Sindbad Club — Hotel in Red Sea

Our stay at the sinBAD was disappointing to say the least. The hotel was "instagrammable" at a first glance but felt soulless, and lacked character. The check-in process was not great, as the hotel staff tried to push us to convert our two individual bookings into one and therefore share a family room as four adults/two couples. Whilst the majority of the staff worked hard and were polite, the experience was tarnished by relentless sales propositions from staff.

Whilst the public areas were cleaned to a reasonable standard, there were major concerns about the cleanliness in other aspects of the hotel. Many unsettling hygiene issues arose, including rotting fruit baskets left in the rooms upon arrival, what can only be described as fecal stains on the 6th floor hallway for days accompanied by the smell of sewage, and unsanitary drinking glasses and plates. Despite this, we were happy with the room itself. The balcony was a nice touch, making the room the highlight of our stay (which was a relief as we were forced to spend 7/10 days in our room, with food poisoning).

Whilst the facilities were generally well-maintained overall, the hotel was a bit dated, with staff constantly plastering different areas of the hotel and stained, dated furniture. The relaxed pool was ok, but the wave pool was obnoxious accompanied by overly loud music and, constant sales propositions. The beach area was a significant letdown, with dated facilities, detracting from what should have been a beautiful setting on the Red Sea coast.

The dining options were poor, and the food quickly became repetitive. We think breakfast deserves an honourable mention simply for how poor it was - to the point where we frequently saw people eating beef meatballs and mashed potatoes for breakfast (just don't bother). The desserts offered were very poor and the same every night, in a different shape, on a different plate, in a different place. Additionally, the food at the snack bar had poor quality and was very repetitive.

However, our biggest issue was the hygiene surrounding food preparation and service. We developed food poisoning within 3 days of the holiday, which didn't really ease up until the day before we left and we are still recovering from this. After witnessing how some of the chefs prepared food (no gloves, wiping hands on jacket and rolling pizza dough out against his chest, whilst flatbreads were frequently left out to be enjoyed by the local fly population), we were deeply concerned about the safety and cleanliness of the dining areas.

Entertainment was a massive letdown, with most guests seemingly miserable and bored. I have never been to a hotel were most people spend their nights sat by the pool loungers in the evening. The entertainment area was a large tent on the hotel grounds which was unbearably hot, and the “game zone” was embarassing, holding a handful of arcade games that wouldn't look out of place in a bowling alley.

The biggest disappointment of our all-inclusive package was the "alcohol". We spent the first two days drinking many cocktails (with very generous measures). Despite this, we did not feel even slightly tipsy. After researching the "brands" of the alcohol offered by the hotel (Bolanachi), we found that this brand contains ethanol that is used in antifreeze (this explains why it costs under £2 for a 2L bottle). Futhermore, the cleanliness of the glasses was shocking (as I received many glasses covered in scum). We witnessed Barmen reusing dirty cups, as they simply rinsed glasses and instantly poured a new drink in it and served it.

The hotel is in a decent location, however it is far from the Marina, and unless you have Uber, it's is very expensive to go there.

Also, Wi-Fi was advertised as available in all public areas (LIE). Speaking of lies, the hotel clearly offered DND flags but reception said they'd never heard of them (even though it's clearly stated in the welcome brochure).

We do not recommend this hotel, and If you have already booked to stay here,...

My family (2 adults and 2 children) stayed at Sindbad Club in February 2024. We did not make use of the submarine, diving classes or hotel booked excursions so I cannot comment on this. We previously visited Hurghada staying at the Hilton which felt far out.

Hotel/Rooms/Amenities: The beds are comfortable and there was a safe, a fridge and plenty of storage space. The AC worked well and there seemed to be good soundproofing. The room is spacious, for 3 people and a toddler we weren’t tripping over each other. The shower was good and the temperature was consistent. The room was cleaned every day and bedsheets changed every other day, it was also the same person cleaning it who was kind and we were happy to leave a tip. The main pool was big but was very cold, we preferred to stay in the baby pool with the kids as the sun warmed it a bit. The wave pool was even colder as was the kids pool. The pool near the slides was the coldest and I did not see anyone swim in it. The ocean was warmer. The entertainment was very good with movies and shows at night (Circus and fire were standouts) with lots of seating and an arcade.

Food: There are several inclusive places to eat with the main buffet, paid restraunts and smaller inclusive cafes. The buffet was great with a different theme every night, I think the deserts could have done with a bit more imagination as it was similar every night. The food was well presented with dressed plates and fun designs. I felt all the food was clean and cooked well, replaced often. The cafe by wave pool was good for ice cream. The mini buffet down at the beach was great with friendly staff, they were great with the kids and had a pizza bar as well as ice cream.

Service: I want to give a special and heartfelt thanks to the buffet restaurant manager. My niece (toddler) is Coeliac/allergic to gluten. He informed us of the process of getting food specially made for her (meat and vegetables) and when we were eating we just had to find him and ask for it. They were very generous with the portion and always seemed happy to bring the food. The restaurant staff in general were very friendly with the kids and gave them balloons. The one big negative that would stop me from staying here again is the poor WiFi, it is not fit for purpose and needs significant improvement. It did not work for me the entire time I was there which is a negative when our family needs to keep in touch with home and use the internet for medical matters. I spoke to a receptionist who was very rude, to the point I had to walk away from him because he was being ignorant. I had been told when checking in my email had been added to the wifi login, so I could use it to sign on in 15 mins. The next morning my travel partners was working but mine wasn’t, so I stopped by reception to check and received horrible service. After I had walked away, the next day he called me to come over to tell me he had a technical expert in, but as he was talking to the man he was saying in English “She was shouting at me and hitting me” and making a joke of it and laughing. These claims felt serious to me and he was making a joke of it. They were not able to fix the issue, and they sent some fizzy juice to the room and compensated a meal for my experience with the service. I would have preferred to have received kinder service from this individual, or even an apology instead of compensation. The main pool bar staff were also very rude, mocking my accent, I felt I did not want to get my drinks there. 99% of the staff were so friendly and accommodating but a few bad eggs did reduce my experience.

Location: It was close to the airport and there is a large street outside by the beach with a supermarket, some shops and a McDonalds. The beach was also stunning and there were fish in the water, good for snorkelling. The one negative is being so in the city I was eaten alive by mosquitos, although I’m the only one in my party who was bitten so if you have deet based protection you should be fine...

SCAMMERS Just got back from an awful experience at this hotel.

Initially we were not given a room with a balcony as we had paid for and when we spoke to guest services was just told "come back later". We managed to swap the room the following day.

If you have already booked then my advice is report everything wrong with your room. There were issues such as a broken TV, the bathroom in both our rooms flooded when the shower was on which housekeeping know about as they provide additional towels for this. Our fridge did not work and the sink couldn't be unplugged without getting underneath and fiddling around. We didn't report any of this as we didn't want to pick holes in everything and constantly be down the poor guest services complaining. This came back to bite us as we checked out.

We had left our bags in the luggage room as we had a late flight, when we returned to collect the bags 2 of them were missing. I was then asked to go into an office with a manager who accused us of breaking the TV and demanded we pay €450 for the damage. I provided evidence the TV was not working on our first day in the room as our son had sent a message asking what was wrong with it but this was dismissed and we were repeatedly told it was working as it had been quality checked, they provided little evidence of this and we were told "the cleaner said you broke it", how did the cleaner know this? We refused to pay and things escalated with several men coming into the office to intimidate us, they spoke mostly in arabic until the Tui rep asked them to speak in english but then still the manager would not address me directly and spoke to a colleague to relay the message even though i was sitting directly in front of him.

We were told we would not get our bags back unless we paid and our children were stopped from going outside by security. We continued to stand our ground but the hotel knew we had a pick up and Tui informed us they would not help if we missed the transfer, we were also told Tuis responsibility to help us ended when we checked out. We said to call the Police but knew they would not help us as there is very little love for tourists and the hotel then told us it would be long to get the police and we would miss our flight. Eventually we had to pay the amount as we had no choice even after paying I reitterated we did not break it and the manager then shrugged and said somebody had to pay for it. After reading other reviews and Facebook forums this seems a similar tactic by the hotel just to fleece their guests.

The only positives I can offer is that all staff outside of reception go over and above and are brilliant. I'd recommend giving tips as they work hard and very long days with no day off yet still manage a smile and a joke with guests. The aqua park was also a nice change from the beach but difficult to get a sunbed.

I await the response from the hotel which will no doubt say that all rooms are quality checked and the TV was definitely working. Of course it's impossible someone was rushing and may have not checked the TV yet still signed it off, humans don't cut corners or make mistakes after all. Yes we should've reported it but we weren't bothered about watching TV and we still feel that they would've told us it was working the day before and we'd have to pay. We were also told they knew the TV was broken within 10min of us checking out which seems very convienient.

We spent a lot of money on this holiday believing it would be luxurious but my overall feeling is that the hotel is dated and the food and drink were not to any of my families taste other than the a la carte restaurants which need to be booked at 7am, there are much nicer modern looking hotels in the area . On top of this we spent £300 in the spa and gave a significant sum in tips yet we were treated like criminals upon leaving and fleeced of even more money.

Absolutely disgusted by how they treat their customers who they have very little...