The hotel has held out these years on a small flow of foreign tourists. At the same time, construction work is underway to expand it. But at the same time, the wear and tear of everything continues. And now - the flow of tourists has grown at the end of 2021. The weak link was the dining room. Due to the lack of dishes, the admission of visitors is periodically terminated while a new portion of plates is collected and washed. If they buy plates, then there will not be enough seats, and at the distribution, the line will stretch across the entire hall to the entrance. Therefore, periodically the entrance is blocked and the queue remains outside. A similar picture and on the beach. Some late guests already have to lie on the sand due to the lack of free sunbeds or return to the pool. All mattresses and towels need updating. All awnings are in need of repair. Bars, except for the dining room, have non-working refrigerators, so drinks are delivered in small quantities and there are often interruptions in their availability. Well, or give warm beer. By the way, there was such a plus as a barbecue. The greater number of holiday-goers resulted in the availability of more meat for dinner. Now, every day, chicken is fried before entering, and conditionally every other day, turkey or beef, sometimes kebab. The main thing is not to linger too much for dinner, then you won’t get it. Interesting seafood dinner for 7 bucks a nose. Try it.
The reviews come across comments on the state of reception. WiFi is extremely weak, so if you do not buy an Egyptian SIM card for the sake of one call to your relatives, you will have to wait for the night or you will accidentally get lucky the first time, like me. But only once. No improvements are to be expected. Simply, the new reception has already been built on the first floor of the 7th building and will be put into operation after the launch of the new building under the conditional number 8, the construction of which is slowly but continuing.
A separate issue is the bartenders. Today, issues of hygiene and sanitation occupy the top lines. Yes, the cups are disposable, but the bartender does not take the cup by the outside, but sticks his finger inside. Moreover, if the visitor came with his glass, then the bartender's finger in the glass is a mandatory reception. Many notice, but there are no protesters. They just put up or drink their own from duty free and from the store. I think that this is a problem of any resort.
An unnamed booth appeared at the Zahabia Hotel for barkers to the "Turkish" leather clothing store "ponto mk". They lure you with fast delivery, low prices, good discounts and optional purchases. It's like advertising, and the more of us come, the more they get paid. They offer trips to the store after the beach, before dusk. And these are such timid Slavs that you want to cry. They don’t drive themselves, they just call the car by phone. On the outskirts of Hurghada, in the shop, others are greeted, now more with Asian faces. Then we learned that this store had recently changed its sign, but no more. All technology remains. In fact: they carry clothes endlessly, there are no price tags, they try to get drunk with something. Drink, no way! After the long-awaited voicing of prices for the selected products, which are 10 times higher than the expected value even with all the "discounts" and after refusing to purchase them, the tone of the conversation changes, large bulls appear with impeccable Russian and the evening ceases to be languid. Our attempt to escape accidentally coincided with the arrival of new "buyers", so the bulls retreated and we had the opportunity to retire quietly. However, whoever likes such an adventure - welcome to the "ponto mk" in Hurghada with an "office" in the Zahabia hotel. Let's hope that the hotel itself does not take part in the scheme, but simply rents out a kennel and allows agents access to their vacationers. It looks strange that various barkers used to roam the territory of Zahabia, including merchants who rent kiosks on the beach. Today, such an opportunity is provided only to “ponto managers”. The rest are sadly on duty near their shop windows.
Do you recommend a trip to the hotel? Better think for yourself.
Will we go again? It is possible that it will depend on the price, especially since with each of our visits, the hotel receives useful advice. We are not sorry. I hope it helped you make your choice.
Now, this will be my favorite hotel in Hurghada.
Rested 3.11-17.11. 21 years old.
We were accommodated in a very cool room.
I didn't even believe it. Everything is clean, the new plumbing mattress shines.
The repair is cosmetic, but everything is clean.
We chose this hotel for the beach. And it turns out that this is a quiet place where there is no wind in the middle.
And the beach, gentle, with children - it's just paradise. I want to fly here and come back more than once.
Dining room, ordinary. But the diligence of the manager was felt. He organized everything so skillfully that these sleepy workers were not annoyed.
Of course, there are comments.
A lot of gunpowder on the reception.
The floor is not washable, and there is no wet cleaning.
The products are fresh, the food is also freshly prepared.
We will return to our homeland.
They feed for three, you won’t be hungry, but as they say, to score a goiter, tasteless, dirty trash! The beach is 300-400 m across the road, the beach is a huge plus of this hotel - a huge small children's one and at the end of the pier is deep with coral! All the equipment on the beach, like in the hotel, is worn out to the limit, but because of such a sea you can forgive (not for a long time))) buy roaming or local cards, 4G works great!
Around the hotel there is a typical Egyptian picture - devastation, a busy road, srach and annoying local people, if you get rid of this trash, you can have a good rest (eat and drink beer) in cafes near the hotel, Paradise, very good option! They paid 220 euros for 2 for 3 days, so all the shortcomings seemed to be a trifle and quickly ended)) How long would I look for more expensive and starry. . .
For its three stars, and budget tourists, the hotel is relatively good, you can come back here again.
Hotel pros:
- friendly and helpful staff
- 2 beaches, for every taste: the near one with a shallow sea and sand, the far one is a coral reef, along the edge of the reef there are especially many types of fish, sea anemones, and even squids! Some saw stone fish, stingrays, and moray eels, but I didn’t have to. But, in the vicinity of the stairs, everything, of course, is trampled down, alas, and you have to sail away to see more interesting things.
- good and varied (for a 3 *) hotel food, even grilled meat and fish in the evenings. Cakes (for dinner), baklava, sweets, oranges. Fish, chicken, turkey, liver, salads, cheese, etc. , all delicious
- Wi-Fi free at the reception and in the Cave cafe nearby
- good cleaning of the room and regular change of towels and bed linen. Shower gel and soap are provided, in sufficient quantities, bed linen is clean, not worn out. Take a towel for the beach, as well as change, not a problem, near the pool.
- proximity to shops, on the right side of the hotel.
- cozy atmosphere and well-groomed territory.
Cons of the hotel
- always dirty floor in the restaurant. Listen, hotel managers! If you can't hire an adequate cleaner, grab some rags and mop the floors yourself! Well, you can’t allow tourists to enter a restaurant in the morning and see yesterday’s leftovers on the floor, and crumbs under the tables, as well as old, suspicious, sticky stains on the floor! It's just disgusting! All my comments and requests to finally wash the floors did not give any tangible results! they were so dirty and unwashed, all 13 days of my stay!
- an impudent, lazy boy, a tut-tuk driver who, instead of working, prefers to rest in the shade and drink coffee! Moreover, the cost of its services is illegally included in the information sheet of the hotel! And it's all inclusive! I had to intervene in the situation and talk to the managers. After that, the boy stopped demanding money, but still did not want to work, but hid, and rested in the company of his own kind, he had to call the reception from the gate, they called him, and only after that he appeared, extremely dissatisfied... And on foot to distant beach at least km! In the heat, it's not very pleasant to trudge on foot! Maybe it makes sense to fire a lazy boy? He is incorrigible, and, judging by the reviews, he has been working there for many years.
- old and often broken, heavy, sunbeds that are 50 years old, and broken umbrellas on a distant beach, lack of mattresses (also very old)
- at a construction site, in front of my windows, a pack of dogs howled at night, and very loud)))))) and during the day - the noise from the factory nearby
In my opinion, the hotel was spoiled, just the same, by unpretentious and undemanding tourists, who, instead of complaining about the shortcomings of the managers, are silent and give dollars, it is not clear why, to negligent hotel employees, which to a large extent creates the problems I describe ! A lot can be fixed if you talk about it, at least try. But with the floors, I didn’t succeed, no matter how I tried....they were only slightly wiped, with a semi-dry rag, apparently)))) what to do? I don’t know, I didn’t have to wash them myself? )))) and I more or less brought up the boy from the tuk tuk))))
1. Territory - very beautiful, green, many flowering trees. Gardener's work 5 points! Enough pools. There are slides for children and adults.
2. Number. When I checked in, I asked for a two-room room, although the standard was booked. I was given a great room overlooking the pool. The room even had a kitchen - a stove, a refrigerator with a freezer, dishes (pots, a frying pan). Very large bathroom. Plasma TV.
Friends arrived later. They had a standard number. Pretty big room, everything is new. They had a direct view of the sea.
3. Food. The issue of food was very disturbing when planning a trip. But everything was great! I don't know what else is needed. Breakfast - milk porridge, potatoes, stewed vegetables, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, cheeses, croissants, pastries. Lunch - soup (always delicious), pasta, rice, potatoes, beef, chicken, fish, many different vegetables. Dinner - two types of soup, pasta, rice, potatoes, beef, chicken, fish, liver, and sometimes even duck, jacket, vegetables, many different desserts - cakes, cookies, pastries. For dinner, almost always something was fried on the grill. Everything is always fresh. The child was always something to feed. In terms of food, no complaints at all. Sometimes the food was spicy. But we just talked about this to the restaurant manager and the situation was corrected. Fruit bought in the markets, they are very cheap. There were always delicious oranges in the restaurant. They even gave me watermelon!
4. Sea. Walk 400 meters to the sea. For me it was a pleasure. It might be difficult in hot weather. Although in many first-line hotels you also have to walk to the sea, sometimes more. Towels were provided on the beach. As many have already written here, there are 2 beaches. One is sandy. Very beautiful, with turquoise color of the sea and warm water. The second is coral. The coral is alive, beautiful, there are many living creatures. It was on the reef of Zakhabia that I, a sophisticated snorkeler, met three huge eagle rays right on the surface of the sea at once !!! ! I swam with them for about 10 minutes a meter away from them, circling in circles like in a round dance. It was something! There were also giant moray eels and barracudas, a lot of species of butterfly fish, stingrays. In the evenings in shallow water we watched small eagle rays. In a word, the reef is excellent. There are two negative points along the beach - I would like to clean the sand and oldish mattresses on the sunbeds more often.
5. Animation. I don't usually write about her. But she didn't stay here. The boy animator was very talented. He himself held fire shows and shows with glasses and swords. Shows were every day, even when there were few people in the hotel. There was also a mini disco for the kids.
6. The staff at the hotel is very friendly and helpful.
Would I come back - for sure!!!! ! Of course, if you want a crowd of people, this is not the place for you. This is a hotel for total relaxation. Home, now my favorite hotel. Zahabia, wait for me. I will definitely be back.
The area is beautiful and well maintained.
The food is beyond praise! The food is varied and very tasty: fresh salads; soups are delicious; fish for lunch and dinner; chicken, beef and duck in different versions; the bread is fresh and tender.
The beach is great, big, there are always free sunbeds, no need to run at 6 am to take a seat))). You can swim along the coast line, the depth allows. Clean, rubbish always removed. The coral reef is amazing.
If I go to Hurghada again, then only here.
And everyone who is resting there was in it from 3 to 18 times!! ! From a week to 3 months. Arriving for the third time, we met people who had lived there since the first arrival)))
This hotel has both pros and cons.
Coming here you need to be prepared for trash as well!
I'll start with the pros:
1) This is definitely a beach and the sea. 3 entrances to the water. On the sand into the lagoon, on the steps to the depth of the chest / neck and on the steps to the depth immediately to the corals.
This is just a unique beach, where there are three different entrances to the sea for every taste. The coral reef wall is alive!! ! Repeatedly saw stingrays, parrots, surgeons, stone fish (there are a lot of fish).
2) Location. The hotel is located within the city, which is very convenient for moving around Hurghada, near the hotel there are minibuses for 2 pounds to any part of it.
3) Clean and green area of the hotel.
All of the pros!
Minuses:
1) Killed and old rooms, where hot water is also by the hour (but for us this is not critical, because you only sleep in the room).
2) The food is monotonous from day to day, it is simply impossible to eat sweets, they have a nasty sickening smell, despite their beautiful appearance (sweets were not eaten at all in the hotel), during the fruit season they were given a maximum of 2 times a week for lunch.
3) On the beach there are old sun loungers and shabby awnings.
4) Animation is just a dull sight and a parody of it (but we didn't need it).
5) Staff. . . Alas, this is a different story. . .
We had open alcohol in the refrigerator (gin, rum, vodka), and so it gradually decreased from day to day, on the 4th day we noticed that alcohol remained at the bottom of all three bottles, while we practically did not drink it, because they went on excursions.
We went to swear at the reception - but we could not prove anything, since they do not have cameras in the corridors of the hotel (((
Suspicions fell on the staff, because on the first check-in at this hotel, the cleaner came up with his glass while cleaning the room, asked us for whiskey)))))) which was in our fridge for a minute, that is, he knew from the very beginning that he had we were, after that we hid everything in a suitcase and locked it with a key.
This time we did not hide alcohol, so the cleaners drank it (((
Very unpleasant! Given the fact that we are in the hotel for the third time! Regular customers.
Will I return to this hotel again? Yes, I will definitely be back! Since all of the above minuses are not critical for us.
You can always have dinner in restaurants or buy fish at the fish market, where they will cook it, with fruits the same story, the El Dahar fruit market is a 10-minute drive from the hotel, the prices for fruits are pennies.
You can hide the brought alcohol from the dutik in a suitcase and close it with a key, go out into the city on your own to look for entertainment and clubs, and you can also arrange a fun vacation for yourself, not to mention excursions that are much more convenient from Hurghada than from Sharm.
And if you take the price of a hotel - it's from 10 thousand to 14 thousand UAH for two for a week, then it's just perfect.
There were two conditions for choosing: Hurghada - to visit Luxor, and the second - inexpensively, since the year was not the most successful financially. In general, we took a tour to Zahabia for 7 nights, all inclusive, $ 480 for two. And how pleasantly they were surprised that the budget "troika" turned out to be a cozy place, which will more than give odds to many "fours"! Involuntarily, I want to remember and paraphrase Ilf and Petrov: "We were deceived - they gave us a much better hotel! "))
Cozy, beautiful, well-groomed area,
The room was simply huge, with a view of the sea (without any requests and surcharges).
The food was quite satisfactory. Maybe true gourmets will not agree with me, but we had enough of everything, everything was fresh, tasty and quite varied.
The beach was a very nice bonus. Without exaggeration, it is unique - there is a shallow, waist-deep, crystal clear turquoise lagoon with a sandy bottom, and if you go a little to the ledge, you can fully enjoy the beautiful underwater world of the Red Sea with fish and corals! (see my photos). We were also lucky with Luxor - the tour took place, I liked it; and then during the quarantine period it will either be opened or closed.
In general, for everyone who is positively minded, for whom it is not critical that it is 500 meters to go to the beach, crossing the road, and it would not hurt to update or tint sun loungers and umbrellas, we safely recommend it! And if you remember that all this cost 14.100 hryvnia (or $ 480), then in general it is above all praise!