Novotel Sharm El Sheikh

This was our family’s 7th year traveling to Egypt, but our first time in Sharm El Sheikh, so we came with quite high expectations based on our previous experiences in Egyptian hotels.

Overall, my feelings about Novotel Beach Sharm are very mixed.

Location

One of the things I really liked is the location. You can easily walk outside the hotel, explore the area and feel the city atmosphere. This is a big advantage for me, because I don't like hotels where you are completely isolated and have nowhere to go outside.

The beach

If you come mainly for snorkelling, you may enjoy this beach. But if, like me, you actually like swimming in the sea, I would not consider it the best choice.

There are only a few small areas where you can enter without corals and stones, and they are often crowded with people simply standing in the water, which makes it difficult to swim comfortably. I understand that this is Sharm and that the coral reef is part of the experience, but this is something future guests should know.

Another thing that really surprised me was the sunbed situation. The beach officially opens later, but when I came around 6:15–6:30 in the morning, many of the front-row sunbeds had already been “reserved” by beach workers. I have never experienced this in quite the same way in the Egyptian hotels we stayed at before. Food & bars

The food was not bad, and I appreciated that the restaurant was trying to offer variety.

And one small but very pleasant surprise: the caramel Nescafé was really good!I honestly don't remember having coffee in a hotel that I liked this much. It was one of those little things I genuinely looked forward to during the stay.

However, the service at the pool/beach bar was very inconsistent. There were shifts when the bar service was perfectly fine, but unfortunately there were also situations where the service was simply very inattentive.

For example, you can ask for a coffee, the bartender starts the coffee machine, and then gets busy talking or working with other staff and simply forgets about your coffee. You end up waiting and wondering whether anyone remembers your order.

It may sound like a small thing, but these small moments are exactly what create the overall impression of service.

A very nice idea — charging boxes**

One thing I really liked was the charging boxes for phones. This is a genuinely useful and thoughtful idea, especially at the beach.

Unfortunately, several of them were not working. The one in the lobby wasn't working at all during our stay. At the beach bar, there was one, but apparently there was no key available for the lock, and there was another one near the towel area.

So the idea is excellent, but it would be great if management simply made sure that all of them were functional and accessible.

Lifeguards — my biggest disappointment

This was probably the most disappointing part of our stay.

In all the Egyptian hotels we have stayed in previously, lifeguards were among the most attentive members of the staff. They watched children and older guests, helped people when needed and were genuinely supportive.

Unfortunately, here I found the lifeguards extremely indifferent and inattentive.

My mother has a health issue, and on one occasion I needed help getting her out of the sea. I had to manage it myself. In our previous hotels, staff would normally notice such situations and immediately come to help without even being asked.

For me, this is not just about “service”; it is about basic attentiveness and safety, especially around the sea.

Management and organization

Another impression I had was that the hotel sometimes seems to lack a consistent system, with different employees giving completely different information.

For example, regarding late check-out, a very professional female receptionist explained that the hotel was fully booked and therefore a late check-out could not be guaranteed, but that we could stay and use the restaurant and facilities afterwards.

Later, another tall male receptionist gave us completely different information and did so in a rather rude and unfriendly manner.

There were also many small rules and restrictions that gave me the feeling that the system sometimes works more for the convenience of the staff than for the guests. Of course, hotels need rules, but the overall approach matters.

There was even a funny little incident: one day I forgot to leave the $1 tip for the cleaner. When I remembered, I went back to put it on the bed, only to discover that the room had already been cleaned — while right outside the room there was a pile of dry leaves that had apparently been there for some time. A small thing, but somehow it summed up my general impression of the housekeeping/service system.

❤️ A few things I really appreciated

I also want to mention the positive experiences because the hotel certainly wasn't all bad.

A special thank you to the female receptionist and the male receptionist (not the tall gentleman) who helped us find a room suitable for my parents, who have difficulty climbing stairs. They were helpful and considerate, and I genuinely appreciated their effort.

The location is excellent, the food was acceptable, the caramel Nescafé was surprisingly good, and the charging-box idea is great. The hotel definitely has its good sides.

My conclusion

After seven years of travelling to Egypt and generally being accustomed to a higher level of Egyptian hospitality and service, I was honestly surprised by some things at Novotel Beach Sharm.

I wouldn't say the hotel is terrible — it isn't. But there are definitely areas where management, staff training, consistency and guest-oriented service need improvement.

Perhaps this review will be useful to management. I hope they take the comments seriously, especially regarding the lifeguards, sunbed practices, consistency of information from reception and the general attitude toward guests.

Would I come back? Maybe. The experience was not bad enough for me to say “never again”. I actually liked the location and some aspects of the hotel. But there are definitely things I would expect to see improved before choosing this hotel again.

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! 🤬🤬🤬