This is not sunrise page — Hotel in Red Sea

Pros: The room was pretty decent and spacious, beds comfortable. Animation team was nice, engaging with guests at random occasions. It would have been good to have posters announcing the night’s entertainment program like other hotels have. The staff in the dining hall, bars and cleaners were friendly and doing their best.

Cons: Upon being dropped off by our shuttle, they didn’t have a room for us, not because it was too early, but because they didn’t even have one for us reserved for later that day. We waited and were promised a new room, but it seems we received an old one instead, no. 1057. Bathroom dated and didn’t match the room, there was a shower head above an old yellowed bathtub. We were also supposed to have a seaview room. The so-called seaview should have only been sold as a partial seaview, as there was a big tent (Bedouin's Cafe) dominating the view.

Also how we knew that we definitely didn’t get a new room was the increasing construction going on as the day of our departure approached. As the rooms started emptying around us, more and more renovations would start until we were the last occupants in our section. By the time they offered us to change the room, it would have been only for one night, which would have been quite a hassle to have to pack everything and move just for the night and take time our of our last day for this, so we declined this. However, staying meant listening to the noise around us (wasn’t too bad and not early in the morning) and enduring a lot of mess around our entrance. Neither scenario was unfortunately ideal. Had they offered us to change the room in advance we would have taken it, as I’m quite sure they know we would eventually be the only tenants in that particular part of the hotel. Eventually we would start using the sliding back door to leave the room, but still had to pass through this mess to get back inside.

Wifi was available only in the reception hall, and certain social media sites were excluded.

It was not possible to walk through neighboring beaches, like in Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi Bay, so it was abit like being in a zoo. There were even guards in booths watching to make sure no one passes between hotels in a similar way that the Eastern block borders were monitored in the past, which was uncomfortable.

Food was ok, nothing exquisite, but edible, vegetable side dishes and soups tasty. The fish was always full of bones, despite the sign saying ‘fish filet’. I think they missed the meaning of what it means to actually filet something. First time we tried the bread rolls they were completely hard and inedible. Later I went ahead and checked the others with a napkin in my hand, they were all the same which was very bizarre, almost like they were there for decorating purposes. Needless to say, we did not try those again.

We saw on many occasions local (Egyptian) hotel guests rudely cutting in lines and being quite wasteful and messy, this also was witnessed on the beach. Swimsuits are not not allowed in the reception and dining areas, however we saw many in burkinis during lunch, which was a bit strange and discriminatory, as these also officially count as swimwear, and I believe are the main reasons why the dining hall chairs and armrests all have a a nasty plastic cover.

There are no good snorkeling opportunities anywhere around the beach of this hotel, the marine life in this area is quite on the decline, most likely due to the garbage and messiness problems mentioned.

Travel agency announced on their site that from the 11.09 the main pool will be closed, which was fine by us, as we hardly use the pool anyway. However we didn’t expect the hideous construction site that would end up surrounding the pool, which completely ruined the look and walkability of this already pretty small resort. I understand the idea is to make improvements for the future, but for me this spoiled our last few days of the vacation, aside from the other construction mentioned above, and I would personally not go back because of the limited...

I'll start by saying that we've been clients of the Sunrise network for 6 years in a row (previously 4 years at Sunrise Royal Makadi and one year at Sunrise Remal Resort), and the affiliation of the hotel with this network was a sign of quality for us. Even during COVID, we took the risk and came here because we were confident in the quality of our vacation.

However, this year, for the first time, we felt disappointed with Sunrise. Their slogan "Welcome home," which used to inspire us to return here again and again, did not resonate with us this time. This Sunrise is not a home. At least, it's no longer our home.

So, in order: There is practically no internet in the hotel. Even at the reception, it's of terrible quality, and it's completely absent in the rooms. The rooms (we have two - one for adults, one for children) are clearly outdated, with poor plumbing and occasional issues like malfunctioning air conditioning or lock on the entrance door (we experienced both). The sea is like a puddle: I counted 325 steps from the water's edge to the buoys, and the water never reached above the waist. Clearly, there are no fish or corals here. Even with children, the sea is not very convenient. Obviously, with such a beach and sea, the main pool becomes the key entertainment and relaxation area.

However, today, when we still have 5 days of vacation ahead of us, we received an "A-5 format note" from the hotel management that this pool (and the entire central area of the property, including the pool bar and snack zone) will be closed for renovation tomorrow (!).

How is this possible with guests? Considering that there are only two pools here (the other being a small water park), we, with a 9-month-old baby, are essentially deprived of the opportunity to relax by the pool.

In other words, there was no information about the renovation, we booked a tour, arrived, spent half of our vacation here - and suddenly we find out that the pool no longer exists. Starting tomorrow!

The presence of a pool was a significant condition that influenced our choice of hotel. Look at the photos - they all somehow include that area that was closed for renovation! If we had known about this repair in advance, we would not have booked this hotel, and since the pool worked perfectly all the previous days, it's not a force majeure but a planned renovation. That is, the repair dates were known in advance, the management simply did not provide this information externally to avoid losing profits.

In such a case, a normal business, when booking rooms during renovations, should have informed customers, provided a significant discount, or relocated them to another hotel on-site.

We, of course, filed complaints at the reception. They promised to relocate us to another hotel. Only one - because there are no other available spaces... All of this took several hours, and in the end, they informed us that the room (not two as we paid for but one!) would be inferior, cramped, and with a view not of the sea/mountains but of the parking lot. If you want, you can move, and we will try to provide you with transportation...

We still have five days of vacation ahead of us, which we've been waiting for all year. We have three children, including a nine-month-old baby. We are long-time clients of the Sunrise network. We were prepared for anything, but not for this kind of treatment from the hotel management.

This situation is a vivid example of when a business thinks about itself rather than its customers, when every clerk wants to avoid difficult but correct decisions. And as a result, it loses loyal customers, its own reputation, and the reputation of the network. It's unfortunate that this happened...

We came as a family of 9 including 4 adults and 5 children ranging from 8 to 13.

The hotel itself has so much potential to be brilliant. The room was fairly modern and well presented. The bed and pillows were comfortable. The mini fridge was stocked with non alcoholic drinks and restocked as and when by the cleaner. Unfortunately we had a constant issue with the air conditioning in the room from it not working properly to the point it started leaking one day. Each time it was swiftly looked at and eventually resolved but frustrating and also trying to sleep in such hot temps was not great.

The hotels pool and slides were great. The pool bar great. Lunch time the pool bar served snacks such as burgers, hot dogs and chicken fajita in rolls with chips. This was brilliant especially for the kids. Also the ice cream machine for kids all afternoon was good. Service throughout the bars was great with the waiters always keeping us refreshed with new drinks.

The beach and sea was stunning and really picturesque. There was scope, or maybe used to be, for more services offered from the beach buildings such as diving or boat trips. I think this could be used or repurposed to add to great offerings and facilities.

The a la carte restaurants were surprisingly good but the service was slow. Please put more staff in them and they will be 5/5.

The evening entertainment was some of the best we have experienced in our many times to Egypt. Great acts each night. The only downside was the lateness of the entertainment and also the fact that it was set on the edge of the beach, perhaps due to season, and as such the seating was the sun loungers used in the day time. These made sitting uncomfortable especially on your back making it ache. Sort some seating and again 5/5.

The only gripe of this hotel is the buffet restaurant. The food is ok. As averagely fussy adults there was something for us to have as a meal each night. Some nights better than others and one night was great and I wanted everything on offer. Shame a few dishes that night weren't spread throughout. The waiters are near non existent. They seem to work across the restaurant as a whole. As in other hotels they would benefit from being designated certain sections of tables to serve and clean. This would mean a much more efficient and more catered service meaning guests would be more inclined to tip these people. When you have a different person clear your table each night your less likely to tip. Also the food selection for the kids was poor. They struggled to find something on half of the nights. The hotel needs to replicate the day time lunch menu in the evenings perhaps adding fish or chicken nuggets each night and certainly chips every night. This would again make a 3 or 4 rating a 5 as it was quite a major frustration.

The entertainment team did a fairly good job and we're always in good spirits. They asked if we wanted to partake in daily activities and left us fairly quickly if we said no without pestering. The music was slightly loud on a couple of days but otherwise fine, we asked if it could be lowered one day and it was straight away.

In conclusion this hotel is good value for money so long as you know what to expect in Egypt, especially from a food stand point, whilst also not expecting luxury 4 or 5*. This hotel only needs a few tweaks to get a 5 out of 5 review and if my suggestions were implemented I would definitely book again...