Park Inn – Sharm El Sheikh – Egypt

[This hotel was formerly known as the Golden Resort Radisson SAS]

On arrival in Sharm el Sheikh, the Park Inn hotel was very impressive, with plenty of marble. But for us, the good first impression was spoiled in reception where, despite requests & assurances from Thomas Cook & the hotel, we were given the wrong rooms.

We travelled to Egypt with three girls, not quite adults, & requested that at least two of our three rooms be adjacent or at least close. We were told that this would be OK but found on arrival that another guest had complained about their room & been given one of ours. They tried to cram us all into two rooms & even had the cheek to tell us that they would not charge us extra because the rooms were better quality.

The rooms themselves could not be faulted. They were spacious & kept clean. The cleaner did have a habit of waiting until you were in your room to bring you either towels or toilet paper which was his way of letting you know he expected a tip! My only complaint on the rooms was that they changed my daughter’s bed just three times during our stay.

The food was plentiful & well cooked but i became monotonous. It is rotated weekly so the second week was the same as the first. The restaurant became uncomfortably hot during peak times & was a bit of a cattle market. Seven out of nine of us had stomach problems during our stay but not sure if it was food, heat, water or alcohol related! Hopefully the latter was not the case with my 9 year old!

My best advice in this scenario is to visit the pharmacist asap as he has drugs that stops cramps & turns off the squirts like a tap. Barter with everyone, even the chemist, as they will all take advantage as much as they can. It’s not a criticism but don’t pay face value for anything. Most shops expect you to pay less than 50% of the original cost quoted.

The hotel is a 10-15 minute walk from the beach and a free bus runs from next to the Radisson. 10-15 minutes is not long at home but in 43 degree heat it took it’s toll. There isn’t much around the hotel, just two small sets of shops. Out of the hotel & to the left (a two minute taxi ride) there is a little more civilisation – opposite the Coral Sea Resort & just before this is a nice bar called The Three Crowns. Naama Bay is 2o minutes in a taxi & well worth a few visits both at night & by day. The shopping & bars is more varied & you will find all the water sports here.

We went on the quad bikes (great fun) and my wife went twice. We tried scuba diving (2 dives) which was the highlight and the snorkelling at the Radisson beach is great (Editors note: a trip to the nearby Ras Mohammed National Park provides some of the best snorkelling I’ve ever had, anywhere, Maldives included!)

The Park Inn hotel staff on the whole are very friendly & helpful, but you always have it in the back of your mind that this is just for the tips. They are all keen to tell you they only get around ÂŁ7.50 per week without the tips.

The entertainment at he hotel was poor. The daytime stuff was repetitive and based around the pools while the evening fun was non-existent. We found we could go outside & watch all of the speciality acts that had occupied a whole week in one evening at the mall next door. We have been spoilt travelling with First Choice on previous holidays and the entertainment here just wasn’t in the same league.

We knew August in Egypt would be hot but had not experienced heat of this nature before. We had two professional sun worshippers in our party & they spent a good deal of time sun-dodging. Unless you are prepared for extreme heat to the point of being uncomfortable I would be careful about the time of year you travel to Sharm el Sheikh. Also, the air conditioning seemed to break down in the public areas of the hotel regularly, especially when the main bar was full of people drinking beer.

Finally, to sour the trip (& probably what prompted me to write this holiday review) we were conned on the return transfer. The airport at Naama has a military presence. The British reps are not allowed inside the terminal so all transfers are dealt with by an Egyptian sub contractor called Transco. The transfer to the hotel on thw way out was fine, but on the way home the Transco rep stood up & gave us his goodbye speech & then went through a checklist for the airport. No coral, no shells, no alcohol. We asked if alcohol would be OK as long as it is in your suitcase and he said “NO” due to the fear of terrorism & because of the Muslim/military nature of the airport, no alcohol could be carried in any luggage.

On arrival at the airport we & several other families had to sort through suitcases to unload bottles of spirits. The rep & coach driver volunteered to dispose of these for us. Some families were really upset as they had bought spirits on the outward journey to make sure they got what they wanted. On boarding the flight we complained that Thomson (who we flew with) should not have sold us spirits knowing we couldn’t bring them back. The stewardess looked confused. She explained she had travelled to Egypt plenty of times & brought back spirits each time.

We are in the process of making complaints & seeking compensation from Thomson as the transfer company are working for them & we want to see evidence that something is being done.

Would I return to Sharm el Sheikh? Yes, but not in August. Would I return to the Park Inn? No, it’s not 4 star although has some very good points (like the water park) however too many little things added up to a disappointing experience.

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Check out the Egypt hotel reviews section for more hotel reviews from travellers on package holidays to Sharm.