JAZ Tamerina, Almaza Bay — Hotel in Matruh

Overall our stay was great, however it’s important to acknowledge that the most of the stars are for the beach and the sea - it really does look like the pictures. If you don’t come here for the luxury and don’t expect much from the service you won’t be disappointed. Unfortunately, bear in mind that it’s a 4star hotel, not 5, as advertised. We’ve been to Egypt several times, therefore we were ready for not so “gastronomic” experience - you won’t starve to death during your stay, but the quality and taste of the food isn’t very good but there’s always something you can pick. The “snacks” are very poor in terms of variety of options and also the amount - there are snack times in the pool bar, and the beach bar and everyday (in both places) you get pizza, fries, some fried fish, very few vegetables and fruits and cakes. Also the beach bar has very poor service - slow, unwilling staff, poor quality of drinks. I would recommend getting your drinks at the pool bar, where the service and quality is much better, especially the bartender Mohammed does everything for you to enjoy your stay. You cannot take the glasses from pool to beach (only if you’re willing to bring them back), but he is willing to pour your drink to your bottle which is nice! The beach itself is wonderful, what spoils the experience are the guests - most of them come early in the morning to “secure” the seats and if you come later sometimes it’s hard to find a place (however we found one each time), the beach was otherwise empty for the whole afternoon - apart from towels on the sunbeds… The walk to the beach is nothing horrible (like some reviews complain), it’s approx. 5 minutes (max) through nice hotel surroundings, or you can take golf car (which we didn’t need). In many other resorts around the world, advertised as beachfront, the walk from the room was much longer. What we especially didn’t like was the cleaning service. The room had dirty floor when we came, and wasn’t cleaned properly through the whole stay. I don’t think that towels or sheets were changed at all the whole week, just folded. And after a week putting up with the staff’s obsession with beach towels (mostly the need to change them for “clean” everyday), I have a huge concern that they were not washing them, only changing them between other guests - not once did the “clean” towel stink and had stains. The cleaning staff was very polite however for me very annoying (he was always doing something in the hallway). It’s also important to mention not to expect much activities or shows, it’s pretty boring and calm - which was great for us. Aware of all the negatives, I would still recommend it and surely come back for relax and beautiful beach or try other Jaz hotel...

I stayed here for 14 days and I enjoyed it very very much. At first I was scared as to what I will come to (everyone always says that when you see a hotel in Egypt in pictures it's worse when you actually come to the hotel), but in this case it was, if not better than pictured then the same. The room was clean, the AC was working, the room smelled wonderfully, and the bed was very cosy. The food was AMAZING! Here I have to write a lot of praise for the main kitchen chef, and all the kitchen staff on the food they served us. The variety of food was good, the desserts were amazing, there was always yummy fruit. I gained a couple of kilos during my stay. The staff in the hotel was great, and we loved them! Always smiling, always at our service, ready to help us and serve us with a big smile. Always ready to have a little chat and make our stay even more pleasant. We loved our house-keeping guy Mohammed, he was very nice, and sweet. The hotel itself is not very big and thats also a great thing since nothing is ever crowded. There's always tables in the restaurant, the pool is always empty or there's 5-10 people by the pool, there's always deck chairs at the beach so you don't have to get up early to get a deck chair. The beach is also really close even though the hotel is not directly on it. It took us a 3-5 minute walk to get to the beach (we were worried that the beach would be too far since there's one more hotel in front of Tamerina that is right on the beach, but that really wasn't a big deal in the end).

Of course this is not a fairytale and there are (as everywhere) some minor minuses: you don't have the Wi-Fi in the room (but that's also clearly stated in the hotel prospect, so we already knew that when we came and it didn't bother us), one day there was a strong sewer stench throughout the hallways and once during our stay the hotel lost all power (but that was solved in about 10 minutes and it was fun to just sit there by the pool in complete darkness and look at the stars). I would maybe say that parasols are a bit smaller than optimal and two people can tightly fit under the shade which is important when you are a pale skinned tourist in Egypt (haha).

In conclusion I would gladly recommend this hotel to all my friends that would like to vacation in Egypt and hopefully one day come back to Almaza Bay and Jaz...

2-star motel disguised as a 5-star hotel

To say that our stay at Jaz Tamerina was disappointing is an understatement.

Here it goes:

On the outside, this looked like a beautiful 5-star hotel, with nice pools, and access to one of the most gorgeous beaches on the North Coast. On the inside, however, this is a 2-star hotel (at most), with subpar customer service, and lacking in some of the most basic amenities.

To start, the staff’s professionalism and common courtesy, or lack-thereof, was simply horrendous. Rarely will you be greeted, if at least with a smile, when you encounter 90% of the staff. For example, we went to the pool 3 out of the 4 days we were there, and only once were we greeted by one of the staff members and offered towels. Every other time, they rarely bothered to make eye contact. Even worse, keep a keen eye on your children, because the so-called lifeguards, will be shamelessly on their phones the entire day!

In another example, we witnessed one of the housekeepers, was smoking while cleaning one of the rooms. There were countless other disappointing experiences. It was just simply evident that the staff, including the managers, are completely unqualified to be in the service industry, let alone in a “5-star hotel.” They just don’t have training, and they don’t seem to care or be bothered by it one bit.

As for the amenities, if you’re staying in the room with more than one guest, take quick showers, because the hot water WILL RUN OUT after about 5-7 minutes.

Cherry-on-top - there was no Wi-Fi in the rooms! You read that correctly. In a 5-star hotel, in the 21st century, does not have Wi-Fi in the rooms.

These were just a few of the lowlights. The fact that you’ll likely be paying $300 - $500 night, per room, given the above, is an absolute joke. There is no value-for-money here whatsoever.

So, do yourself and your wallet a huge favor, and consider renting one of the chalets in the resort for a fraction of the price, rather than paying a premium for the non-existent services or amenities that you expect to come with a hotel. It is not even close. You will still have access to the beach, and for an extra nominal fee, you can get access to the pools in the surrounding hotels as well....