Tropitel Sahl Hasheesh

We’ve just returned from a wonderful week at Tropitel Sahl Hasheesh, and we had a fantastic holiday!

The hotel is superb, with immaculate grounds that are beautifully maintained. We stayed in a Superior Sea View room, which was comfortable, well equipped and absolutely spotlessly clean.

All the staff we encountered were friendly, welcoming and helpful, which really added to our experience.

There was never any problem finding sunbeds around the pool, and there was a good range of daytime activities for those who wanted to get involved, along with a show every evening.

The food was of good quality. The buffet restaurant offered a similar choice to other all-inclusive hotels we’ve stayed at, and we always found plenty to eat. We also tried the Mexican and Italian à la carte restaurants, and both were really good.

One of the highlights for us was the fabulous house reef. There were so many beautiful fish to see, making it a real treat for anyone who enjoys snorkelling.

Overall, we had a fantastic, relaxing week in a beautiful hotel with excellent facilities, lovely staff and plenty to enjoy. We wouldn’t hesitate to return and would definitely recommend Tropitel Sahl Hasheesh!

This review is extremely long & detailed so get ready!! Tropitel is listed as 5☆ under Egyptian ratings and it is certainly very plush in some aspects. The marble floors thoughout and the magnificent glass domed roof in reception alone are quite eye popping. I am awarding it 5☆ even though I feel certain elements reduce the 5 star award standard, but it might be that my comments are just points to be addressed as feedback to the relevant depts, rather than a deep criticism. The staff are generally very friendly and some more efficient than others. The swimming pools are fabulous to relax around and swim in. We were told by a lifeguard the heating does not go on until 1st November & they are quite chilly initially but during summer months entirely acceptable. You do need to go out early to reserve the best spots for sure. This also applies to the sunloungers at the beach area. If you don't get those early you are stuck with rows in middle and back and if you like sun and not the shade then the middle and back rows leave little option to break from the cover of all the canopies. Aquagym takes place daily around pool which we did not participate in but did observe. Not what we want to do while on holiday but obviously plenty do. One of the Aquafit guys was ok and had a strange counting method but extremely genial guy but the other one constantly stripped off his top and paraded himself around the rocks clapping and slapping his hands together and high fiving other's. He was extremely over the top and clearly enjoyed his own self. Each to their own. It was a very popular activity. The main pool bar staff are extremely efficient and very friendly and they always remember what you drink and where your lounger is every day. Special mention must go to the amazing bar guy called MELAD. He looked after us so well. Equally as did Joseph Botros in the Mermaid bar. The Mermaid bar is by far the best bar in the hotel. Joseph has fantastic customer service. The entertainment in this bar is always classy and relaxed with clarinet or flute player who is extremely talented & always plays a huge repertoire without any music sheets. Lovely outdoor area with open sky overlooking yourself as you drink. The cocktails are extremely consistent which is highly unusual for Egyptian hotels. Every one is pretty much replicated each time and certainly very drinkable. The dine around al a carte options are very good. We stayed two weeks and got 6 visits included. We thoroughly enjoyed the Italian as a favourite and the Mexican 2nd favourite. The Indian was a bit of a let down but I think it was more the limited menu rather than the food quality. The food tasted great but I think we are used to such big choices in uk Indian restaurants. The staff were not very friendly either in this restaurant. What we also loved about the Italian and the Mexican is that you can go there at any lunchtime between 2pm & 4pm as part of your all inclusive package. This was brilliant as the food is great at both of these restaurants and the staff in both are amazing. Mamoud, the young waiter in the Mexican restaurant is very interactive with the customers. Also the drinks are served in decent glassware, not the horrible plastic beakers in some of the pool bars and beach bars. I do understand why around pool it needs to be plastic but they make the lager taste horrible. The rooms were quite basic but had all you needed. Certainly not luxurious or 5☆ and certainly not that clean. Unfortunately we were constantly harassed by our cleaners' actual supervisor (block next to Turkish restaurant- top floor - 500 plus number sequence) every day, we suspect, hankering for a tip. He pestered us so much and on last day even dragged the cleaner from behind his trolley in the corridor to state to us "this is your friend". We found it quite uncomfortable on every occasion. We were not happy with he cleaning standard as room never once had floor washed in 2 weeks and the floor never looked swept. Shower tiles were disgusting and mouldy and there was a dirty mark on bathroom wall for over 10 days! We should have addressed this at the time so our fault we did not as had plenty of opportunity but the supervisor was unbelievably annoying and we just wanted him to leave us alone and not engage in further discussions. We should have told the guest services reps who daily asked guests around pool if all was ok. We never once got towel art either until we requested it from guest reps and then we got it twice ( from someone sent to do it especially) . Nice job if that's your only job! The room cleaner never cleaned properly, so towel art was never going to happen! We found the pillows too hard as ridiculously puffed out. We originally had flatter ones but bizzarly they switched them so we requested at reception for flatter pillows and this was immediately addressed. So tbf I think any issues would always be sorted so our cleaner issue could have been addressed had we followed it through. So please say something if you are not happy. The reception staff are always very willing. Special mention to Omar the Night Manager who is extremely kind and capable and speaks over 8 languages fluently plus more, less fluently. He is always very calm and got his finger on the pulse of the hotel. The review is not complete without acknowledging the fantastic house reef off a long jetty off beach. Snorkeling is an absolute must at this hotel. There is a shallow reef or a deep sea reef. Life jackets are provided and lifeguards on duty at both. The reef has a great selection of pretty fish inc stingrays! We went on numerous sessions and thoroughly enjoyed it. Climbing out of deep sea one up the ladder on to the floating pontoon can be challenging though. Extremely bouncy! There are snacks bars offering doughnuts and ice-cream at beach too. Great after a snorkel session. The juice vitamin bar is at the beach but this is chargeable and the salesman traipse's around poolside constantly harassing life out of you to buy his drinks. A real pain. In fact all the sales reps are extremely annoying. A 5☆ resort should sort this for sure. I did note before we came there had been a few comments about the food in the Waves and Palms main restaurant. We found the food on the whole, very good and a good variety. You will never please everyone! Our concerns were that a lot of the guests personal hygiene was shocking and they did not wash their hands after visiting the toilet ( witnessed first hand) This absolutely spreads bugs, especially handling tongs etc at the buffet. People have quickly forgotten Covid hygiene! And we ourselves had a dodgy guts and did seriously consider buying Antinel, the local medication for disinfecting your guts. We were put off by the insane goggled-eyed prices quoted in the pharmacy in the hotel shopping cente. This shopping centre and pharmacy are charging ridiculously insane prices. £20 for a box 24 tablets. We later discovered a pharmacy next door in Gravity hotel shopping centre who charges 100 EGP which is completely realistic. Thankfully we had not paid the ridiculously inflated prices in the hotel pharmacy. Again the hotel needs to sort this. Its bad for its reputation.
Overall, although a lot of disappointing areas I do still think it deserves 5☆ review if only for its brilliant location and fantastic views and fabulous pool. We had brilliant pool and seaview all in one! Not sure if I would go back but might try the new Tululah hotel when that hotel is built/ completed next door(2027?) as part of the same group. Would also like to add, last but not least, the gardens and gardeners. The gardeners do a fantastic job under extremely hot conditions. They work tirelessly and I guess get very little recognition but deserve a share of the hotel tips. The gardens ARE the TROPITEL HOTEL. Without the beautiful, stunning setting that is maintained by such a talented hardworking team of gardeners the hotel would look very poor. Please take my feedback on board Hotel Tropitel and address with your teams and for anyone considering this hotel as an option, I would say go for it, if you want a relaxed pool or great Snorkeling holiday without the faff of organised trips.

Stayed here in August for 2 weeks as family of 4 including a 13 and 7 year old. Room was spacious, beds slightly hard but I prefer it that way. We had to ask the cleaner to put soft drinks in the fridge and tipped 100 Egyptian pounds every so often for his work. However a big disappointed that there was no towel displays as other guests had.

Swimming pools, main one was quite big However, there was sunbed wars. You need to be up at the crack of dawn to get a bed near the pool. We only went there once as couldn't get near the poolside area to watch our children and ended up with sunbeds on the grass far back. Therefore everyday we stayed by the waterslide pool. Melab the pool barman was amazing he always remembered our drinks and even before we got to our sunbeds he was over with our drinks. He would also come with ice creams for the kids. The chef at the pool bar whilst looked grumpy but once you get talking he was fab and friendly. Even the lifeguards were friendly and on occasions played games with the kids. There was a pier on the beach where you can go snorkeling. You will need beach shoes to walk in the sea for some distance but dont let that put you off as sea is gorgeous. On 3 occasions some dirty get sh*t in the pool, the lifeguards were quick in closing the pools and cleaning the mess. The pools were the closed for a few hours.

Food. Breakfast was food, I mainly used the egg station where they cook freshly made omelette and eggs in various other methods. Daytime, buffet wasn't to my taste, we tend to use the various pool snack bars where the change daily from burgers, wraps, kebabs. Evening I always found something to eat and liked the bbq however it did feel a bit repetitive and often not much flavour. Kids struggled at night and did have to ask for chicken nuggets. We loved both the Italian and Mexican, wish had more uses of these restaurants in the evenings! Drinks, the usual all-inclusive weak stuff, the gin and tonics were good, beer seemed better during the days but that might be because we were in the sunshine 🤣

Entertainment, my kids usually love hotel entertainment but this was poor even the later shows we stopped going. Only thing my daughter liked was the face painting. Disappointed that we had to pay for the popcorn! Getting a drink near the entertainment took ages. We liked the mermaid bar, this was quieter and easy to get drinks. We often ended up taking a few drinks to our room near end of night to catch the evening movie and this is so unlike us as we like to stay up. The lobby bar was good, occasionally service was slow but barmen were so friendly. Drinks service in buffet restaurant was virtually non existent and often tables were left with dirty plates.

Security we went on trips and when we were being collected outside of the hotel the guard would ask our room number and details of the driver which impressed me.

There are golf carts which you can hire for €20 for 1 hour. This was good and we used this a few times. Shops onsite expensive one shop keeper was aggressive so I ended up walking out. We used the shops in Gravity instead.

Overall this wasnt a 5 star but by Egyptian standards it probably was. Whilst there have been a couple of negative points I would actually go to this hotel again.