Mahmoud El-Medany
Positives:
- The hotel facilities, including the pool and beach within walking distance, were indeed excellent.
- I will admit, the rooms were comfortable and pleasant.
Negatives:
- Let me tell you, the hotel was so unprepared for a fully booked session. The staff? Completely overwhelmed and downright unwelcoming.
- Can you believe it? We were slapped with a wrong room reservation for a room that wasn't even available! And don't even get me started on the constant issues with the room key system.
- Oh, and despite practically begging for additional items in my room, they couldn't even be bothered to address it.
- The restaurant? A chaotic mess. Endless queues just to grab a bite to eat, with staff nowhere to be found.
- Trying to reach the reception? Might as well have been talking to a brick wall. Unanswered calls left and right, and not a single bellman in sight, even during checkout!
- And those elevators? More like oversized paperweights. Half of them were out of service, making every trip a headache.
- As if things couldn't get any worse, the hotel had the audacity to refuse Uber pickups, pushing their overpriced private taxi service instead.
- And just when you think it's over, they have the nerve to knock on your door at the crack of dawn for early checkout!
Overall, my experience was a complete disaster. The incompetence of the operation and management team was beyond infuriating. Despite the shiny facade of the facilities, the sheer lack of hospitality and responsiveness from the staff made me feel like I was crashing someone else's nightmare vacation.
Jane Smith
Really nice hotel, staff really friendly, waiters really helpful, animation team very friendly and the activities around the pool just right. The pools are very well maintained and staff are always keeping them clean. Only downside is the buffet style restaurant.... there's not a lot of choice if you go later in the evening and it's very basic. Overall though very happy with everything.
Alex S
The place itself its not bad comparing to the money what you paying, but it’s always room to improve
A big dislike is that they were doing some construction work in other rooms such as painting and other stuff which cause a strong smell while you in the hotel
Staff were amazing
Probably they was the most tipped guys from me as far as I remember cos they really looked after me and my girlfriend bringing cocktails to the beach and even preparing our sun beds and reserving them for us
The bar man Ali ( think was his name ) not really remember, was brilliant
Looking after us and always with the smile on the face
Even the cleaner was lovely making the swans from towels and putting roses petals on our bed after start leaving him some tips
Food was not bad as well
So , I will say it’s worth for the money
Shaz
Update: wear beach/sea shoes as its very rocky in the sea. There is a heated pool. Towels are provided for the beach and pool. One free restaurant meal top floor, 😋 was lovely. Main buffet, bit busy and it's not mid season. Bathroom shower/shampoo provided. We had ground floor terrace in between pool and beach 2003 sunny side. Staff are brilliant always helpful 👍
Allen Shor
There are 10 things that are impossible in the Amwaj Beach Club hotel.
1. SWIMMING AT THE BEACH. You can walk endlessly, and the water will barely reach your waist. If you dare to embark on such an expedition, make sure to use water shoes, because the rocks will have no mercy on your feet. There is a pier you can use to delve into deeper waters, but it gets quite wavy, and you can hit a nearby coral (which happened to me, and a man with a bloody toe that I saw).
2. RELAXING AT THE BEACH. Ok... you can't swim at the beach, but at least you can relax there, right? Not really. There is always someone selling you something at the beach and pool areas. They are like mosquitoes on a hot and damp summer evening. As soon as you ward one off, another one appears with another proposal. It's like the finals of Shark Tank -- everyone is pitching something. The "beach pitch" could be fresh fruit, then another guy pitching fruit cocktails while you are still eating the fruit you bought earlier, then a photoshoot, tours, massages, camel rides, quad rides, you name it. I understand these guys are trying to make a living, but it really damages the experience. It seems like everyone in the hotel is trying to hustle you into something. I felt like I was always playing tug of war with them; they insist, I decline, they insist, I decline. I was tired of it by day 2.
3. NOT GETTING HIT BY THE RESTAURANT ELEVATOR. Watch out. The elevator doors close too early and can hit you while walking in. Not a big deal for me, but the prematurely closing doors hit my 1.5-year-old daughter on the forehead, leaving a bruise (she still has it a week later). My wife was also a victim of the overzealous Schindler elevator.
4. GETTING A DECENT DRINK. I rarely drink, so this was not a major issue. But I was curious to try the local drinks (not often do you see Arabic on a liquor label). I did not expect much from them, but they were terrible. The cocktails tasted like syrup. The local beer was decent though.
5. QUIET. I don't know how many people enjoy Pitbull (or similar performers) blasting at full volume all day in the pool area. I would like to poll every single visitor to see if they actually enjoy this. If they do, then I was definitely in the wrong place. The pool closest to the lobby is not so loud but all the other ones are overwhelmed by loud -- and very bad -- music.
6. PROPER LUNCH TWICE A WEEK. For some reason lunch is served in the food court by the beach and not in the standard restaurant on Sunday's and Wednesday's. It was impossible to find a table (especially in the shade). This area is 3x smaller than the standard restaurant making it suffocatingly crowded.
7. GETTING MY PHONE CHARGER OUT OF THE SOCKET. See my attached photo.
8. NOT SLIPPING IN THE POOL AREA. From all the choices of flooring, why did they choose the one they chose? I suppose price played an important role... nothing else can explain why they chose such slippery flooring.
9. GIVE THE FOOD A GOOD RATING. I found it ok, but my wife had stomach problems from the day she arrived until she left.
10. THAT HIS HOTEL IS 5 STARS. Claiming 5 stars while clearly being 3 stars is borderline deceitful.
Not everything was bad. The coffee at the lobby bar was great. Room service was good. I mentioned that water did not flush in the bathtub, and it was promptly fixed. The pharmacy across the street is very professional. Food during the Middle Eastern night was good. Third floor restaurant (make sure to book) view is terrific. Breakfast croissants cooked by Salah are fantastic. The weather was perfect (hot but breezy). Overall, you get what you pay for. This is a budget hotel, and you get budget quality. The hotel provides good value. But some things can be greatly improved.