"The resort itself is beautiful, with several pools and direct beach access. The bar staff are extremely generous with their pours and Karim makes fantastic off menu cocktails! We also enjoyed a 2-hour spa program including sauna, jacuzzi, steam room with hot stones, coconut scrub, mud mask and a 50-minute massage all for just €80pp which was amazing value! Thanks to Vicky & Ahmet from the Hotel Spa. Food-wise, breakfast, lunch and dinner offer plenty of variety for everyone including a large dessert station. The entire resort is very clean and the room service team did an excellent job every day!
However, the issues started with the third-party tour providers allowed on hotel grounds. The hotel lets external companies sell trips to guests, which in theory is great for supporting local businesses. Unfortunately, our day trip to Giza was a huge disappointment.
My partner and I were approached at the pool by Ahmet from 'Dive More' who offered a private SUV trip to Cairo to see the pyramids and the new Grand Museum. We originally wanted to fly (about 4 hours total from Hurghada to Giza) but Ahmet insisted driving would take only 4–5 hours max, giving us just as much time and more comfort of being private. So we paid €475 in total and pick-up was set for 2am with a breakfast box prepared for us.
This is where everything went wrong.
The drivers arrived at 1am (to get ahead of “queues at borders,” which we only found out later). We rushed to get ready, only to discover no breakfast had been prepared, despite the promise. Reception staff was very helpful and eventually gave us someone else’s breakfast.
The drive to Giza did not take 4–5 hours - it took nearly 8 hours. We were stopped multiple times at borders and pulled over by police twice to wait on the side of the road for 30 min. We arrived at 9:30am and then had to pay an additional $25 USD per person to enter the pyramids. Our tour guide in Cairo was excellent and even admitted that many groups have complained about the same issue: the real driving time had not been communicated honestly. We left Cairo at 4:30pm and reached the hotel at 10pm - no police stops this time but smoke breaks for the driver.
In summary: 14 hours sitting in a car and less than 8 hours in Cairo.
We reported everything to the assistant manager, who asked what they could do to make things right. We requested a refund and agreed to €200 and late check-out. However, at check-out we were handed $200 USD instead of €200 and asked to sign a paper with no real option to dispute because we were leaving in 15 minutes.
As if this wasn’t enough, we visited the hotel shop to buy a few small souvenirs and cigarettes. Thomas, who seems to run the shop, tried to charge us €170 for three small statues, a mini ashtray, and a sleeve of Marlboro cigarettes — calling it a “very good price.” Total scam. At the airport we got the exact same items for a fraction of the cost ($27 for cigarettes, $20 for souvenirs).
Final verdict: The hotel is beautiful, clean, well-run and I’d recommend it on its own - but avoid booking Giza tours by car, avoid the hotel shop’s inflated prices and don’t rely on what third-party sellers tell you without doing your own research. The communication and handling of external tours needs serious improvement. After this experience, I wouldn’t return."
