Heritage Hostel cairo — Hotel in Cairo

In a nutshell: The best option for those who wants a centrically located property with ridiculously affordable prices & the friendliest service in Cairo.

THE GOOD When you arrive in a country like Egypt, without planning, finding last minute accommodations to fit a limited budget certainly put a good dose of stress in any traveler. That being luck, fate or whatever you want to call it when you find a B&B that is next to The Egyptian Museum that can accommodate you for 4 nights and way below the average price one can only say THANK YOU GOD. Of course, this was the 4th place I’ve booked since arriving to Cairo so I have a good point of reference to compare.

THE BAD I’m thinking hard here, as I’m trying to be as fair as possible. OK, being next a high traffic road can be noisy if you want to sleep but nothing that can’t be solved sleeping with whitenoise sounds… if is an issue at all. Although Cairo doesn’t get as cold as New York City, it is quite chilly with the wind and since they’ve got the habit of leaving the lobby door open so one must always wear a jacket inside.

THE BEST Every single employee has delivered exceptional customer service! Not all speak English but great manners and warm, friendly disposition goes beyond language barriers. The breakfast is neatly served and for Vegans they’ve got us covered with options other than plain bread and tea! Allow yourself to hang out in the lobby and you’ll make a new friend or two, if you are a traveler that enjoy socializing you will find an array of interesting people if nothing a great talk before or after you’re done doing touristy stuff. The rooms are always kept clean, and the bed comfortable enough to fall sleep in seconds!

HOT water!!! At all times. Even places classified as hotel, like the first one I stayed at Heliopolis, either the water never gets actually hot (which is critical because most properties in Cairo do not have heating system) or if it does it last for a very brief time making the experience painful… but not here. Another perk I didn’t knew until recently, is that normally they can exchange money for you, but it would also depend at what time of the day. If you need to take a tour within Egypt or travel to another country, they can also help you with that, they got all services covered and ALWAYS with a smile. They are very accommodating, I witnessed a couple that already checked out, asking for something to eat (outside breakfast hours) and they got them something to eat, you don’t see that anywhere. If I could give this amazing property 20 starts I would because they deserve that and more. Thank You for such a great time...

I DON’T RECOMMAND THIS HOSTEL AT ALL !!

The staff specially the owner is not a nice person (racist and discriminant and stingy )

I did world tour and travel to several countries, took more than 100 of different hostel and it is the first time it happen to me this bad treatment.

I came in 16th December on Cairo and had any hostel booked !!

So this hostel had a bed available for the same day 16/12, so i have been directly to be sure there is availability, first the guy at reception ( i think is name mohamed) was normal and when i show him the Price on hostelworld ( less than 8€) he became rude and say so book on hostelworld directly but with this price you have no breaksfast … i said ok no problem.

Then he said so u have to pay 7 dollars, i said no it is written i have to pay 6,79 dollars, it is not same … he was hungry and start to say i will cancel your booking … I said it is not nice i am so tired etc. After he said book for today but tomorrow i will not accept that you book another night here … i don’t understand why he was so mean ..

The story it is just because on booking the price was 11 € and in hostelworld like 8€ So he was not happy, he wanted me to pay more, like in booking …

But i don’t understand why he use the plateforme hostelworld if he don’t want to align with the price … it is not normal.

Then he talk to me so cold and bad, like ask for fridge or else .. don’t want to help , he treated me so badly and didn’t feel well in this hostel .. + other staff not really friendly..

Then i saw him joking with other guest , i see the difference of treatment

Next morning i check my booking and saw that the breakfast was included because there was two price, 1 with breakfast the other no but i booked with breakfast

So i have been to reception and show him that breakfast is also included

After still unpleasant he said « oh it will be a light breakfast, u will only have a light breakfast » …

I don’t understand why he treat me like that like a get the room for free ?!!

I paid like other customers and he did discrimination, and bring me a breakfast totally different from all others customers … in this moment i felt really so bad !! How can you be so mean and stingy ?! And just for food it is so ridiculous !

I really asked myself if he treated me like that because i was arabic apparence ..

Really get a bad...

Don't trust Khalid. He acted very friendly with me until I trusted him to sell me a tour of the city. 60€ (for 2). I tell him I'm not interested because I'm used to doing everything myself. He argues on and on that it's a great deal and that I won't have to worry about anything for the whole day, even the launch is included. I'm tired, I want to trust him and give him the benefit of the doubt. After paying, he now tell me the tickets are not included. I therefore understand I've been scammed but tries to stay positive, hoping the service will be extraordinary and the launch exceptional. Of course, I just got a non-english speaking driver in a beat down car, always pushing me to visit faster. And again of course, the traditional Egyptian launch was good, but not worth the 60€ tour. The meal (no meat) probably cost less than 1€ and I had to pay myself my coca cola (0.4€) because drinks weren't included. I told my experience to the other people in charge the hotel and they couldn't care less. After 8 more days of visiting Egypt, I now understand that this kind of scam is socially accepted by Egyptians.. Really scary for a country that much dependant on tourism.

To answer the hotel's reply: Yes the tour was ok and the places I visited were nice. I was only complaining about the lies I've been told, the breach of trust from Khalid, and the insane price I paid. I came back to the same hotel precisely because I was hoping I could get some kind of good-will compensation by talking about it to the other people working at the hotel. In a western hotel, Khalid behavior would have been considered serious misconduct (with probably serious consequence for him) and I would have been fully compensated with excuses from the manager. It didn't happen, hence my...