Vesta - Soma Bay Residence — Local services in Red Sea

NICE FLAT, CATASTROPHIC MANAGEMENT, TREAT THEIR GUEST AND PROPERTIES LIKE GARBAGE We booked a 3-bedroom flat in Soma bay for a week around New Year's. While the flat was true to the photographs, and had a nice view, every part of our experience with Vesta was an absolute nightmare. We paid the full, High Season price, and got basically treated like garbage.

Full story below, with pictures.

BOOKING - ARBITRARY CANCELATION DAYS BEFORE, AGRESSIVE SCAM TACTICS I booked the flat about a month before our stay, and received a booking confirmation, a reservation number, and no other info for payment, check-in, etc... I was expecting an email for a proper payment process and further instructions. Instead, what I got is a WhatsApp message, in the middle of the Christmas holiday, from an unknown number (hidden as spam), asking me for a bank transfer for the full amount, upfront. And 48h later, an email informaing me of my booking's cancelation. We had booked our plane trip and had no other option. Looking through my spam, I finally find the Whatsapp messages, and "Marc from Sales" abruptly tells me to pay if I want the booking reinstated. No apology, no politeness. These borderline scam tactics should be illegal.

CHECK-IN - 2.5 HOURS ON A PARKING LOT, WOULD'VE SPENT THE NIGHT THERE IF NOT FOR OUTSIDE HELP Getting off the airplane at Hurghada, on the way to the Cascades compound, I still have no instructions, not even an address for the flat. I try calling every single number listed on the website, emails, etc... Even tried my new friend Marc, who surprisingly answered and agressively told me to call "Guest Relations" (who of course hadn't ansxwered the last 5 times) and hung up on me. Result : my wife, 2-year old kid and I stayed on a nondescript parking lot for 2.5 hours at night, confused and worried. Finally, talking to people around me, I find someone who knows Vesta, calls them and gets them to send me a Whatsapp message... asking for a $300 USD security deposit, before I can get in. Same unbelievable scam tactics as for the booking.

HYGIENE - COCKROACHES TWICE, NO INSECTICIDE, NO CLEANING PRODUCTS First and last day of the stay, we were greeted with cockroaches : once in the living room and once in the bathroom. We tried to use the bottle of insecticide in the cupboard, but it was rusted and stuck. Had to do with a shoe. Left one on the floor for the staff to see. It's not that hard to treat a flat for cockroaches, this is aboslutely unacceptable. Same goes for general hygiene : a sponge and dish soap, and nothing else. All the products (disinfectant, etc.) were either empty or old, rusty and stuck. The floor was dirty and hadn't been cleaned before our arrival.

MAINTENANCE - OLD PLUMBING, LEAKS ON WATER HEATER AND BATHROOM SINKS One bathroom sink was leaking out abundantly, and water heater was leaking slowly in the cupboard, with a couple of dripping buckets under it and traces of humidity on the walls. Clearly been there for some time, with staff knowing about it. I would not want to be the owner of that place.

COMMUNICATION - NONE, PURE AND SIMPLE During the whole stay, not once did I get a response from any of the numbers. Guest relations systematically responds with "I will get back to you" and never do, other numbers either don't answer or are disconnected. The "welcome guide" has the wifi password and house rules. Not ONE information about the residence, the compound, the hotel, the Marina, the restaurants, transportation, etc... I had to use the Cascades Hotel guide at the lobby.

Up to the very last minute, check out was agressive, with Vesta staff calling after leaving to scold us for leaving too late (we had called and messaged...

We booked a 3-bedroom flat in Soma bay for a week around New Year's. While the flat was true to the photographs, and had a nice view, every part of our experience with Vesta was an absolute nightmare. We paid the full, High Season price, and got basically treated like garbage.| |Full story below, with pictures.| |---|BOOKING - ARBITRARY CANCELATION DAYS BEFORE, AGRESSIVE SCAM TACTICS|---|I booked the flat about a month before our stay, and received a booking confirmation, a reservation number, and no other info for payment, check-in, etc... I was expecting an email for a proper payment process and further instructions.|Instead, what I got is a WhatsApp message, in the middle of the Christmas holiday, from an unknown number (hidden as spam), asking me for a bank transfer for the full amount, upfront. And 48h later, an email informaing me of my booking's cancelation. We had booked our plane trip and had no other option.|Looking through my spam, I finally find the Whatsapp messages, and "Marc from Sales" abruptly tells me to pay if I want the booking reinstated. No apology, no politeness.|These borderline scam tactics should be illegal.| |---|CHECK-IN - 2.5 HOURS ON A PARKING LOT, WOULD'VE SPENT THE NIGHT THERE IF NOT FOR OUTSIDE HELP|---|Getting off the airplane at Hurghada, on the way to the Cascades compound, I still have no instructions, not even an address for the flat. I try calling every single number listed on the website, emails, etc... Even tried my new friend Marc, who surprisingly answered and agressively told me to call "Guest Relations" (who of course hadn't ansxwered the last 5 times) and hung up on me.|Result : my wife, 2-year old kid and I stayed on a nondescript parking lot for 2.5 hours at night, confused and worried. Finally, talking to people around me, I find someone who knows Vesta, calls them and gets them to send me a Whatsapp message... asking for a $300 USD security deposit, before I can get in.|Same unbelievable scam tactics as for the booking.| |---|HYGIENE - COCKROACHES TWICE, NO INSECTICIDE, NO CLEANING PRODUCTS|---|First and last day of the stay, we were greeted with cockroaches : once in the living room and once in the bathroom. We tried to use the bottle of insecticide in the cupboard, but it was rusted and stuck. Had to do with a shoe. Left one on the floor for the staff to see. It's not that hard to treat a flat for cockroaches, this is aboslutely unacceptable.|Same goes for general hygiene : a sponge and dish soap, and nothing else. All the products (disinfectant, etc.) were either empty or old, rusty and stuck. The floor was dirty and hadn't been cleaned before our arrival.| |---|MAINTENANCE - OLD PLUMBING, LEAKS ON WATER HEATER AND BATHROOM SINKS|---|One bathroom sink was leaking out abundantly, and water heater was leaking slowly in the cupboard, with a couple of dripping buckets under it and traces of humidity on the walls. Clearly been there for some time, with staff knowing about it.|I would not want to be the owner of that place.| |---|COMMUNICATION - NONE, PURE AND SIMPLE|---|During the whole stay, not once did I get a response from any of the numbers. Guest relations systematically responds with "I will get back to you" and never do, other numbers either don't answer or are disconnected.|The "welcome guide" has the wifi password and house rules. Not ONE information about the residence, the compound, the hotel, the Marina, the restaurants, transportation, etc... I had to use the Cascades Hotel guide at the lobby.| |Up to the very last minute, check out was agressive, with Vesta staff calling after leaving to scold us for leaving too late (we had called and messaged...

We rented villa 2M in Jebal Ali. It was clean (sand dust on the floor cannot be avoided as it is windy most of the time) and all in functional order. The equipment is basic but just ok to do your own cooking. We enjoyed the views comfy seating areas. Bed was also good as well as shower. There was alway water and electricity.|We rented a Golf cart at Hoppers ($51/day on weekly package - quite pricy…) which is essential to get around on Soma Bay and to buy food in the market at Marina. With that we had great fun and went out for drinks, coffee, windsurfing, snorkling etc.|Housekeeping came around very 2nd or 3rd day. |It‘s also good that you are in a gated area on Soma Bay which makes you feel secure and have a very good infrastructure.||TO IMPROVE: there are no hangers for towels nowhere. There are also no mounts for toilet paper. Also some kitchen towels would help. |Entry registration process for security gate needs to be improved much!!! We had about 15min to exchange passport pictures with Vesta and back to security gate until we could pass. Why don‘t you provide this info to security gate before arrrival as you collect the passport foto upfront???? Very inefficient. |Also provide the checkin passwords 1 (one!) day before arrival.|- without a mobile network you cannot get in|All in all we enjoyed our stay but be aware that thing work different in...