Novotel Sharm El Sheikh

Do NOT stay at this “resort”! This is NOT a five star resort! A breakfast box is just 4 dry old pastries, a juice box, & water. There’s no fruit, eggs, cheese, butter, jam, honey, yoghurt etc. I’ve had better from a 2 star property! They set off the evacuation alarm every 4-5 hours, in our rooms, including during the night! No solutions, just lie after lie that it “was an accident by a chef”, “was set off cos there’s a disabled person arriving at the hotel” (?), “the engineer is fixing it”, “it was fixed yesterday”…and yet it went off at 0412 in our rooms! No one at reception takes responsibility for anything…they smile and nod and say “we will fix that now”…but nothing happens! The ONLY time the staff moved to do anything was when we BORROWED the pillows for a long day trip, so we could sleep on the bus…they are the only property I’ve stayed at in 37 years of travelling in/living in Egypt who don’t let you BORROW the pillows! The Fun n Sun excursion office inside the property lied to us about an intro SCUBA tour to Ras Mohammed. They said we could pay for the snorkelling tour with them then pay the supplement on board for the intro SCUBA dive. It wasn’t until we were about to board and I mentioned to the guide that we were going to pay for the intro SCUBA that we were told that wasn’t an option that day! My daughter had been on tour in Egypt with me before, so wasn’t here for the pyramids, etc. What she was here for was another intro SCUBA dive in Ras Mohammed! But, more lies from staff at Novotel Sharm meant that I paid for a snorkelling tour that neither of us wanted to do instead of the SCUBA tour we had discussed with the booking staff! There are so many other issues…rooms not cleaned, even after waiting and calling from 0700-1600, empty or not functioning shampoo/shower gel/body lotion, etc, bathroom sink plug stuck down and won’t remove, shower door doesn’t close so the bathroom floods, power points don’t work (so you can’t charge your phone etc)…the list goes on! Do NOT stay here if you want or need anything above a 2 star experience! They do NOT know what customer service or basic principles of hospitality are! 🤬🤬🤬

Just got back from this amazing Hotel, Firstly the grounds and buildings are kept up to date and pristine condition. The Hotel reception were friendly and welcoming and very helpful with any of our needs. The rooms were comfortable and extremely clean( Big shout out to bassem our room attendant, not only was he very good at his job but also welcomed you with a smile and a hello every day! ) the pool area and bar area also very clean and the staff amazing there ( another big shout out to Ahmed the bar tender fantastic guy ) the food was amazing always hot and fresh and the Chefs were always happy to great you and ask if you were ok? The coral restaurant staff are incredible so happy friendly and would do anything for you, ( another big shout out to Mahmood and Ahmed who took great care of us all holiday ) the staff here are amazing the animations team were a little awkward, Olga the head of animation was very friendly talkative and polite but the rest of the team not so. As the did not speak much English they did not try to engage with us or try to communicate, I cannot speak Russian but did try to communicate with guests and always gave people a smile and a hello. That would have been suitable for us, but they did not even do that just walked by and ignored us? I need a special mention to Ahmed and Ali at reception area they are friends for life! The team from the wellbeing centre were fantastic Hesham, Gadeer and Chocolate were so friendly and even though they struggled to understand us sometimes they were great. If you get a chance book the Cleopatra treatment it's fantastic! Overall this hotel did more than live up to our expectations it surpassed them, We will be back to see you all again!!!