club_IC

What treatment, upgrades and or lounge access can one expect as a HH Gold at either the Nile, Ramses or Conrad?

Clearly the Nile is best placed for the Cairo Museum, but are there particular areas or sights which would be easily accessed from the Ramses or Conrad?

Thanks for your feedback.

wharvey

When we went two years ago, we stayed at the Conrad. I have to say it was one of our most enjoyable hotel stays.

I am a Gold Member... got an upper floor room and access to the lounge. It is a beautiful lounge, overlooking the Nile, with free internet access. Great food. And they are more than willing to give you bottles of water to take back to the room.

Few restaurants in the hotel... and they are all outstanding as well.

Highly recommend the Conrad.

Club_IC

Thanks for this useful feedback. Unfortunately, during August the Conrad is very expensive (350$ including taxes), but the rates during September are much more reasonable (175$).

Has anyone come across lower rates than on the Hilton site? I am not interested in auction or blind purchase type sites, where often these will not be treated as qualifying stays.

Does anyone have more recent experiences with the Conrad, Nile or Ramses they can share? Thanks

Kenji

staying in cairo for a few days next year. any advice where to stay??

what i have read here or tripadvisor:
ramses hilton: room 160$, bad location, oldfashioned
nile hilton: room 165$, central location, rooms and executive lounge need refurbishment
conrad: room 109$, new hotel, not in city center??

SanDiego1K

Kenji, I posted above and am posting again - the Conrad is the best of the lot. The Nile and the Ramses are faded, whereas the Conrad is still fresh. I don't know if gold will get you upgraded, but the Exec Lounge at the Conrad was much nicer than the other properties.

While you can't walk to museums, you take your life in your hand if you do anyway - so I'm perfectly content paying a reasonable charge and taking a taxi.

Kenji

thanks a lot for the statement. as i am diamond i dun worry about the upgrading, only location and room quality.

Phil the Flyer

Kenji - As someone who, a) is a ten month/year Cairo resident, b) has visited all three properties in the past seven days (Nile, Ramses and Conrad), and c) actually stays long-term in another Cairo Hilton property (World Trade Centre Apartments) I can confirm that it is no contest - the Conrad is the overwhelming clear preference.

The location issue is really a non-issue; all three properties are within a 5-20 minute taxi ride of each other (5 minutes on a good traffic day, 20 on a bad one - when it can often be quicker to walk along the Corniche).

The only downside to the Conrad is that approximately once/month the nightclub on the opposite side of the Corniche (directly on the east bank of the Nile) has loud music until well past midnight.

SanDiego1K

Phil, I'm glad to see you posting, as you are our expert on Cairo Hiltons. Let us know should either the Nile or Ramses Hiltons undertake a massive renovation project, which is what is required for them to be competitive with the Conrad. I have the sense that Cairo hotels don't pull the room rates to be able to keep their properties fresh.

Phil the Flyer

Carol, indeed, both Nile and Ramses Hiltons are looking very jaded these days, in contrast to the Conrad which had a complete exterior paint job not too long ago (I can report this with a high degree of accuracy as my apartment bedroom window overlooks the Conrad swimming pool/health club - of which I am a member).

The additional facts that, a) the company I work for built the Conrad and, b) my wife and the Conrad GM's wife are best friends are mere incidentals.

For me the Conrad is still let down by its restaurants - which are decidely average (the Italian probably being the best of a mediocre bunch). Given the choice of dining out at a Cairo hotel restaurant those at the Conrad would not feature in my list - despite being able to walk there in five minutes from my apartment.

I'll certainly keep an eye out for any signs of hotel renovations (the most recent being the Marriott).

Incidentally my 11 year old son stayed at Borg El Arab Hilton (Alexandria) last month, on a school trip to El Alamein, and he said it was quite good!

Knowing your fondness of the finer things in life you might want to check-out the new Fairmont Hotel, on the Corniche just north of the Conrad. It's being built (again by the company I work for) immediately next to the office block that I am based in. The structure is complete and fitting-out is currently in progress; it is supposed to open in late 2008.

SMTORD

We stayed four nights at the Conrad Cairo last month. I completely agree Phil's comments.

Regarding location, the Nile Hilton is next door to the Egyptian Museum but otherwise doesn't have much of an advantage location-wise over the Ramses or Conrad. We only had coffee there after seeing the museum, but even from the lobby it looks pretty downscale from the Conrad ( and jammed with tour groups).

We are Hilton Gold, but didn't get any special treatment as we had booked a room on the Executive Floor (and glad we did; the hotel was booked solid.)
The breakfast in the Executive lounge is fine, and there is free internet access. While not huge, the room and bathroom were nicely appointed and immaculate. The high floor insures some insulation from the traffic noise on the Corniche (although we were there on the night of the "nightclub across the street" event, and the noise was indeed awful until midnight). Security is very tight in all Cairo hotels, and the Conrad's key-card system needs serious revamping.. they work very poorly. (One fellow who stayed 6 weeks said he went through 25 re-issued cards!!!)

We had dinner in the Italian restaurant, and lunch in the Cafe... both were disappointing. FAR better were lunches at the Khan Al- Khalili restaurant (get reservations ahead of time!) and the pool-area reatuarnt at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza, and dinner at the Moghul Room at the hotel by the Pyramids.

Staff everywhere at the Conrad are friendly, helpful, and very responsive. I would not, however, book any tours or guides through the concierge.. very expensive and not great experiences (if you want more detail on that, PM me).

TravelerSmith

Just got back from a week in Egypt and the service at the Cairo Rameses Hilton was nothing short of excellent. ^

SkyTeam777

Has the Rameses been updated at all? How's the lounge (breakfast/evening offerings)? Free Internet anywhere? Thanks!