Grand Agor Hotel — Hotel in Cairo

The hotel is located very close to Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum, and a few other old downtown highlights. While the outside of the building looks slightly dilapidated--clearly beyond the control of the hotel--the entrance to the hotel and the interior is nicely done and inviting. Staff are very kind, helpful, and welcoming. The rooms are spacious and have the essentials. In the dining area, complementary tea and water are on offer throughout the day. ||A few drawbacks: the street noise is very clearly heard from within the rooms (windows are not double paned), and Cairenes LOVE to honk for any and all reasons so you'll still feel very in touch with street life even within the hotel. Breakfast is rather mediocre: expect toast, hard boiled eggs, some jam, and a small cup of yoghurt, accompanied by tea or nescafe. The bedsheets are in serious need of updating (they are extremely rough and scratchy, making sleeping difficult). The bathrooms are an afterthought - just a corner in the room cordoned off by half-frosted glass, so it is recommended that you are very comfortable sharing all bodily functions with whomever you share the room. Despite a clear 'no smoking' sign at the front desk, staff still smoke in common areas (entry, dining area). We stayed in the room at the far end of the hallway (there are only six rooms) and could smell the smoke very clearly from inside our room with the door shut. When I went to pay for our room at checkout, one staff member sat directly in front of me smoking. I called him out on it, pointing at the 'no smoking' sign right in front of us, and he apologised profusely and moved away with his cigarette. I am 100% confident he resumed smoking inside as soon as we left. ||Some of the basics aren't looked after: the room we were given had no pillowcases on three of our four pillows, and only one towel. The rest of the linens were out at the cleaners, and since there was only one person on staff, we had to stand in for the staff at the front desk so they could run out and pick up the clean linen. Rooms don't come with soap, but we were given a bottle of liquid soap when we asked.||Early checkin is USD 25 on top of the regular room charge. The staff offered to arrange a car back to the airport on our departure, quoting a price double of what we paid to get from the airport to the hotel in the first place. It is recommended to just take an Uber instead (EGP 100-125, depending on traffic and time of day).||Overall, it's not a bad hotel, and the staff's kindness goes a long way to compensate for the weaknesses...

We arrived at the hotel around 10.30 am, too early for check-in. Luckily, our room-to-be had been vacated and the bathroom cleaned, so we could use it and head out for a walk. Thanks to Achmed and Mustafa for that. ||But I do not understand why they needed another two hours to get the room ready, when they did not even join the beds as we had requested a double bed at the time of booking or keep any towels when we returned close to 13:00. There were only hand/face towels kept, and even on the second day when we asked for bath towels, we got one, and were reluctantly asked, 'Do you need one more, I'll have to get it from the laundry.' Not being sure if he meant washed or unwashed laundry, we let it pass, lol.||The shower fluctuates between scalding hot and freezing cold, and the staff tried their best to get it to work but it didn't, even on the second day. Add to it the tiny glass enclosure which they call a bathroom, there's no room to escape the hot and cold water, I almost got burnt! The glass cubicle idea is very weird, the frosting on the glass could have been complete near the toilet area at least!||We stayed two nights, and were given two small bottles of water on the first day. When we asked on the second day, we were told it would be charged!||When you check-in to a room, the least you expect is a hot shower, towels and water to drink. Sadly these were missing. The Wifi didn't work either.||A special shout out to the lady in-charge of the cafe (I think her name is Ms. Wafa), she was very sweet and very efficient.||The room itself was furnished well, with a nice wardrobe ideal for long stays.||The two-rating is purely for the location and staff, and well the elevator! Grand Agor probably needs to decide if they want to be a hotel or a hostel. They are right now priced like a hotel with amenities like a hostel. There are much better cheaper places to stay in the downtown area, for once the Tripadvisor reviews did not match my experience, and I regret...

With the relentless chaos in Cairo, it’s important that you have a peaceful place to rest your head after a long day of exploring the city. ||The hotel itself is quite new, which is great as the staff are always looking for feedback. The double room was very spacious with a lovely looking bathroom - unfortunately the hot water wasn’t too consistent so the showers could have been better. The bed was very comfortable, and there was a TV bracket on the wall but no TV. Unfortunately the WiFi was experiencing some issues during our stay so we didn’t have a great connection. ||The hotel staff are just lovely; breakfast each morning was (as others have said) made with love, and the lovely lady would always offer us a tea or coffee when we were around. She really couldn’t do enough to take care of the guests and was one of our favourite parts of the hotel. ||The location is also great, and central enough that you can pop back to use the toilet/have a coffee/take a breather from the Cairo madness, at any point during the day. ||We arranged hotel pick up with the hotel after struggling to get in touch with them. If you do the same, make sure you go outside to meet your driver as only police are allowed inside the airport. Price was 25USD return which is very reasonable. ||If we visit Cairo again we would stay at the Grand Agor - definitely recommend it. ||The hotel also arranges tours for guests - we took one to the pyramids which was 20USD for both of us. Definitely do this. Avoid he public transport. Giza is hectic and stressful enough without waiting...