Нормальный отель, большой, но пустоватый! Normal hotel, big but empty!

Good day everyone. While my memories are fresh, I am writing a report on the checked days at the Grand East Hotel on the Dead Sea in Jordan. My trip took place from 02 to 14 June 2023. I’ll make a reservation right away that my opinion about the country, the hotel, etc. is purely personal and does not pretend to anything. If someone disagrees with my point of view, that's fine too. If someone has questions or comments on the topic - write, but not all questions can be answered publicly so there is a chance that I will only answer personally (do not forget to include email).
This is my first time in Jordan, but not the first time in the Dead Sea. Always been on the side of Israel. There is something to compare. But this time Jordan seemed cheaper. Unfortunately, when buying a tour from a travel agency, I saved on everything I could - so it turned out that the flight by an airline, by the way, a low-cost airline, Air Arabia - without food, even water and that for money - $ 0.9 per 0.5 liter.
And the flight first from Moscow to Sharjah is a 3-hour flight, and then another 5.5 hours to Amman airport. Further, it turned out that you need to buy a visa upon arrival - 40 Jordanian dinars - for this, upon arrival - there is an exchanger, where for $ 70 - they give 40 dinars! How do you like the course? This is with a commission of 9.3 dinars…. But there is no choice. If you are interested, the approximate exchange rate of the dinar to the ruble is almost constant - 115-118 rubles. Then transfer to the hotel - ordered in advance, it was not very expensive - only $ 50 round trip. (If you take it on the spot, it will cost $ 110 one way).

Now the hotel - check-in at 15-00, check-out at 12-00. The hotel is considered 4 stars, but does not pull, to be honest. The hotel is huge - large halls, many restaurants - but in fact only one works, I counted 5 pools on a vast territory, but in fact only 2 worked. But all the sun loungers at the pools and at the sea are free, as are towels too issue. The pools are clean - they are cleaned every day.
All the furniture in the hotel is not new, the cabinets creak, the shower head is leaking, but the air conditioner in the room works as it should. It's nice when it's +39 degrees Celsius outside, and in the room you make a comfortable temperature of 20 degrees and you rejoice. Once the hotel worked on an all-inclusive system, but now you have to pay for everything separately. You can take a room with breakfast, or breakfast, dinner or breakfast, lunch and dinner. But there is always the opportunity to pay extra on the spot - for any meal you need to immediately pay on the spot from 12 (breakfast) to 18 (lunch) dinars. At the rate of 1 Jordanian dinar - 115-118 rubles.
What I really disliked is that there is no spa area as such. There are only 2 massage rooms and that's it. And in all hotels on MM in Israel - there is a Spa with free admission - and as a rule there are indoor pools with dead (heated) water and regular, as well as a jacuzzi, sauna, bathhouse and a bunch of procedures from different baths and ending with the same massage (extra charge)
charge)… This hotel does not have indoor pools! And one more thing - the hotel does not have a solarium, for receiving solar procedures separately by sex, which, again, is in every MM hotel in Israel. After all, many go to treat skin diseases - they just need a solarium.

Now about the Dead Sea - you don’t need to go down a fairly steep road or the same steep stairs - it’s not very far and not very tiring, again considering that it’s nice to constantly ride a shuttle to the sea. The entrance to the sea is pleasant - small pebbles and sand. On the shore for those who wish there is a vat of mud - you can make mud applications for free. The water in the sea is very warm, according to my feelings, it was about 30-32 degrees, about the same as in the pools on the territory. Since the hotel was about a third full, and on some days even less - then sunbeds, sun loungers both at the sea and by the pools - there was enough for everyone.
It gets dark very early in Jordan, at 19-00 it’s already so dark that you can’t see anything if there were no lights ...Yes, there is no entertainment in the hotel in the evenings, from the word at all.
Now about food - it is monotonous every day and by 7-10 days it gets very annoying ...
A lot of some salads, snacks - simply unthinkable - for example, they have small sausages - about 4-5 cm - they are put in a bowl and sauce based on mayonnaise is added - mixed and that's it - the salad is ready! Or they make tomatoes and cucumbers - salads - just cut tomatoes and cucumbers separately, there are chopped finely and there is a salad - where they are cut very finely ...And a salad of red cabbage seasoned with sweet felting sour cream, felting mayonnaise with the addition of strawberries and canned peaches ...Above salads do not bother much - they mixed canned corn and canned beans - that's the salad.
Well, there is hummus and other spreads, but they didn’t work for me ...Always boiled rice from hot, potatoes - sometimes in slices, sometimes in pieces, but for some reason they always cook it in a peel, grilled vegetables, beef in the form of medallions with sauce and always a la pilaf - this is rice with raisins, peanuts and some kind of spices - on top there is always a lot of boiled meat on the bone. Whose meat it is - I don’t know, but I think it’s beef, there’s also fish - in the form of grilled fillet or in sauce ...You can always choose what to eat, you won’t leave hungry, but sometimes they give water for lunch or dinner - sometimes not and all drinks for a fee. For breakfast, there is water, and tea, and coffee, and milk, and even a couple of types of juices from packages, but heavily diluted with ice! Both sausages and sausages have a red, not appetizing color - they can be seen during cooking, they don’t know that ice and nitrites need to be added for a pleasant pink color.

You will say that it is more natural, but their sausage tastes the same as it looks - not at all comme il faut.
In general, the hotel needs renovation, but the staff is trying and friendly enough - rooms are cleaned daily, they provide 1.5 liters of water, tea, coffee, dry cream, there is a hairdryer in the bathroom and all shampoos, soaps and gels are constantly replenished.
In the reviews - I read that there are a lot of flies - yes, they are, but not many and the staff fights with them and sets traps and fumigates the territory. In this they are great!
It's a pity that the hotel's occupancy is very low, maybe that's why there is not enough money for restoration, apparently travelers prefer to pay more and go somewhere to Crown Plaza or Montverik ...Yes, there are 5 stars, but it's much more expensive .. .