Premier Le Reve Hotel & Spa Adult Only — Hotel in Red Sea

We have just returned from a very relaxing, chilled week at the lovely Premier Le Reve. This was our 5th visit to Hurghada but our first stay at the PLR, and it is up there with the best hotels. I have listed some highlights, things to avoid and some must do's! Pools - Immaculately clean and well kept. There is one heated and 1 salt water that's a little more "fresh"on your bones! Beach - Again very well kept with great sun loungers and beds which are comfy. You cant snorkel straight off the beach, you have to go to the end of the jetty, on the left of the beach, and drop in there. Some good underwater wildlife there, but when facing the beach, there is also another jetty on the right, about a 5 minute walk down, which has bigger coral sections and more life to look at. Try them both if you have time. Restaurants: Turquoise - This is the main buffet restaurant and is one of the highest standards we have eaten in in our 20+ years of travelling. The food and service is of very high standard, and above what you normally get in an Ai resort. The Little Deli (Indian) - This was disappointing as we all felt the food was a little bland and flat. It didn't compare to others we have eaten at whilst staying at other resorts. Mandarin (Chinese) - Again, this was also bland and didn't live up to what we thought we would be getting at the a la' carte options. Bella (Italian) - This came after our indian & chinese first 2 nights and BOY did it deliver!! The food was fresh, tasty, flavoursome and beautifully presented - it was very very good and an absolute must! Mahmoud looked after us spectacularly - great bloke! Miyako (Tepenyaki) - This again was very good on our 4th night and restored what we expected from a la' carte visits. Not as good as Bella for us, but beautiful food, great to watch it be cooked of course, but so tasty with lots of options to choose from (There is an additional charge for this restaurant). Ossiano (Mediterranean) - Another A la' carte which was to the high level we now came to expect from PLR and its chefs. Gorgeous choices, freshly cooked in an open kitchen, with lots and lots of options! Again another i would say is a must visit! Society (High end cuisine) - There is a Extra charge for this top floor restaurant ($90 per head) with some great options and fantastic service. The food is beautiful, as is the presentation and flavours. The view from the main windows is brilliant and the restaurant decor is fresh and well laid out.

The staff are the real asset to this lovely hotel (99% of them). Friendly, helpful and they want to ensure you have the best visit possible. A few must mentions are for Melad (pool side waiter) who couldn't do enough for us and ensured we had our favourite drinks waiting when we arrived, came back from lunch and the last one before we left for the day. He is the epitome of customer service and how to look after your guests. Top class person as well. - Christina and Maria(guest relations)who again wanted to make sure you had the best stay possible. Fantastic help & service of them both. - There were others who really looked after us but we had a few unhelpful/awkward interactions with Hamman on the main reception desk. Just a little rude and arrogant - even stopped his colleague (Yousef) when he offered to help share his hotspot on his phone when the hotel WiFi went down. Just 1 word answers and seemed to not want to help - but he didn't spoil our stay, we just laughed about him.

I will do a separate review for the Spa and on site activity sellers, but here is a one line about each: Spa - Fantastic massages , facilities with brilliant staff. Dolphinhouse - Snorkelling company - If chasing dolphins, terrorising them, using other companies and their equally low morals to trap dolphins in a circle of wagons (boats), again scaring and causing the dolphins to cry out protecting their calf, then hand over your money and fund the owners and their "don't give a damn" attitude! We didnt use the quad bike company, but check on line and know your prices before you leave or...

Update,, Oct 23 Dress Code, definite improvement, Rooms, remain tired, Entertainment, service much better

Premier, The Reve, a hotel trying to stand out with a more upmarket approach, Adults only (not sure on minimum age, but clearly less than 18),. A little out of the way and low key entertainment (fine),definitely not for the sharm type party person, clearly younger people will this very quiet

Checking in great, could drink, cold towel, beautiful lobby area, lobby bar itself a bit dark, nice exec lounge (pay extra), not used very much in my 2 week observance,, waiter service in lobby area very good, drinks average for Egypt (pay extra for imported)

Hotel corridors carpeted so really quiet,, makes welcome change from the usual clatter, Standard room very good size, well appointed but mine in need of refreshing, water stains on walls from a previous leakage somewhere,, need very comfortable and good size,, pillows variable from medium to granite, bathroom great size with bath, shower, loop and bidet,, shower gels etc in small bottles, towels very good, bath robes and slippers, (do builders in Egypt have spirit levels, as most fitments at odd angles) not a functional problem but details can count,

balcony, small but usable

4 pools pretty well maintained and clean, one pool has high salt content (similar to dead sea) Sunbeds and towels from 7 am, usual problem of people reserving them and not showing up till much later in day, though impact of this was not too much, plenty of sun umbrellas

The entertainment team were not obtrusive and low key,,. 11,30 aqua gym being the most obvious, to which many took part

Hotel has one main buffet style restaurant, 3 a la carte, Chinese Italian and seafood included in package, all very good nice food well presented with good service Additionally it has a Japanese/tepanyaki and an Indian both at extra charge, not tried these but reported as very good Do not overlook the buffet, it has some real gems on offer,, watch out for the lamb, chicken and veg curries (which appears on a lunchtime), also the sweet and sour chicken,,. Beef goulash,,. Leg of veal

The hotel caters for quite a large number of Egyptian guests as well as English French and German, not a particular or overt problem but my wife as well as others had mentioned that some of the younger more orthodox Muslim women were best described as passive aggressive towards them at times,,.

The less good The hotel states it has a dress code,,,. Unfortunately like many other hotels it does not actually follow up on this,, particularly at lunchtimes, despite it being widely shown that beachwear,, wet should not be worn,. No one is challenged,, so be prepared for wet upholstered chairs, on the evenings long trousers for men, maybe,. Speaking to staff it is clear that are reluctant to challenge people for fear of upsetting guests,, so those who followed the code and ended up with wet clothes are simply collatoral damage,. The hotel needs to decide,. Dress code or not, choose your market

The pool bar, service round the pool during the day is great, cold towels, fruit salad, drinks, It reopens at 8 as this where the evening entertainment is held, also where it falls apart, additional chairs are placed for the audience, my advice on an evening is go to the bar yourself and not wait for the waiter As 1,, he will likely walk past you and tend to the Egyptian guests 2 he may take you order and it may be delivered 3 worst of all,, one drink i had delivered was I believe clearly the warm remnants of someone else's Coke mixed with water that had been left, no vodka, no ice (Why I think this,, is that apart from it being warm it was less than 2 mins from me ordering to recieving)

Would i go back ,, yes now i know the good and bad of this hotel,,. But this hotel needs to work out the client group it seeking to attract, and if it is looking for higher end then it needs to demonstrate this with good service at all times, clear policies than it is prepared to implement,,. Or not to pretend it is something other...

Arrival and Room: The staff at reception were very friendly and welcoming. We had booked a ‘side sea view’ room but we were given a deluxe room with a decent sized balcony which overlooked the garden. We weren’t disappointed because the room itself was perfect. The room had an ample sized bathroom with a bath and a separate walk in shower, a huge bed, a mini-bar which was top-up regularly, a seating area and plenty of space for storage. It was cleaned daily to a good standard by the lovely Mohammad and friends.

Food Main Restaurant (buffet): The food in the main buffet restaurant was good. There was ‘more than enough’ food to choose from. It was never too busy and the ambience was lovely. The waiters were always very pleasant and attentive. A special shout out to the lovely Ali and Ahmed. They always made us feel so welcome.

Other Restaurants: During our stay we visited the Indian, Italian, Oceanian, the Chinese and the Society Restaurants. All the restaurants were good apart from the Indian. The curries weren’t authentic enough for us. However the service was great. Our favourites were the Chinese and Italian. A special thanks to The Society who made an extra effort as it was our anniversary on the night we visited.

Entertainment: The live performances were good. A good mix of English, Arabic and other European music. We enjoyed the ‘quiz’ and the ‘acrobats’ nights. The entertainment didn’t start until 10pm and on some nights we gave this a miss as we were too tired to stay around.

Pools: On our first day we woke up super early to get a sun-bed but realised we didn’t need to do this. (Unless you want a particular spot, there is no rush to get the towels down.) Our favourite pool was the saltwater pool.

Bar Service (pool area): The bar staff were friendly. Someone would always come around the pool for drink orders. Compared to other hotels we’ve stayed at, this wasn’t as often as we hoped. Sometimes it was quicker to walk to the bar and get your own drinks. This wasn’t a problem. The bar staff were amazing. We don’t drink alcohol so we can’t comment on the quality of the alcohol but the mocktails were lovely. Thanks to the lovely Meky (Micky) and friends for the effort they put into making our non-alcoholic concoctions!

Spa: We had a Hamam and a couples massage. We had to haggle the price but got a good deal at the end. The hamam was ‘ok’ but I wouldn’t say it was good- I’ve had better. The massage on the other hand was great- very relaxing.

Wi-Fi: The Wi-Fi in our room and lobby was fantastic. In the restaurants it was hit and miss. Apart from that there wasn’t any! This was a huge disappointment for us. People had warned us about this but we didn’t realise how bad it was until we got there. We stuck to using our phones before we left our room and when we returned. However, on one occasion the hotel internet went down. When we enquired, we were told there was a problem with the internet in the whole of Hurghada that day so we ended up getting a SIM card with data. We continued to use this for the rest of our stay with no problems.

Hotel Ambience: There was a good mix of people from all backgrounds and cultures. Everyone was really friendly and enjoying themselves. The hotel had a good vibe.

Entertainment Team: A great group of youngsters! Full of fun and very hardworking. A shout out to the lovely Nouran and Abdul-Rehman (Buda Star) who were always making a conscious effort to get guests involved with hotel activities.

Beach/Sea: The beach was lovely. Lots of sun beds available and it was kept well. The sea was disappointing. We couldn’t just walk in due to the coral and the appearance of the seashore (outside the hotel) was a let down. However if you walked along the pier you could get into the sea and it was much nicer. The water was clear - not deep and the coral was full of life! We saw some lovely fish. There was a shark net in place and there were life guards present.

Would we return? YES - If we are in Hurghada again, we would opt for this hotel.

Would we recommend the...