Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh Golden View Beach Resort — Hotel in South Sinai

This is bit long review of the Marriott Renaissance hotel Sharm el sheik, but the kind of review that we would have liked to have. Our reviews is based on comparing this hotel to the Steigenberger in Hurghada and Hilton waterfall in Sharm – both 5 star hotels that we award 5 stars in liking.' Overall we do not find that Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh Golden View Beach Resort deserves 5 stars, but offers more of a 4 star hotel experience. But it is certainly a hotel worth staying on if you get a good price. See below.

3 stars. All inclusive is not all inclusive. We find that when you have paid for all inclusive this is not worthy of a five star hotel to charge you extra if you wants a children's menu on the a la card restaurants that is included in the prices. That you have to pay extra if you want a French fries at the restaurant at the beach and pool. That you have to pay extra if you would like to have grilled fish. That your children can only have ice cream from 12 to 16 in the afternoon – or pay extra. That you have to pay extra for the good ice cream. That you have to pay extra if you want an espresso coffee and we could go on. When you buy all inclusive you have bought access all standard wining and dining and you should not sit back with the feeling that you are a second rank guest, or you should feel like someone that the hotel expect to earn a lot more on the customers that already feel they have paid for all inclusive. We are fully aware that you probably could have read about all these limitations somewhere, but in reality don't when booking a holiday via a travel agent. Hence this concept does not live up to expectations. We are also fully aware that some customers does not buy all inclusive and the hotel should serve them, but it does however still add up to the same result.

5 stars. Animation team and guest activities. Well motivated team. Many activities. To us it does however seem like the teams should be given fewer tasks so that we avoid situations where the guests has to give back the volleyball more or less in the middle of a game because the staff has to rush to the next activity. The best animation team that we ever have experienced.

5 stars. Position of the hotel. The area is good and you can go and visit the shops where you can buy copy cloth and diving masked etc. when negotiating, you should at least divide the asking price by 3. Never buy at the first store. Hotel placed with access to beautiful reef and smaller beaches for children.

4 stars. Rooms that we had was large and well equipped. However the interior of the room was battered. Cleaning of the room was not ok. A lot of dirt under the bed and staff failed to remember new toilet paper etc.

4½ stars. Staff in general was not as friendly as we have tried other places. But if you give them a smile they will also turn friendly in a day or two. Not that they was unfriendly, more as if the management of the hotel had not defined and trained staff in what exactly the customer experience of the hotel should be. Also there seems to be no clear training in how to serve the customers in the cantina. So the customer experience is not bad, just messy.

4½ start food. The food in the all inclusive program is good 5 stars, but as mentioned you could always get it better. No 'live' grilling as with other 5 star hotels. The a la carte restaurants was not good – 3 stars – which would include bones in the tuna beef, no food targeted for children.

2 stars. Wifi in reception runs slow - if you can get on in the first place. As good internet access is one of the primary buying criteria for european tourists - this also indicates lack af basic customer experience knowledge.

Our conclusion is that it is a well driven hotel, however driven by leading staff which could learn a lot about how to du customer experience management western style. Remember to bring a fly swatter, own volleyball and...

Nice hotel but overall not a great experience. 3.5/5 for me.

What I liked: Location: Good reef just off their jetty (I saw a hammerhead there!). Right next to El Fanar, one of the best locations for snorkelling and diving in Sharm Facilities: Nice, newly refurbished rooms. Decent gym (for a hotel in Egypt). Nice beach (although it was hard to find space later in the day). Very clean. Staff: Quite polite and nice. Aldo from the dive center was super nice.

We quite disliked the food: Breakfast was fine, but lacked any healthier, premium products (nuts, berries, mango, salmon, avocado). I understand it’s a cheaper hotel, but at least they could have enough brocolli… (there was a steamed veggie bowl, and the brocolli was always quickly taken by guests, and only carrots and courgette remained. I don’t know, I feel that if the hotel sees there’s higher demand for something, they should refill more of it (or stop offering it in the first place)). Hummus was available only on the first day, then they “ran out” (even though it was available in the a la carte restaurant) Lack of good, fresh seafood and fish. This was very very disappointing, and the reason we ate most of our meals besides breakfast outside of the hotel - the Calamari a la carte restaurant didn’t have fresh seawater fish (they only had the Nile-tasting tilapia) and the seafood tasted strange. The seabass from the in-room menu tasted mushy and old. A seaside holiday without good fish is very disappointing. Pasta is a bit overboiled and pizza tasted strange No premium beers (like corona or desperados; only Egyptian ones and Heineken)

Generally service wasn’t the best. Yes, I’ve got the room upgrade because of my status with the Marriott chain. But the service and experience took away from my experience.

Here are a few small examples: Didn’t always get what I ordered in-room dining (cheese was missing on pasta, despite request) Didn’t get the pick-up from the room on the last day as requested (so had to walk uphil for 10 minutes with lugagge at night) Didn’t get the breakfast package at reception as requested on time and so had to wait before leaving Couldn’t pay mix of cash and card for in-room dining, even though the telephone operator specifically confirmed Hotel taxi (charging 2-3x of what it would cost normally) dropped us off at the wrong terminal, so we had to walk with all our luggage to a different one Wasn’t allowed through the side entrance one evening (even though the previous evening it was been fine!) - ideally they would have told me in advance and spare me walking 10 minutes to the reception and then 10 minutes back to my room (or they could have checked with the reception and made an exception for...

Stayed in Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh for 6 nights during my holiday in March/April 2021.

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about choosing this hotel in the beginning as the pictures of the rooms seem a bit plain and lack of design. But after my stay I must say this choice was not a regret.

What left me most impressed about this hotel was its exceptional service. Throughout my holiday, I stayed in many hotels - both luxury hotels such as St. Regis Cairo and Old Cataract Aswan, and premium ones such as Marriott Mena House, Hilton Luxor, Le Meridien Cairo, and this one. Renaissance Sharm has the best service out of all these hotels.

I wasn’t expecting much in the beginning as I didn’t pay much for this hotel. But the staff at this hotel left me such a good impression that I can remember many faces of them and their great service.

First, as a Bonvoy Titinium member, I was upgraded to a suite with sea view. The room was very clean, cozy, and modern, better than shown on the pictures online I would say. Since booking, the staff had been actively contacting me through emails, providing useful information, and arranging a car to pick me up at the airport. There was a small issue with the car picking me up in the beginning but the front desk solved it very well.

The Mister who cleaned my room every day did a very good job, he’s not only doing it clean and fast, but also smiling and greeting me every time, making me feel very welcomed.

Second, regarding the food. The breakfast was alright, but I’m not complaining as I’m not not paying so much for my stay. I went to La Casa several times for lunch/dinner and the food/price was great. The service from the tall young gentleman (I didn’t ask for his name) was fantastic - friendly, helpful, and charming service! Special thanks to him.

What could be improved was the variety of selection, especially there were not many choices in the La Casa and IRD menus.

Last but not the least, Ahmed and the front desk staff who were helping me with my requests through Marriott App chat, you did a fantastic job. Super helpful and without sending me automatic responses like some other Marriott properties.

Also, made one dive in the hotel and it was great as well.

Again, the stay was not without any issues but what amazed me was how fast and well they could handle the situations. I was traveling alone this time and this hotel made me feel very welcomed and home. This was quite special for me thanks to the great service, which came super natural and with charm.

I don’t usually write such a long review but I think this hotel deserves it! I’d love to recommend this hotel to everyone and will for sure stay again...