Holy Sheet Hostel — Hotel in Cairo

This is a decent hostel, but I have some reservations especially with the private tour they organized. This review is in contrast to many reviews that convinced me to go with them for a tour.

The hostel wifi does not reach all rooms. They said it’s a temporary issue but I had no wifi all stay in the private room. No discount offered after we mentioned this three times. It is quiet and safe. Good location. No safe in private room. Breakfast is good but coffee not great. Some juice would have been a nice touch. No locked luggage storage (only in lobby freely available). The bed was quite hard and the shower leaks onto the floor and I woke up from bed to step into a puddle…

We took a tour of Aswan and Luxor they organized. They try to grab you as soon as possible to ensure the tour is with them so if you don’t desire it you can be firm. Our pickup at Aswan was delayed due to an error of the hotel. They confirmed the time the night before and forgot to tell the company. The private tours (two of them) were not great however were at a good combined price. Constant commission stops. I would do it again and be clear that all stops must be ran by us in advance. We had to watch the map and tell them no when they went off course… Choose your own restaurants on the tour or you’ll eat overpriced food. They pushed four times to pick their restaurant and drove the wrong way to the one we wanted until we started giving directions. I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt but at one point I felt they were purposely misleading us and had to fully exit the vehicle which then followed us as we walked the final 100m to the restaurant... I get the impression these commission stops are somewhat mandatory but the Holy Sheet did not mention any of them. The guides certainly bill them as mandatory and pretend to not understand when you refuse…

Overall would look elsewhere next time but was happy the tour was a good price. Once I realized how to deal with the commission stops I enjoyed the tour but you need constant vigilance with their tour operators. They could warn guests in advance. It’s all what you pay for. Be realistic when saving money as I’m sure luxury hotels charge 3x the price. All of this information was provided to the hostel to give them a chance to respond however the message was ignored.

Hostel: 4...

The Holy Sheet Hostel has a great location and we felt we were very central in Cairo. The area is somewhat walkable but never feels safe and gives a whole new meaning to walk like an Egyptian. In the morning the streets are quiet but after 2 pm everything seems to get crazy!||||The staff are very friendly here. The breakfast was nothing special but it was a nice fresh meal with tea or coffee to start our day. Mario, Alex and the kitchen staff were helpful enough and always friendly to us.||||This is one of the cheaper places to stay in the area so we can't complain too much about it but we wish it was cleaner. We booked the twin room which had a bathroom inside of it. The beds had hair in them already and the room smelled a little bit from the drains. The AC did work well though and the room was very quiet all night which was nice. The toilet and shower are in the same box without a roof or fan so go #2 at your own risk. We chose to use the shared toilets in the hall which had fans.||||We were a little disappointed with the booking and check in process. We chose Trip for booking and it started three currencies in our booking but also showed we only had to pay 3100 Egyptian Pounds when we arrived for our three night stay based on the currency exchange when we booked. However, when we arrived they told us we booked through Expedia and had to pay 3600 Egyptian Pounds instead. We went back and forth for a bit but because it was late they were kind enough to check us in without paying because they could not reach their manager. The next day however I went to inquire and they said the manager said no and they tacked on another 300 Egyptian pounds to our check in because we were using a credit card. They did say that if we had used Booking or Hostel World we wouldn't have these issues. This has never been an issue in my 4 years using this booking platform so I'm disappointed in this hostel and their management team for this.||||The hostel is a little tricky to find but it is tucked down a street which is blocked off to cars and is on the 2nd floor of an older building. There is an elevator to get you up there but it is old style meaning that all the doors and gates have to be closed in order for it to operate. There are a ton of cats nearby and some good restaurants and...

First the good: people were extremely nice, easy going, no hustle at all, trying to help. Security 24/7 with someone in the reception all the time. Location was excellent – 10-12 min walk to the Egyptian Museum. Also – you are in the center of everything with all important stuff to do in Caro just a short distance away. Since this hostel is on a street closed to car traffic – it is relatively quiet for Cairo.|Now for not so good: It is important to keep in mind that Holy Sheet is a hostel not a hotel. When I saw pictures of their private rooms on Internet – they looked very good. Reality of course was different. Maybe it was a mistake for middle-aged travelers like us, to book 5 nights there. The place offers plenty of dorms and only a few rooms with bathrooms. We stayed in one of the rooms with bathroom in it. When I say: bathroom in it – that is literally what it means – they carved part of the room to make a bathroom, with glass partition walls going 2/3 to the ceiling. Needless to say – you can hear everything the other person is doing there. Throughout our stay, no one entered the room to clean it, or at least empty the bathroom wastebasket. The room had technical issues. After the second night it was impossible to keep the window shut - and this meant noise throughout the night. The doors to the room required acrobatics to open, after unlocking. The bathroom – which was raised above the main floor of the room (I guess to accommodate pipes) was leaking water and bathroom, and the room, would benefit from additional shelving and hooks. In hindsight – probably excellent place for backpackers to sleep on a cheap in Cairo in a dorm room. If you are a middle-aged traveler – do not get your hopes high regarding their private rooms. Pay more and get a better room somewhere else – or better yet – stay in Giza – get a hotel with a view of the pyramids – this is how we stayed at the beginning of this trip, and commute to downtown Cairo as needed using Uber (100 Egyptian pounds each way). This has nothing to do with Holy Sheet Hostel, and everything to do with the brutal pollution in downtown Cairo – where you have to fight for every breath. At least in Giza – wind from the desert blows the smog away – not to mention the view of...