Hilton Cairo Zamalek Residences — Hotel in Geziret al Zamalik, Jazirat al Zamalik

We stayed at Cairo Hilton Zamalek Residence for ~1.5 months, and it was the most memorable stay ever. What truly made our stay memorable was the Hotel’s staff, who are incredibly friendly, helpful, professional, respectful, and kind. All staff members with no exception made every effort to make us feel at home. I would like to sincerely express my appreciation to all the Hilton Zamalek members for their generous hospitality and definitely recommend this hotel. I would definitely recommend Hilton Cairo Zamalek Residences! Special thanks and recognition to the following members in different departments for going above and beyond to make us feel welcomed, and treating us as family. us. Reception Management: @Mr. Tarek Emad did an awesome job facilitating the reservation team to ensure that we have a suite reserved for us for our second stay that was meticulously cleaned/sanitized prior to our arrival. @Mr.Ibraheem Shaltoot was always very personable, friendly and accommodating. He is also funny and always made my family and friends feel at home and were treated with high regards. @Mr.Amr El-Wakil was very helpful and professional every time I approached the reception. Reception Team: @Dina Ehab is my super hero who I truly admire for her great hospitality and naturally caring character; she made sure all my requests were addressed promptly, and she gladly gave us a tour of the Ambassador suite prior to moving in upon request, which was super nice of her. She was kind enough to make a courtesy call upon our return to the hotel a second time, and to check if we needed anything. Every Time she saw my son; she showered him with sweet compliments and had great conversations about how his day was going, making him feel like a million bucks. My first check in was with @Mustafa Saeed and check out was with Hazem Hisham; the check in and check out were super smooth. Both Mustafa and Hazem are amazingly hospitable and caring. They treated us as family and I consider them as my younger brothers. They always greeted us with huge sincere smiles every time we passed by the reception. They both made us feel special by calling the suite upon arrivals to check if we need anything. Dealing with @Ibrahem Gaber was a pleasure; he has a very calm demeanor and great professionalism. As I was at reception waiting for my turn; I witnessed an incident where another guest was a little over the board, and I was amazed by how he carried himself very professionally and remained calm and respectful. Restaurant: Special thanks to @Mr.Sameh Azmy and his entire team. @Mr.Mohamed Basiouny (Headwaiter (Morning)) who made our stay remarkable!! His warm greetings every time I walked into the Breeze restaurant enlightened my morning/ day and I never walked away unless he made me laugh out loud with his amazing sense of humor and jokes. He made sure that my morning Turkish coffee was done absolutely right by him or the staff. He was very attentive and hospitable to my friend who joined me for breakfast one day, which I truly appreciate. My high regards to @Hossam Ali (Headwaiter (Afternoon)) for always going over and above to suggest/recommend items on the menu. He meticulously helped with arranging for a celebratory family gathering and having a personalized cake with only a day's notice provided. Hossam was always there to make sure we had the best experience, hospitality and food. We always felt very well taken care of and provided with the highest quality customer service. @Sama Abou Al Hasan greeted us every morning with a beautiful smile and great hospitality, making sure that we are very well taken care of.

I would definitely recommend Hilton Cairo...

Most definitely not worth the price per night and no where near the standard of Hiltons in other countries. If you want the short version, don’t book here, they are simply using the Hilton name and Zamalek’s (the neighbourhood) notoriety to increase the price of rooms.

For my detailed review, read on.

There are positives to the hotel; the pool is large and clean, there is a wonderful and top rated café (Haven) attached to the hotel just next to the entrance, the beds were clean and comfortable, rooms were very spacious and quiet, and the ac (at least in our suite) worked wonderfully.

Now for the issues. If booking, don’t be impressed by the title ‘ambassador suite’ because every floor past 13 contains ambassador or presidential suites. The rooms appear to have been furnished in the 80s and never updated. I’ve travelled widely and understand that customer service standards vary from country to country, but the staff at the Hilton are lacking compared to the other establishments I visited in Cairo. There is a lack of communication at every turn, from employee to guest, employee to employee, and manager to employee. Essentially it makes the simplest tasks difficult and timely. It took the staff at reception over five hours and three separate requests to get our party of six more than the two bath towels that were in our rooms when we arrived. Many staff seem trained to help you with a task once you’ve nearly finished doing it yourself. And make sure to watch your plate and drinks when servers come by because they may try to clear your dishes when you aren’t finished without asking if you’re done. And best to ask to sign the bill when you’ve ordered from the ‘Nile Breeze Restaurant’ when you’re done, because even after they cleared our plates, dropped a final drink off, and we sat there for another hour they didn’t think we might be finished and want the bill. Overall the staff are inattentive. The food is decent and well priced off the menu, but be warned the breakfast buffet is a wide selection of poorly imitated American/European food. I understand many westerners expect or even prefer western food when travelling, especially from a western hotel chain, but I myself travel to different countries to experience that country. It would be a vast improvement if they allowed the chefs to cook Egyptian dishes they are familiar with and can execute well. Then maybe add a small selection of simple western options for those who prefer to play it safe.

Overall, not worth the price. The positives start and end with the building itself. Save your money and patience and pick somewhere...

We booked three rooms on two different credit cards. Our flight was due to land at 11:58pm June 12th. However, our flight was delayed and we had to get on the next flight, which would land at 11:58pm on June 13th instead. We called the hotel and spoke to the night manager Tamer and explained the situation so that they wouldn’t cancel our reservation. We even said to go ahead and charge us for the 1st night. One of the guests that was traveling separately made it to the hotel the night we were supposed to, but her name was not on the reservation. We asked the manager if he could let her in the room and he agreed as long as we sent an email confirming it was ok. We did that and spoke nemeruous times throughout the night to ensure all was well. The next morning, our friend was informed by that same manager that she will need to check out and that he had canceled all three reserved rooms! He said, the Credit Card on file weren’t valid and the original party weren’t there to check in on time. I called and spoke to the manager personally and asked if there was ANY issue, why didn’t you inform the guest that was there or try calling/emailing us to try and resolve it prior to canceling our reservations? He said basically “rules are rules, just rebook it.” The problem was, the rate was now $459 a night and of course he said he will not honor the previous rate. So here we are, the day we are supposed to arrive with no hotel! I tried reaching out to the hotel directly and through customer service. All I got was an email from the night manager with no empathy or promise ensuring that this this will never happen again. He kept blaming it in the credit cards but not taking any responsibility in how he handled the situation. First off, the GM should be the only one addressing the issue, not the person that caused this whole situation to blow up. I was hurt and upset that we got treated this way. Especially since we stay with Hilton so often and NEVER experienced bad service. My hopes is that they would have made this right but I feel like we got brushed to the side. Customer Service informed me to reach out to the owner...