"I have really mixed feelings about the Long Beach Resort and have found it difficult to score the holiday. Some bits I really enjoyed, others I really didn’t. Parts of the hotel are 4 star but quite a lot of it really isn’t. I think it will be good in the future, it is clearly receiving some significant investment, but for now it doesn’t quite live up to expectations.
Good points: large and multiple swimming pools, a decent number of sunbeds, The Point and the bars and restaurants there are nicely furnished and decorated. The modern rooms are decent with comfortable beds.
Having the beach just a short walk from the main swimming pool is great and the sun beds on the beach are plentiful.
The buffet food is pretty decent and they do try to vary the menu a bit to stop it becoming boring. We usually found something that we liked to eat. The seafood restaurant was excellent and well worth the extra fee.
The grounds are well kept and the communal toilets and general areas are kept clean. Most of the staff that we encountered were friendly.
The not so good bits: the original room we were given was poor. It was described by EasyJet as a ‘Promotional Double Room’ which made it sound as though it was going to be something special. It was anything but. It stunk of cigarette smoke, was tired and in desperate need of renovation and the air conditioning was really loud. A large ‘tip’ to one of the receptionists got us into one of the renovated ‘premium’ rooms the next night and it was much better. However even that wasn’t without its issues. Towards the end of our stay, water started leaking from the room above, which kept dripping on to our towels and belongings and the toilet was leaking foul water out the back. I reported the leak and was told maintenance would sort it, but nothing happened. I had to put a bin under the leaking ceiling to stop our stuff getting wet but each day the housekeeper took it down and then put our belongings back under the leak!
We really struggled to get towels for our room. It was quite evident that the hotel couldn’t keep up with the demand of washing and drying all of the towels and some nights we waiting until nearly 7pm to get towels so that we could have a shower and get ready for dinner. The situation did improve during our second week but I can’t help feeling that it was due to tipping rather than any improvement to processes. Every day we were left with the question - will we have towels when we get back today.
On the tipping side, it felt as though you had to tip to get a reasonable level of service. It was quite evident that those who tipped more got special treatment and despite tipping waiters to bring us drinks, as soon as another party arrived who were favoured, they suddenly got the service and we were missed out.
It was difficult to book the à la carte restaurants. There was rarely any availability on the app, yet every time we went past the restaurants, they were virtually empty. It felt like they were deliberately restricting availability to push guests towards using the buffet. We enquired at Guest Services about booking the Italian restaurant and he huffed and puffed for about 10 minutes, making out there wasn’t any space before eventually booking us in. When we got to the restaurant, it was around 80% empty for the whole time we were there.
On a couple of occasions we witnessed staff arguing and falling out. Some of the managers appeared to be quite horrible to some of the younger / junior staff, shouting at them and belittling them in front of guests. The chap who manages the pool area in the blue t-shirt was particularly horrible to his colleagues, constantly whistling at them and ordering them about. The main pool bar and snack bar staff in particular were miserable and rude, with the exception of Odey, Mohammed Yahil and one friendly chap at the snack bar whose name I unfortunately didn’t get. The managers in the buffet area largely stood around watching the junior staff rushing around clearing tables and then criticised them if they didn’t do it quick enough. One waiter was told off in front of us for going to the lobby bar to get us some beer because the restaurant bar had run out. It was quite evident that the managers didn’t like the junior staff receiving tips and would watch them like a hawk to ensure they didn’t pocket any tips they were given.
The main swimming pool water wasn’t particularly clean. I didn’t see anyone once take a sample of the water to check it for hygiene during our 2 weeks stay. On one occasion, we witnessed vomit floating in the water in one of the lazy rivers. Most days it looked murky.
There were some very strange rules around the pool. You couldn’t jump or dive in, which was fine, but then lifeguards and the pool manager would walk past and push or throw children in as a joke. Likewise, you weren’t allowed to take drinks near or into the pool, which was a good thing, but then one day they hosted some sort of cocktail party in the pool and handed out drinks to swimmers. The next day it was back to no drinks in or by the pool and staff whistling at guests who got too close to the water with a drink. It gave out really mixed messages.
For some unknown reason, they didn’t want guests to swim in one particular section of lazy river by the main bar and the lifeguards spent all day every day whistling and shouting at guests to get out of that part of the pool. This could have been easily remedied with some physical barriers or proper signage to stop swimmers going into that section, rather than constantly trying to shout at people to make them understand. It was hard to relax when the lifeguards are continually blowing whistles.
The entertainment was a mixed bag. The fire show was good. The entertainment team were very hard working and friendly. The external singers and dancers weren’t great. The entertainment programme was also repeated each week so over our two week stay we saw everything twice. We were desperate to get out of the hotel complex and find something else to do by week two.
I genuinely do not understand why the hotel allow excursion companies, massage & beauty therapists, tattoo artists and photographers to constantly harass guests whilst they’re trying to relax on their sun beds. All day every day we were constantly pestered. We would be in the middle of a conversation and they would interrupt to try to sell their services. The Do Not Disturb signs were pointless as they completely ignored them. We started off politely declining and ended up having to be quite short and snappy with them to get them to go away. I didn’t witness any guests who actually welcomed it. Most would try to wave them away or ignore them. I don’t know what benefit the hotel think it is bringing to the resort. The silly thing is that we wanted to go on trips and would have used the massage facilities but deliberately didn’t because of the high pressure selling. If they had just put a leaflet in each room with a price list, we would have seriously considered it. Instead we went externally to find excursion providers.
Overall, if you want a reasonable value basic all inclusive, you can afford the premium room (or are happy to bribe) and you only want to go for a week, it’s not a bad choice. The weather was amazing and there was enough variety to keep us going for a week. I wouldn’t recommend more than a week though as it does feel like you’re trapped there once you get to week 2. I wouldn’t rush back to Egypt though as a country. The constant begging and pestering to buy goods and services and the blatantly biased tipping regime makes it unfortunately not a pleasant place to visit. It seriously needs to up its game if it wants to become a tourist destination of choice."
