Palm Beach Resort — Hotel in Al Ahia'

The stay was bad. We were given a room which was in D building. We didn't have much of a view, the only advantage being that nobody was around in the back and it was quiet The issues with the room were big. The furniture was old, the bathroom didn't have a working fan - we went to the reception, we were told that somebody will come immediately but nobody showed up - and we also found what we believe to be congealed sperm on the wall. The bed sheets were changed every few days(unsure) but the duvet cover was never changed(they just flipped it over, we are sure because there was a stain on one side which we recognized). Regarding the hotel itself, it is beautiful outside, well kept and for some reason the common bathrooms around the hotel were far more cleaner than our own bathroom. The pools are big, there are enough deckchairs, we never really had a problem finding a place to sit on the beach or at the pool. The slide was pretty fun but the connection between the parts of it was not so good and as you go down you feel a strong bump at some junctions. The restaurant. Well, this hotel has a huge issue when it comes to food. At breakfast there isn't much to eat, it repeats every single day and the food isn't good. You have your fruits (which are so-so, sometimes no taste, sometimes good), salads and eggs but that's about it. It doesn't look good either. You can find a place where they cook eggs/omelets for you, you can tell them how well you would like the egg to be done, what to put in the omelet and so forth. It was ok but at the end of the day it's just eggs. The lunch is poor in diversity and quality as well. I often went and took French fries or rice with fish(the fish was pretty decent). 90% of the time you will get rice, rice with chickpeas and chicken, steamed legumes and as for meat - Fish , maybe chicken or beef. Lots of foods were covered in sauces which I found interesting at first but by the end I just wanted to eat some plain chicken/beef. You can go and ask for pasta at the same stand where they cook eggs in the morning, but the pasta was not so good. Sometimes the pasta was undercooked, the sauce was a bit iffy. The white sauce was awful. The dinner was the only one which could be passed as average regarding the food. It was better than lunch but again you didn't really have much diversity. The best day was on Wednesday when they served sushi, shrimp and we had good chicken as well. They cook pasta at lunch as well. Near the pasta place you will find some specific meat being served and you need to ask to be served. You can find there roasted chicken/duck(honestly the duck was awful, it had a very powerful duck taste, almost as it was gonna quack in my mouth), lamb, some sort of shawarma/chicken sandwich. Regarding the drinks - they use local alcohol which has a weird taste. The alcoholic cocktails are bad, the non-alcoholic ones are average. The beer was decent (at least for my taste), the wine was subpar, especially the red one which had a very weird after taste. I must mention that there isn't any dispenser and you have to ask for most drinks except water . There is a coffee maker, where you can make your coffee. They will also bring coffee if you ask at a table, which is different and better than the coffee maker one. The staff - awful. They ask for tips often, which gets really annoying after a while especially since it's their job and you already payed for some services. I get that you are poor and 1 euro/dollar/pound isn't much from me, but since everyone in Egypt asks for a dollar or more it tends to add up and you have done nothing at all to earn it. In fact ,in some cases, they didn't do their job at all, and they expect you to tip them THEN maybe they MIGHT do their job. They stare and also asks some girls for Instagram despite being with their boyfriend/husband and so on. At the end our armband was cut off and the lunch was "extrapay". We asked as we left Egypt other travelers but it seems we were the only ones which had this issue. The others could take their lunch in peace after...

A long review from our one-week stay at Palm Beach Resort with a group of 8 – grab some popcorn 🍿||First, the pros: the garden area is beautiful and well kept, the animation team is super cheerful and youthful, with great programs happening all day within the hotel. The sandy beach is stunning and doesn’t get too deep too quickly (the marine life on the beach itself isn’t abundant, but we were on several excursions, so this didn’t bother me too much since there were plenty of fish☺️). The cocktails are delicious – both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Most of the food was tasty, but I’ll get into that later. There are several shops both inside and just outside the hotel (slightly cheaper outside, but not bad inside either), and we visited them multiple times a day. Unfortunately, the positives more or less end here 🥺.||Now, the cons: as a couple, we were given a twin room instead of the double bed we had paid for. Even after three requests, it was not changed, so my partner and I had to sleep in separate beds for a week, which was quite unpleasant – who wants to sleep separately while on vacation with their partner? 🥲 The room itself was extremely low-quality for me. Maybe my expectations were high, but as our first trip to Egypt and our first holiday together, this really dampened my mood.||Housekeeping also had issues. Sometimes towels weren’t changed for two days, toilet paper wasn’t always provided, and our shower gel ran out on the first day. I assume it wasn’t refilled before our arrival, and we had to ask almost daily, yet it was never topped up. Small toiletries were only provided on the first day, so I stocked up on shower gel, shampoo, and conditioner at the hotel shop. While not a huge deal, if these things are supposed to be provided, why weren’t they? 😅 We had to ask for everything constantly, and I started wondering if we were just a “problematic” group or if basic standards were really this hard to meet 🥹.||Of course, all the Russian and German guests were in the renovated part of the hotel – maybe they have an issue with Hungarian guests? 🤣 Some in our group wanted a room change and were even willing to pay extra (unnecessarily), since it wasn’t just us who had problems. Even so, they said maybe in 2–3 days, so we gave up. This really took away from my first experience.||As for the dolphins – not a priority for me, but my mom was disappointed. Everyone said they were always at the hotel, which was one reason we booked it, so you can imagine how many we actually saw 😂😂. The day after we left, a video was posted showing the dolphins, but I guess that’s just PR 🤣.||Regarding food, opinions in our group were mixed, but mostly positive. The meals were tasty, though often repetitive. I personally enjoyed the beef dishes – I had them almost every dinner. Breakfast was always the same: scrambled eggs, with omelets made to order at the end of the restaurant, cheeses, salads, cold cuts, sausages with tomato sauce, sweet and savory pastries. At lunch, besides the restaurant, the pool bar offered hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, pizza, and ice cream every day, all very tasty. Vegetables and fruit were abundant at every meal.||We read many reviews in multiple groups and on TripAdvisor, almost all of which were positive, so we went with high expectations. Maybe we’re just a particularly picky group (there’s a chance 🤣), but unfortunately, Palm Beach Resort did not impress us at all. Now that we are home, I feel like the previous reviews we read weren’t even about this hotel 😞.||In summary, I have very mixed feelings. What really saved the week was our group ❤️. For me personally, the issues I mentioned made the stay more of a disappointment. I hope this post helps someone make a future decision and gives a peek at the less pleasant aspects, as some things came as a cold shower for us 🫠.||Thanks for reading all the way through 🤣❤️. I’ll share a few nice photos anyway, because we tend to remember the good...

I have to admit that the hotel is a lot better after renovations but still here are few remarks about the hotel during my stay that ended today and lasted for 8 nights:(Reception is excellent)

1)Rooms: are in a better condition,electricity sockets must all be checked as well as shower heads , new nice Television but very small in relation to distance from bed,balcony door should resist better wind.

Housekeeping are good and clean.

2)Beach boys and pool boys are talking a lotttttt loudly during work causing noise,disturbance and breaking guests privacy and they don't like critics or when I told them to work without loud talks that lasted for more than 20 continuous minutes.

3. Animation team is a lot better than before,many shows are repeated during the same week.

Microbus for night outings with animation is horrible and in a bad condition. More outings at night will be nice as the discos outside the hotel are nice.

3)Laguna bar : nice with new music and light systems,still no DJ from 10 till midnight.

A good DJ will make people stay and happy till it closes. Waiters do that job and they are not suitable at all for this job. They also give you the impression that they want you to leave very early so they can go sleep ! They play Arabic music so they have fun,I told them to leave the English songs and they didn't do it although only 6 guests were there all foreigners..

4-Food : didn't try it at all but I think the hotel should advertise more about the type of food served daily.

5-Diving center: the representatives are terrible, they are talking always loudly,they are standing up in an unsuitable way everywhere and they are always looking to everyone in a strange way as if they are hunting not working like a gang.

6)Beach : good but needs a lot more windbreakers,more cleanliness of the sand everywhere.

7. Gardners keep talking daily very loudly in front of rooms around 7am and even before.

N.B: Nearly everyone(Egyptians) look at you when you are in your room or balcony and never respect privacy.

VIP disavantage :

Wi-Fi is not available for free all over the hotel,how come?Big shame.

Remark :

Managers are not showing,not firm enough ,they do not supervise enough daily the employees in Laguna bar and beach...