Golden hotel Cairo — Hotel in Cairo

Golden Hotel, in the perfect location in Downtown Cairo, consistently gave me better service than many $300+ USD per night, 5-star (in terms of full amenities, not rating) hotels have.||It’s one of those places where you are treated like family and leave feeling like the owner and staff members are part of your extended family.||Maybe the Golden isn’t for everyone. If you MUST have a property with 5 on-site restaurants, a cookie-cutter characterless room in an ugly hulking building with prices soaring near $200 (sky high for Cairo) – then book a chain hotel and drop well more than $2K for 10 day’s stay.||If you want to feel the vibe of the city, experience unique interiors, stay in a building with a façade worthy of the grandest arrondissement in Paris, talk to a wise owner who has stories about every corner of Egypt and benefit from a front desk manager so versed in hospitality that he will literally nurse you back to health – stay at Golden Hotel.||When I was researching the Golden online, I saw an average rating of 4+ of 5 stars and a lot of positive comments from people like me – who want a private room (not a youth hostel cot) but treasure the quirky.||Still, I was a little uneasy. The street looked very busy. The façade looked a little tired.|| There were shops in the ground floor part of the building – would they be blaring music that kept me up?||The reviews mentioned an odd mix of retail, storage rooms, old apartments and a few hotel rooms carved out of a charming old Belle Epoch building.||Would the elevator be running 24/7, would it work at all?||Would there be street noises?||Would things be grimy?||Would there be hot water?||If so, how could they do all of that for at roughly $30 USD per night – including full breakfast, maid service, taxes and airport pick-up?||Anyone reading this instantly knows this was my first trip to Cairo.||To answer my own questions.||All of the core of Cairo is noisy. Traffic is some of the worst on earth and drivers (don’t believe me, watch the movie Cairo Drive) have their own language of endless horn honking.||Shops also are known for cranking up Egyptian Pop to draw customers – in harmony (cacophony?) with blaring car stereos.||Thankfully, the shops underneath my room had zero music at any time of day.||The car horns, yes, you could hear them even through the tightly-shut door to my balcony, but after my first night, I got used to them. They are only slightly crazier than New York.||And on the plus side, the hotel workers and other guests were super quiet at night, so even a light sleeper like me was able to catch sound slumber.||Is it grimy? Well, a combination of sand from the desert, car pollution, street vendors cooking all sorts of food and dust cast off by more than 20 million Cairenes – yes, the city is blanked in a bit of grime – but I saw Golden Hotel workers mopping stairs, hallways and every inch of common areas at a pace that would put a Ritz Carlton to shame.||Admittedly, from the street, the Golden does not wow you. There’s a not so glamorous sign wedged among the retail shop’s signage, a narrow entrance and a flight of more than a dozen stairs to reach an ancient elevator.||I’m used to elevators being flush with the ground floor entrance. That way, people who use wheelchair, walkers and crutches can access upper floors without doing the steps.||Well, there must be 100, maybe 10 times that many, beautiful old downtown Cairo buildings with the odd setup of enter, do the stairs, then enter a quirky but beautiful old cage elevator.||This is the kind of lift that doesn’t work unless you close the door tightly. But it looked to be refurbished, so it had the best of both worlds – old world appearance but modern upgrades for safety and stability.||Warm water? Oh, the times I have stayed in North Africa when promised hot water was rumored but never experienced.||Golden Hotel has a hot water tank in each room. It didn’t run forever, but it was plenty for a long, steamy shower. Plus, it quickly replenished more hot water in less than an hour.||The bathroom was clean and efficient. My room was not large, but very high ceilings, old world elegance and a lovely balcony looking out over famous Talaat Harb street kept me from ever even remotely feeling claustrophobic.||The bed was super comfortable. It was just semi firm enough to rival the best beds I’ve slept on in major cities where the going rate was more than 10 times Golden’s.||There were plenty of outlets for recharging phone, camera, etc. – and super convenient night stands on each side.||A dorm-sized fridge ran whisper quiet and was perfect for stocking up at the corner store and chilling bottled water, soda, milk, leftovers, desserts. And you will want to drink from a bottle – one that you can tell has a seal that is not broken – Cairo tap water will give you the runs…even if you use it to rinse your toothbrush.||A very interesting contraption of wooden forms – almost like the old LP crates, for those of you old enough to have collected vinyl in college – made for an efficient way of story my clothes on hangers, suitcase up top, daily finds, medicines and much more.||There was a nice flat screen TV, but I really didn’t use it much. Better still was a remote-controlled AC unit…which also had heat, which I used more because I was there in the last month of winter and after midnight in the desert is chilly.||Breakfasts offered toast, butter, jam, yogurt, eggs, cheese, fruit and more – though I usually went for just a simple toast and...

Golden Hotel is right in the heart of downtown Cairo's action. A short walk to Tahir square, the museum and the metro. Be warned, downtown is noisy. And you take your life into your hands every time you cross the road.||||Staff were friendly and welcoming. The English spoken ranged from excellent to passable.||||Room was fairly small but cosy. The small bathroom was ok, just a sectioned off part of the room, hot water a bit patchy. No ventilation of it's own. There was a balcony, tv and fridge (not stocked with drinks as the booking site suggested.) The wifi did not work especially well, but I was later to discover that this was the best I'd find in any hotel in Egypt.||||They picked me up from the airport and also took me on a couple of other trips (Giza and Saqqara.)||||My only real issue with the place was the lack of breakfast. They said this was due to corona. I have tried to verify this but have not been able to. My booking on Hotels.com stated breakfast was included. They said they had tried to get this changed but had not managed to do so. I just just checked again now (stayed there a couple of weeks ago) and it still states breakfast is included. So I would suggest that they are not trying very hard. This basically constitutes false advertising. There was no restaurant either (booking site said there was.) The owner told me I could buy a cup of coffee if I wanted. I took this as a slap in the face, I had paid for breakfast and should have had a discount, let alone pay for coffee. Would I have stayed here had I realised there wasn't any breakfast? Probably not, it's a hassle going to find food before one starts one's day of site seeing. But I wasn't gonna move once I was there. I would check this out before booking.||||Aside from the breakfast issue, this is a...

This hotel exceeded my expectations. Before arriving for my trip, I emailed back and forth with the owner to discuss hotel pick up and guided tours during my stay. He was very friendly and responded promptly. This made me feel more comfortable upon my arrival.

When I finally got in (at 1:30am) a driver met me at the airport. Back at the hotel, the owner himself was there to welcome me. He helped orient me to the hotel and to the area. He arranged for me two tours: pyramid tour and a city tour.

Any time I had a question, the staff were always there to answer and help me out. They went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. We had many good conversations about the things I saw during my tours.

I was very appreciative that I could book my tours right at the hotel. Plus, they arranged everything for me! Water, driver, guide, entrance fees, etc. The tour guide I had was incredible! She was incredibly knowledgable in everything about Cairo and Egypt. We had many wonderful conversations. I felt safe with her and the driver.

Breakfast was included each morning. It included eggs, juice, yogurt, and fruit.

The room was small but very comfortable. It included a small balcony. I only wish it had a dresser or some place for me to unpack my clothes. But other than that, the shower was wonderful and the bed very comfortable.

I really cannot speak highly enough of this establishment. Everyone that works there really went out of their way to make my trip a memorable one. I wish that I could have stayed longer. I look forward to being able to go...