velvet hotel 1928 — Hotel in Cairo

The choice for this hotel was because of the good reviews I found on TripAdvisor. I did see a bad review, overlooked it and deeply regretted it. Booked via booking.com. The room I booked was definitely not the room given to me. I saw online a huge spacious room with plenty of sunlight and a balcony. Upon arrival I was given a shoddy room, window never opened and it was on ground floor, right outside of reception, no light. I was tired from the flight and desperately needed to sleep but couldn't because of the cats meowing in the hotel, lift door banging all night, receptionist had local visitors and were laughing and joking and playing music loud. I complained to them but was told if I wanted a balcony room to pay extra and all were fully booked (which was a lie) until the next day. They did manage to stop the reception party. However, I was told by the manager if I wanted a quiet nights sleep to book the hilton or fairmount!!!! The next day, I changed rooms, and the girl receptionist Armani, kept demanding the extra 40 dollars!!! . Unfortunately I booked for 6 nights, and was unable to change hotels due to high season. ||So the room was very spacious upstairs, lots of light. However, it was Dec and freezing cold and their fan heater on wall didn't work despite asking them twice, Yusuf came to check it, told me it should be fine, but kept blowing out cold air. They don't like to fix anything, just all sweet talk and no action. Second, there was no hot water. I love having a hot shower, and found the water temperature luke warm at best, and that only lasted for 10 mins. So within 10 mins, I had to bodyscrub, shampoo and condition my hair. The first time was a awful as I came out shivering from a cold shower. Their excuse was the water is fine, we've fixed it, without actually doing anything. My last 2 days, I was blessed as I got hot running water, unlimited time because I saw another GUEST go red in the face yell at the reception telling them he" NEEDS HOT WATER NOW. FIX IT. MY SONS NEED TO SHOWER". That's when they decided to increase the boiler temperature at the mains and that's wen it occurred to me they were deliberately not giving guests hot water in order to keep their costs down. Really really pathetic! The same guest also yelled at them for keeping the common area so dirty. There were dirty mugs, spoons, spilt milk and cat hairs on the sofa. ||Also, the mattress and duvet was so old, it had bugs in. Each morning I was covered in red spots from the bites of bed bugs. I was so so upset, when I complained to Armani (the receptionist), she simply laughed it off and showed me her cheek with a spot on and said she gets the same, don't worry about it. I was mortified. I couldn't wait to leave. Like it's ok, it's the norm. ||||Breakfast was OK. Never served on time, and many guests complained, but the hotel didn't care. There's no concept of customer care, time keeping, efficiency, helping guests to resolve their complaints. THIS CONCEPT IS LITERALLY NON EXISTANT. These Egyptians believe they know best, and think of us westerners as idiots! ||||A few guests complained to me at breakfast saying its got good reviews, but the guest service standards are an absolute shambles. Another family said they don't bother with breakfast because they found it unpleasant and unhygienic. ||||On the last day, I was all packed, ready to leave, just performing my noon prayers when Armani began knocking the door NON STOP, literally. I couldn't even focus on the prayer as the knocking continues for five minutes, disturbing me. This girl has no sense or logic, let alone customer service. She's so rude, disrespectful and demanding. She has no compassion for guests nor does she listen to any complaints unless she's shouted at. How on earth she's employed in this field is beyond me.||||Rooms are not cleaned, unless you request it. ||||Please stay clear of this unhygienic. filthy, bad attitude staff hotel. Take your business elsewhere. It's really not...

We were unable to book a hotel before arriving in Cairo due to lack of internet. We were therefore desperate for somewhere to stay. The only good thing about Velvet hotel was that they had a room available!

The entrance should have warned us to steer clear but we were very tired and worried about not finding anywhere. The stair carpet was filthy and not fixed on the marble steps so care was needed to climb the stairs.

The room was dirty. One of the curtains was in a heap on the floor. The bathroom had a permanent flood due to a faulty toilet. This made the tiled floor slippery. There were no towels but one (for 2 people) was finally brought. It was damp and we were told this was because it had come out of the wash….? ??

We were also given small shampoo tubes etc. they were dirty and looked as if they had been used by others.

The chandelier only had one lightbulb working.

We were told breakfast was from 9am but we had to leave before this to catch a train. As we left at 8am we were offered breakfast but by then it was too late.

For all of this we were charged EL900. If I had had more time I would have asked for a refund.

It is very centrally located but because of the street below is noisy. It did quieten during the night and to be fair we slept well.

Avoid...

There were hairs on sheets and floor, dirty towels and with holes, stains on the duvet cover, bed headboard with red stains and dirty, dirty cutlery, stool and chairs are broken and dirty .... Just the opposite of something comfortable and clean.||Ah! And the bathroom has not a regular ceiling, it is open.||We booked it for 2 nights, the first night we arrived at midnight so we didn't see the whole picture but when we woke up the following day and saw how it really is, we decided to leave it immediately.||Obviously, we requested to talk to the manager and walk the room with him, but he neither picked up the phone nor showed up after 2 hrs waiting for him to react.||The staff is very nice and comprehensive, but they are hands-tied because they can't do anything without the OK from the manager. They are sick and tired to cope with angry clients who complain about the same lack of cleanliness that I'm doing here.||This event ruined my last day in Cairo and forced me to waste precious time looking for another accommodation for my last...