Mövenpick Waterpark Resort & Spa Soma Bay — Hotel in Red Sea

We spent a week’s holiday at this hotel in Hurghada. At first glance, the hotel looks modern and well-maintained. The beach and sea were beautiful and without any issues. The animation team was fine and provided basic entertainment for guests.||A special thank you goes to Supervisor Ahmed Ali, who took excellent care of us throughout our stay. We could turn to him with anything, and he was always willing to help. One day I cut myself, and Ahmed immediately ran to get disinfectant, cleaned the wound, and made sure everything was okay. He is truly a man in the right place, and we are very glad he is part of the hotel team.||Room and housekeeping|The rooms were clean, and after each cleaning, everything was spotless and replenished – no complaints here. Housekeeping took place roughly every two days; even if you didn’t need it, the staff would insist, and you should expect to give a tip. The mattress and pillows were comfortable, but the air conditioning felt weak. Outside noise was well muffled, and music from outside could not be heard.||Check-in and first day|Unfortunately, check-in was a disaster. The staff knew we would arrive at 6:00 AM, yet we didn’t get our room until 2:00 PM. While we understand that check-out is at noon, the whole room allocation process felt chaotic. For example, we heard from other guests that a family of four had been given a room for only three people. The staff seemed willing to help, but I’m not sure if the situations were always solvable.||We also had a problem with food on arrival – although breakfast was being served, we weren’t allowed in. We had to wait until the snack bar opened at 10:30 AM. Strangely, some guests who arrived after us (around 7:00 AM) were allowed to go for breakfast. At reception, we were told we didn’t have our wristbands yet, but they couldn’t give them to us before 10:30. This explanation made no sense and was never logically clarified.||Pools and beach|The beach was clean and pleasant. Unfortunately, the pools are far too small for the hotel’s capacity, and there are far too few sunbeds. Pool rules and safety guidelines are not enforced. The toilets by the pool were in poor condition, smelling strongly of urine and generally neglected. Occasionally, debris could be seen floating in the water.||Dining|The food was repetitive and often bland. For example, the scrambled eggs at breakfast seemed watered down. Due to a lack of seating, you had to come either right at the start or at the very end of meal service; otherwise, you would face long queues and a struggle to find a seat. Part of the restaurant is advertised as an adults-only section, but families with young children were still seated there, disturbing the peace.||Bars and drinks|I appreciate that the hotel doesn’t rely solely on disposable plastic cups – they use reusable ones that are washed. On the downside, they run out of ice very early in the day, which is a major issue when temperatures reach 46°C. Water dispensers are available so you can refill your own bottle, which is great in theory, but the water is warm or lukewarm, so it’s not refreshing.||Service|Most waiters seemed unfriendly and rarely greeted guests, with the exception of one pleasant waiter. They offer to bring you drinks, but carbonated drinks, beer, and wine can only be served by the waiters – you can’t pour them yourself. Unfortunately, drinks often arrive 20 minutes later, by which time most guests have already finished their meal.||Other services and entertainment|Wi-Fi worked fairly well, with occasional short interruptions. Additional services like the spa and excursions were available, but vendors approached us every 2–3 hours with the same offers, which became tiring. The entertainment program was fine, but never started on time – always at least 30 minutes late.||Summary|The hotel has great potential thanks to its modern look, nice beach, and an outstanding supervisor, Ahmed Ali. Unfortunately, organisational chaos, weak air conditioning, issues at check-in, repetitive and bland food, and shortcomings at the bars spoil the overall impression. For the price we paid, I expected a higher level of comfort, so we don’t plan...

As an American who frequents the all-inclusive 5-star resorts in Mexico, I can say with confidence that the Movenpick Soma Bay is neither a 5-star or all-inclusive resort. I will list the issues below that make this a 3 star resort.

Check in: we waited for over an hour to check in, we were not greeted with smiling faces or a refreshing drink. We never received an overview of the resort or it’s amenities. We were never told about the restaurants, dining hours or reservation requirements.

Rooms: The rooms are old and in bad shape due to water damage and lack of maintenance. It took 3 calls to the front desk until they brought the extra mattress for the sofa bed. The mattresses (old spring style( are worn out and need replacement. The plumbing in shower had issues, causing water to get all over the bathroom floor. Our room did not have towels at first and took 2 calls to get them.

Service: there is a general lack of service, especially around the pools and beach where you will find it impossible to get service. There was no waitstaff to be found. This was really frustrating and disappointing. We also found there was no wait staff in the evening to serve coffee or tea. I was also upset that there is different prices for foreigners for the extra services. More on that later. As a foreigner, another frustrating thing was that the bar waitstaff did not respond on first come first serve. People would barge in and make demands and the wait staff would serve them before the customers who were patiently waiting.

Food: due to the size of our party, we were unable to eat in any of the specialty restaurants and only ate in the buffet. Additionally the requirements to make reservations are quite restrictive. You have to make them the day before between 1-4pm or something like that. Honestly, I though the food at the buffet was good but others in our party did not think there was enough variety. My biggest complaint was the drink stations. All the glasses were very small, making it difficult to stay hydrated (seriously). There was a single small cart with soft drinks but an extremely long line and again, you only get a small cup.

Pool: The main pool is not enjoyable. The “bar” served soft drinks and basic juice only. You were not allowed to drink them anywhere but the bar. The life guides were constantly blowing their whistles at very minor things and became quite annoying. The water was surprisingly cold. Again, no service available around the pool. If you look at the satellite images, you might think this resort had a lazy river. No, this is just for looks.

Beach: the beach itself is great and the water wonderful. Unfortunately no service on the beach, requiring a long walk back to the beach bar for only a very small cup.

Water Park: this is probably the best part of this resort but the management made it a disappointing experience. The water slides are fun and the kids had a great time. The hours of operation are very limited though (11am-1pm and 3-5pm). This makes little sense. Why?

Extra Services: this resort is NOT all-inclusive. Many of the services cost extra to our surprise and cost more for foreigners than Egyptians (our party was a mix). Ice cream cost extra, fresh brewed coffee is extra, popcorn is extra, and even the “all-inclusive” cocktail list is extra!

I cannot recommend this resort as long as it’s classified as 5-star because that is extremely deceptive and only leads to disappointment and...

Huge disappointment.

The food was dreadful, low quality. Al.'a carte restaurants of poor quality. The service was sometimes unpleasant and rude Hotel was beautiful. Private beach where there is always free sunbeds Rooms comfortable and air-conditioned On the last day of stay at 12 o'clock there is check-out and loss of all-inclusive

We flew the whole family (4 people) from a Polish travel agency for a week's holiday in Egypt to the hotel Mövenpick Waterpark Resort & Spa Soma Bay located about 45km from the centre of Hurghada. We were at the hotel a couple of hours after midnight, but the rooms were already waiting for us.

Alcohol, drinks and beverages in the hotel. Very small selection of soft drinks, if you wanted something extra it is charged extra. The bartenders can't make drinks, either there is too much alcohol or not enough in them. Drinks to choose from are also not plentiful. Beer doesn't feel like it has any percentages, you drink a few beers on the beach and you don't feel anything. Vodka tastes like someone mixed it half and half with water. It is also worth mentioning the limits on alcohol, the bartender told me that he could not give me more than one shot of vodka per person

Beach The beach is right next to the hotel, towels are provided at the entrance. There are showers, bathrooms and a bar at the beach, which is a big plus. Many sun lounge, we never had a problem finding a spot, however, some of the sun lounges were damaged and cracked The beach is always clean. But, nn the other hand, a very big minus is that the beach is only open until sunset (around 7pm).

Swimming pools It is large,, lots of sun loungers by the pool, towels are also provided by the pool. There is also a bar by the pool. The pool closes at a similar time to the beach

Aqua Park We've only been to the Aqua Park once so it's difficult to comment on it, but there are plenty of slides.

Gym There is a gym in the hotel but it is very small. It is difficult to do a full workout. There is not even one barbells to do a squat or a deadlift. But it is a gym in the hotel at holiday time, so im not gonna complain that much. The guy manning the gym (a large one) was very unpleasant, he like he owned the place. The other guy manning the gym came up to me and asked if I liked the gym, then took my phone and started giving 5 star reviews of the hotels, and when I told him I would give a review on arrival every so often during my stay he pressured me to give a review, which I did not like very much.

Animators : The animation team is very annoying, I was lying down relaxing at the beach and they come up to you, chat and I would say encourage you but it is more like discouraging you from taking part in activities.

Service : I have already said a bit about the service. It is difficult to say, some are nice, others not so much. However, it often happens that someone from the staff comes to you while you are lying by the pool or on the beach and asks you whether you like the hotel, when you answer „yes” he takes your phone, writes 5 stars everywhere and asks you to give him an opinion. So beware of those 5 star reviews because they can be fake. In my case this situation happened twice, once at the gym and...