Sentido Reef Oasis Senses Resort — Hotel in South Sinai

This July was our third time visiting Sentido and we always stay for 8 nights. Previous reviews of ours have always been glowing, never failing to give 5 stars. This is the first time we came away disappointed and questioning whether we need to look for another place to call our home when holidaying in Sharm.||First off, the positives. The hotel is immaculately kept. The grounds are beautiful. The staff are largely wonderful, kind and helpful and do make the holiday worthwhile given the misgivings. The food is very good in general, a good selection and often tasty. Mohammed the lifeguard at the Citidal pool was again, as has always been the case, exemplary, always keeping the pool area immaculate, always willing to refresh towels and always engaging in friendly conversation. We consider him a good friend and we hope he has well deserved special time with his family in Cairo during his break. Mina at the Sentido pool was also very kind and helpful throughout our stay.||And, then, the house reef, always the main reason that would keep us coming back - even if a few things are off. Spectacular fish life, although slowly fading corals, there are still some colourful patches. We saw the usual vast array of tropical fish, but on our last day a giant eagle ray graced our presence and came up close, combined with several giant moray eels swimming to take shelter. The reef is very special.||The beach is nice. It has never been our favourite part of the complex. It is well kept, everything kept clean and tidy. Its just often overcrowded and noisy as you push beyond 10am into the afternoon. Nothing outrageous, just not really ideal for the wife and I. We tend to go to the beach for around 07:30am and snorkel the reef at 08:00am for an hour before grabbing some breakfast at the Citidal restaurant up the hill, then head back for a final snorkel before vacating to the pools before it all gets too lively. It works for us.||Now, the negatives. This is difficult because previously our stays have always been faultless, but on this occasion not so. We emailed prior to our stay asking whether we could be assigned a room overlooking the Olympic pool, as we prefer the quieter location. We got a response back saying that they would do everything in their prower to meet our request, perfect. When we arrived, they didn't have any rooms that were ready and so we were put in a room in the noisier part of the resort and were told we could move the following day. The following day I went to reception and after a bit of bartering and a bit of a wait I was shown the location of a room that overlooked the Olympic Pool and I confirmed I was happy with this and was told it would be ready shortly. Some 30 mins later when ready to move rooms, I was then told the Olympic pool as out of service and was not working and the room the room I was just shown was actually not available. I was then taken to another ground floor room, this time the room overlooked the adjacent side across the other pools on the quiter section of Sentido. I briefly looked at the location of the room and agreed it would be fine. We moved rooms. We was tired after travelling and the backwards and forwards between rooms and the waiting was not ideal, but we got there in the end.||A few days later we realized the fridge in our room was not working and the air conditioning was not operating as it should. We reported these via telephone to reception. We waited again for an hour, nothing. So I ended up having to leave my room, walk through the searing heat and physically go to reception to report it again, I did this two or three times before an engineer finally came out. The engineer fixed it, well kind of, the fridge was colder, but not too cold. We had medical supplies we needed to keep cold for them to work, so a working fridge was essential. The air conditioning despite being reported as faulty several times, never really changed. We set the temperature at 20oC and I measured the temperature in the room at 28-29oC consistently. Sleeping some nights was an issue. I gave up in the end. I assume that the older air conditioning units in some rooms are not working as they should. They appear to work on the surface i.e. blow cool air, but its not cooled air. Anyway, again not ideal.||Finally, on the wife's birthday we decided to take advantage of the room service food menu being advertised in the room. We hadn't seen it before, so assumed it was relatively new. We wanted to order a burger and chip at 350 egyptian pound each. Just as a birthday treat. Let's just say it was far from easy. We dialed the 5555 number advertised and were told to dial 88888, we dialed that number and it rang and rang and rang, no answer. In the end, you guessed it, I had to go out into the 44oC heat and ask reception to help. Reception were confused about the service and after speaking to a few people they had to get the manager who then took my order. After confirming my order with the chef on the phone in reception, I then had a phone call 10 mins later back in the room to clarify whether I wanted 1 burger, kept giving me the wrong prices and I never got the impression he fully understood what we wanted. After a further 10 mins of backwards and forwards I was happy enough that the chef understood what we wanted. What is advertised as quick and convenient room service took 3 hours of ringing up, going to reception, reclarifying things and waiting for the food to arrive. By the time we got the burger, we were due to eat at our al la carte a few hours later. Far from ideal for my wife's birthday. It ruined the day a bit. We both said that there should be a central number we dial with English speaking or multi lingual person to take order and then they pass it onto the chef in native tongue. It would save all confusion and simplify the process. Just be aware that if you order room service, it may be painful. Its a work in progress.||I'm conclusion, its a difficult one for us. We have an affiliation with Sentido. On past visits we always loved everything. The downers we experienced on this holiday were disruptive enough to cause us to seriously reconsider booking here again. It is a real dilemma. We kept coming back because Sentido has one of the best house reefs to snorkel in sharm and that is a big draw, the staff away from reception are always so helpful (especially when you tip), the grounds are always beautiful, the food is varied and tasty enough for it to not get too boring over a weeks stay. However, reception service needs work, rooms although some outdated (which we don't some) some have issues with air conditioning not cooling enough, appliances faulty etc. - the unavailability of pools etc. Is always disappointing, but is understandable given that maintenance is needed and the park is open 24/7 throughout the year and so it needs to be done sometime and off season in the peak of the summer is as good a time as any. The Olympic pool became available after a few days too, so that was a positive. All in all expect immaculate grounds and good service brilliant reef, but prepare for the possibility of rooms being a little warm with faulty appliances if you get an older room or unlucky and prepare for the possibility of some pools or services being unavailable - especially if you visit during quieter times.||I think overall, if we come again and we're both in two minds whether we should or not, it will be because of the house reef, the wonderful friends we have made with some of the staff near the pools and at the restaurants, the food being adequate and the cocktails and crisps by the pool whilst being waited on. Just make sure that if you are not happy with your room, if its too warm or not to your liking, request a change, make sure the room they give you fixes these issues and hopefully the rest of the holiday then resolves itself. Because, outside of the poor or inconsistent service at reception, the weird room service food menu and the lottery with getting the right room, the rest of the stay is spot on.||Will we stay again? I think we'll give Sentido another go. But only because of people like Mohammed the lifeguard, Mohar at the restaurant and the reef. But, Sentido, please do better on...

Overall, this is a very good hotel. What most people don't get from the description and the structure of the hotel is that this is actually TWO hotels that are located on the same property. The SENTIDO is the newer hotel and Reef Oasis is the older hotel. Sentido has newer rooms, nicer public areas and a newer (not necessarily nicer) pool area. BUT, Sentido rooms are farthest from the beach. Far is relative of course. It is a 5-10 minute walk to the beach from the sentido lobby depending on how fast you walk and there is a shuttle that runs ALL the time if you don't want to walk which is nice. You can use the facilities at BOTH hotels if you are staying at the Sentido. The property is actually pretty massive. It has two hotels, a water park in the front of the hotel complex, restaurants, an amphitheater for shows, fitness rooms, spa, tennis courts, a small grass pitch to play pick up football matches, a padel court. This place really does have something for everyone. It is probably best to break up the parts of the hotel for review:||ROOMS: 7/10. This is where the hotel really could be better. The rooms aren't bad, but they aren't top notch either. Minimal lighting in the room was a big downside for us. May seem like something small but when you need light and there is none, you will see. Beds are solid but again, not the best we have ever slept in. Modern but not brand new. Bathrooms are very good and large. Shower pressure very good. Seating areas in most rooms and balconies.||WATER PARK: 7/10. Very cool that this water park is right at the hotel. Many slides were closed and that lessened the experience. The deck of the water park needed to be cleaned more as it got quite dirty from people with shoes in the pool area. That was tough. The slides are good and if you have smaller children (anywhere from 4-12) they will really like it. But they may tire of it as it doesn't offer too much variety. But for being in the hotel, very strong water park. ||FOOD: 8/10 Very good food overall. Nice selection in the buffets and great fresh orange juice for breakfast every morning. Probably some of the best I have had anywhere. Service is solid and again, the quality of the food is pretty good overall. There could be more selection if I had to be picky, but overall, I didn't have too many complaints about the food or the experience at the buffets. The buffet at the beach is really nice because of its location to the beach and overall view. It is one of three buffet options in the hotel. We didn't do the restaurants unfortunately. Heard they were good. ||LATE NIGHT EATING: 5/10. Minimal options. Just pizza which is VERY average. Not terrible but not good either. ||BARS: 8/10 Good variety of drinks. Not really high quality liquors but I expected that. The cups they give you are super small and cheap. Cheapens the experience a bit. Bartenders are attentive and can make what you want. Good selection. Not too many complaints really.||BEACH: 9/10 Amazing beach. Water is perfect, location is perfect. Beach bar and grill was solid, but not amazing. Food was just ok. Drinks were just ok and super small. Only pizza, burgers and fries at beach bar but the buffet is only steps away from the beach too so there are options. Lots to do at the beach. They have their own reef which is actually awesome. Other boats were coming to this hotel's reef to snorkel which shows you the quality but it also made it a bit crowded. Sentido had its own area with beach service which is located to the left when you walk down to the beach and there are different color beach chairs (blue Sentido, yellow Reef Oasis. You can use whatever you want if staying at Sentido.). Volleyball, music, dancing, you name it you can find it at the beach. bathrooms were super clean which is thought was amazing given the traffic and the sand. Quality beach for sure.||ENTERTAINMENT: 6/10. Not too many options and many of the options are only in Italian. We weren't really there for the entertainment but if we were looking for entertainment you wouldn't find a whole lot. ||GROUNDS: 10/10 Really well done property that is well maintained and well looked after. Details on the property are really well done. You will be impressed by the landscaping and the quality of the flowers, greenery and thoughtfulness of everything. ||STAFF: 8/10 Some couldn't care less but some are really great. Take the good with the bad. Find the staff that are attentive and repeat with them and your experience will be better.||OVERALL: 7/10. You will enjoy your time. Just take note of the good and the bad above and enjoy your...

We are a family of 4, 2 children under 14. Arrived late evening greeted by a friendly resort receptionist "Mai" who asked to take a seat while all our luggage was off loaded. We were given cold orange juices and cold towels. She explained all about the resort and do's and dont's. Room as described by everyone was very spacious, we had a family room overlooking the garden, room 1163. The room was very clean with all clean fresh towels and coffee and team making facility with cold bottled mineral water in the mini bar. MO's restaurant is exactly how everyone decribes, its huge with a lot of variety of food (buffet). We were always greeted by very friendly and helpful "Hend" who always took us to our table. Brilliant and very efficient service from everyone. "Saleh" always knew what we drank. Places to Eat: La Tarezza: waiter service Itallian all inclusive restaurant, brilliant service from Shawkey, always remembered to bring us ice cold water as we sat down. Excellent service. Cactus BBQ: again all part of all inclusive but you have to book this in advance. You get a personal BBQ food prepared for you, lots to choose from. Excellent service again. Maharaja Indian Restaurant: Not part of all inclusive(but the drinks are). You have to book this advance too. Food is amazing. "Kumar" the chef will make it to your taste. Loved the delicious food and wonderful service. Although there are other restaurants in the Reef Oasis Beach part which the residents of the Sentido can use. The resort is huge with lots of activities. There is always the hotel bus every 10 minutes to take you to the beach and bring you back if dont fancy a 10 minute walk. The water park is again brilliant for children and adults too. The pool we always used was next to the Cactus Bar, which was really quiet and always had a sun lounger for us. "Mohammed" would always come along and clean your sunglasses followed by giving ice cold hand towels to cool you down, then followed by spraying ice cold mint water. Just Brilliant!!! Now that is 5 star Service. The entertainment team led by "Sam" (wakey wakey Sharmal Shaky, dont get lazy, lets get busy") did a wonderful job by getting everyone to join in playing various types of games. The beach is huge with a "private" section for the Sentido guests. We found it very clean and wonderful service. The "Blue Bar" in the lobby is open 24 hours and the service from everyone is outstanding. "Messimah" is excellent. Above all, the Sentido Reef Oasis Resort is outstanding, may not be a 5 star hotel, but its definately a 5 star resort. All staff are really friendly and very helpful. We can not fault on the service part, we found the staff went out of their way to make feel comfortable and have a pleseant stay. The resort is safe and all visitors are checked upon arrival. The resort also offers a late check out service without any charge as long as its agreed 24 hours before checking out. Even after check out, you can use their facilities and eat and drink. I would definately recommend this resort and would love to come back again. A BIG THANK YOU to all at Sentido Reef Oasis, you made our 10 day holiday a very memorable one and we are...