"We’ve just returned from a family stay at JAZ Elite Asteria in a family swim-up room. There is a lot to love about this hotel, but also several things that disappointed us, particularly given the price point.
Firstly, the hotel itself is stunning. The grounds are beautiful with lots of greenery, the pools are huge and immaculate and the rooms are spacious. Our swim-up was fantastic and definitely one of the highlights of our stay.
The staff are exceptional. Everyone was friendly, attentive and genuinely couldn’t do enough for us. Our cleaner in particular was amazing — the room was always spotless, he was incredibly helpful and there was usually a new towel creation waiting for us!
There were a couple of odd things about the family swim-up terrace. We arrived to one large double daybed/mattress and only two chairs. We requested two loungers for the children and these were brought immediately, but there were still only two chairs at the outside table for a family of four. They’re also black metal and become incredibly hot in the sun.
Food & drink
The quality of the buffet food was usually good. Everything was fresh and consistently hot, with a large salad and bread selection, pasta station and pizza. Occasionally things seemed overcooked/tough.
Our issue was more the variety. There’s a lot of seafood, which we don’t eat, and once that and the numerous vegetable dishes were taken out, we found the main choices quite limited and repetitive. Much of the chicken was on the bone and the children’s section was generally plain pasta, hotdog-style sausages in tomato sauce and mashed potato or mashed veg each night.
We’ve been to Egypt five times and this was probably the least variety we’ve experienced in a main buffet.
The à la cartes were a completely different story and were amazing. We ate at the Italian and Mexican and thoroughly enjoyed both. The food was excellent and these were two of our favourite meals of the holiday.
The cocktails were disappointing. We’re not big drinkers, but I enjoy the odd cocktail on holiday and I eventually stopped bothering with them. They’re made with local spirits, with imported alcohol costing extra.
We were also surprised that the minibar is chargeable. We’ve stayed at other five-star all-inclusive resorts, including in Egypt, where the minibar was always included. At this price point, I personally expected more to be included.
Pools & atmosphere
The pools themselves are fantastic, but the activity pool can be extremely loud. The music is predominantly loud dance music with a heavy beat and on some days it played for hours. You can hear it across a lot of the resort, so finding somewhere around the pools for genuinely quiet, relaxing time wasn’t easy.
This is obviously completely personal preference — if you enjoy that kind of atmosphere you’ll probably love it — but it really wasn’t for us.
The water park is okay, with around seven slides, but the constant whistle blowing drove us mad! 😂 We completely understand the need to clear the landing pools for safety, but the lifeguard seemed to blow the whistle the second anyone emerged from a slide, even when they were already getting straight out. It made the area quite stressful rather than relaxing and even our children didn’t want to return, so we only went once.
Snorkelling
This was fantastic and another highlight.
The tide goes a long way out and you need to walk along the jetty to reach deeper water, but we knew this before travelling. The reef is lovely and we saw some amazing fish and sea life.
The lifeguards along the jetty were brilliant too. One day they lent our daughter a life jacket and snorkel mask when we hadn’t taken hers with us. They were extremely helpful.
A couple of things worth knowing
The Wi-Fi was dreadful throughout our stay. It repeatedly dropped out or showed as connected without actually having internet access. Eventually I bought an eSIM and relied heavily on mobile data.
Also, book hotel taxis well in advance if you’re planning to go anywhere. We assumed we’d be able to arrange one when we wanted to go out, but one evening were told we’d potentially have to wait several hours and that we needed to book in advance so ended up abandoning our plans. Not necessarily the hotel’s fault, but definitely something I wish we’d known beforehand.
The evening entertainment was similar to other Egyptian resorts we’ve stayed at — nothing particularly special for us, but equally not something we’d consider a negative.
Overall
JAZ Elite Asteria is undoubtedly a beautiful hotel. The grounds and pools are stunning, our swim-up was fantastic, the snorkelling was excellent and the staff really are exceptional. The Italian and Mexican à la cartes were also superb.
However, despite all those positives, we wouldn’t personally return. The repetitive buffet choices for our family, very loud pool music, poor cocktails, chargeable minibar, unreliable Wi-Fi and various smaller things added up over the course of the holiday. Given the price and the hotel’s five-star/Elite positioning, we expected a little more.
A lot of this is subjective. A family who loves seafood and lively dance music around the pool could have a completely different experience. It’s certainly not a bad hotel — it just wasn’t quite the right fit for us.
I wanted to leave an honest review because these are exactly the little details I would have found useful before booking."
