Хорошо Good

I returned only on 12/16/2008, so the review is fresh.
I myself work in a 5 * hotel in St. Petersburg.
In Egypt, not the first time, to be precise, the sixth. Was in different hotels, mostly 3 or 4 *.
What I want to say, of course, this is not 5 *, on the strength of 3 * or 3 * +. The hotel is large and probably once really was great. Now everything is already outdated and tired, for good, it needs at least cosmetic repairs. The active sale of this hotel as 5 * by our travel agencies, in my opinion, is determined, firstly, by the number of rooms (837), secondly, by the presence of a la carte restaurants (there are 2 of them: fish and Italian), thirdly, by the location on the 1st line and a choice (if you want to swim in the lagoon with a sandy entrance to the sea, if you want, go to the reef and swim with the fish). The hotel also has its own small SPA (gym, massages, sauna, steam bath). She used only the gym - it is also necessary to update the simulators and make cosmetic repairs.

Service:
Accommodation at the hotel was quick, a room with a normal view and working plumbing was given immediately, without any additional payment. Then they called again and asked if everything suits me in the room, etc.
I don’t know, of course, all my friends tell me that I don’t need to tip, because everything is already paid for... I still left a tip in the room (as a result, change of linen daily, change of towels daily, unlike others), and the room was cleaned well.
In the lobby bar, I also left a tip to the waiter 3 times for the entire stay - but regardless of the number of people in the lobby bar (and there were many in the evening), the waiting time for drinks did not exceed 1 minute.
The rest of the staff was very smiling and friendly. Almost everyone speaks Russian, those who are not very good speak English, so there were no problems with understanding. They kept asking me if everything was ok and if I needed anything. At dinner, drinks were brought by themselves, without any waiting or reminding on my part.
Nutrition:

It may have played the fact that the hotel was not 100% full, but there were no queues for food. There was enough food, we didn't go hungry. As for diversity, you probably need to understand that this is not gastronomic tourism and dishes of author's cuisine will not be served here. For breakfast - a standard set of salads and vegetables, eggs, omelettes, pancakes, cheeses, sausages, various pastries, various cereals, porridge, fruits (melon, pomegranates, guava, dates, oranges. Lunch - to be honest, I didn’t go, so I don’t know Dinner - vegetables, salads, cheese, several side dishes (potatoes, rice, pasta, stewed vegetables, couscous), 2 different soups, beef, lula, turkey or chicken, fish, shawarma, various pastries and desserts, fruits ( the same as for breakfast + tangerines). Those who traveled along UltraAll included 2 more restaurants (Italian and fish), they say that especially in Italian it was very good. I never got there, because I had food it was enough.
Entertainment:
Animation on the beach is rather weak. Standard set: darts, boccia, morning exercises, aqua aerobics, volleyball, belly dance, latin. There was no water polo, as it was cool and hanging around in the water for an hour in the wind is not very cool. But, everything is rather detached and without much desire to lure vacationers (I will explain later what, in my opinion, is the reason). The animation included both Russians and guys from Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey and even Brazil. Every evening there were different shows, which were either prepared by the animators themselves (well done guys, they danced just super - especially Ashraf, Fedor and Elena), or someone was invited (fakir, folk show). The shows were not the worst, although I saw better (in Egypt I was 6 times and there is something to compare with).
Now for the cons. . .
The only, but the most important and huge minus is (I apologize to everyone in advance) our compatriots. The hotel, as already mentioned, is large, even with incomplete occupancy there are a lot of people. 95% are Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians. There was 1 German family and 8 Poles. What I want to say is that our people are a nightmare. This is booze from 10 am until late at night, this rudeness is constant both in relation to other guests and in relation to the staff, this is constant dissatisfaction with everything and everyone. This communication between themselves is only a cry. These are constant disassemblies and clarification of the relationship of some companies with others, reaching fights, the police were called 3 times in the 10 days that I was there. This is a familiar attitude towards the animators, they, as a result, tried to communicate as little as possible with tourists (although I have known some of the guys since 2004, although then it was a different hotel and the guys liked to communicate with guests.

Conclusion - the rest was good. The hotel did not leave negative emotions. And, now I will try, if possible, to choose a hotel with a minimum number of Russian-speaking tourists.