На заметку туристам Note to tourists

I'll start my story about the Elaria hotel with a preface. In Egypt, my wife and I are resting for the fourth time. We can safely call ourselves sophisticated Egyptians. The first time we were in the 3-star El Samaka, in Hurghada. Then everything was in the same Hurghada at the Sofitel hotel, and for the third time we flew to Sharm at the Hilton Waterfalls. In this report, I will omit the comparison of holidays in Sofitel and Hilton, it will be painfully there will be a higher class of hotels.
All these times we worked with the same tour operator in Kyiv, referred to as the Tourist Royal Club. So far there haven't been any problems with them. True, there was one moment when one of the managers sent us to Turkey in the “strong four” Sinatra, which turned out to be a weak middle peasant by Turkish standards. But then we wrote off the season.
What happened this time. The prices for Egypt went up unreasonably, and when we came to the operator, we named the amount of $ 2.000, around which the ticket should have been. The manager (by the way, the same one who sent us to Turkey) began to search and said that Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh were no longer available. She suggested Taboo, honestly telling what kind of sad place it was. Despite the fact that we fly quite often, 1-2 times a year and have visited not the worst hotels, we are not particularly picky. We do not pay attention, like some people, to how badly the janitor smiles in one hotel or what terrible chairs at the reception in another. And we got used to trust people with whom we work not for the first or second time. Therefore, when the manager expressed delight about the fact that there is a ticket to Elaria "only" for 1950 dollars, we did not even begin to doubt. Although I saw with my own eyes next to the Hilton with the same terms and conditions for only 150 USD. expensive. The price of the issue, you see, is insignificant.

We flew to Taba. Starting from the airport, we were convinced of the veracity of the words about this wonderful place. Around the desert, along the highway you will find no markets, no shops, only valiant soldiers of the Egyptian army with machine guns. And when they began to finish delivering them to hotels, we were seized by a slight panic. The fact is that we were the only two of us on the bus in front of this hotel. Then I began to suspect that the Arab who put us on the bus was cunning, saying that Elaria is the best hotel and smiling slyly...
Acquaintance with the hotel. Reception. Pretty nice place in Elaria. It seemed that we were not expected there at all. Well, okay, we, and not offer the services of a porter to the old Englishmen, who, poor things, dragged their suitcases to the room... The top of the service.
Number. In principle, quite large, on the first floor. However, an extensive fungus on the wall in the room immediately caught my eye. Obviously, there is no health benefit in this.
Dinner. When we arrived at it, I thought that we were either late, or vice versa, we arrived too early. I took a closer look, no, it seems like people are sitting, eating something... But this “variety” of food is not something that surprised, but shocked. Pasta, rice and chicken. And all this is not the first or even the second freshness. I think that it was about the third day, or even older... Well, the vegetables (which I mainly ate) also looked rather unhappy.
Afternoon nap. The room was located on the first floor. You can enter it from the balcony, which is accessed by steps from the street. What did the Polish aunt when we tried to sleep after a sleepless night. From our condemning glances, she realized that she had not come to her home and left where she came from. Trying to sleep #2? It wasn't there! I locked the door to my room. The chain did not stay on the wall and I wrapped it around the castle 2 times. And then there is the sound of the door opening. Janitor. . . Well, there are no signs like "Please do not disturb" in Elaria by definition, but why unwind the chain? ! I get up, get dressed... And he looks at me and says in surprise, but confidently: “Clean! ” I had to explain to him that at 5 o'clock in the evening people don't usually do wedges. The same situation was repeated daily, despite all persuasion.

Back to the preface. Why did I mention the El Samaka 3 * hotel. It was all about comparison. And after evaluating the territory, service and food, there is only one conclusion: Samak is an order of magnitude better. And on the beach in Samak you can swim without any problems, without fear that the passing Bedouins will whistle something from you. So how many stars Elaria should honestly have, one can guess.
On the second day of our stay in this wonderful hotel, we started having stomach problems. It came down to fever, vomiting, and so on. I’ll make a reservation right away that we didn’t drink tap water and didn’t use unwashed fruits. The reason is solely in nutrition.
Having seen enough of it all and realizing that there was no other way out, my wife and I decided to change the hotel by any means. I did not take the business card of our Kiev manager, so I began to call on my mobile. Out of zone. SMS has not been delivered to this day. Gathering our courage, we went to the Pegas hotel guide (it was this company that was our operator in Egypt). Marco (that's the name of the guide there) immediately went to meet us, saying that he didn't need to be told about the reasons for the resettlement, we weren't the first. I can only say warm words about Marco. The person really does his job with high quality, and without any hint of “gratitude”. And the fact that he was looking for us places in another hotel for 3 days is not his fault. We got right at the height of the season… We met with Marco 2-3 times a day and talked on the phone, he constantly kept me informed of developments. Moreover, only during this time 6 people approached him with a similar request about changing the hotel. However, the trend… As a result, we ended up in the 5* Hyatt Regency hotel. But that's a completely different story.
For the first part of the holiday, I would like to express a separate “thank you” to the manager of the Royal Club for knowingly false information. She lost two regular customers.

Well, for tourists who are going to fly to Egypt, a few tips: When choosing a hotel where you are going to spend a precious vacation, it is advisable to look at the name of the hotel. If this is a world-famous hotel, and funds allow, then there is nothing to think about. In this case, it's not just a brand, they keep the brand. If it is not possible to go to the Hilton, Sofitel, etc. , but you still want to fly, then you need to do this: Listen carefully to the manager's suggestions. Write down the name of the hotel that he suggested, do not sign anywhere and do not pay anything, but come home, go online and study the market for hotels that are in your chosen place (including the manager's offer). It is your right. With the results obtained, return to the operator's office and continue the dialogue already fully prepared. Remember: your money and your comfort are of most interest to you.