Hyatt Regency Hyatt Regency

Rested at the Hyatt Regency in September 2007. The overall impression of the hotel is positive. The hotel is positioned on the market in the 5 plus category, sometimes it is called one of the best hotels in Sharm Al Sheikh, but alas, the expectations from what they saw did not materialize, the hotel corresponds to the level of ordinary 5 stars, in some respects it stands out from five-star hotels, but no more. Now more and in detail.

Airport, transfer, hotel accommodation, room, territory:

Before the trip to Egypt, I had heard enough about the customs and traditions of the Egyptians, and this helped me right from the first steps. Arrived, we were immediately met by Arabs who knew how to pronounce Russian words, they explained quite clearly where to find the bus. The name of the hotel Hyatt Regency among the local natives evoked a particularly respectful attitude, well, I think we are going to the palace in no other way. We got on the bus and drove off, our Arab guide greeted us with his Arabic greeting “Salam - alaikum ..
", then, with the persistence of a donkey, he sought to be answered adequately" Alleykum assalam ....”, repeating their Arabic greeting, our obedient compatriots greeted the native, I thought to myself, tolerance in this country would be required. The hotel is a 15-minute drive from the airport and a transfer is not particularly needed, it is more comfortable and faster for $ 13 to take a taxi.

Reception. At the hotel, several buildings when placing me were offered the most remote, there is nothing terrible in this, just the way to the beach and to the restaurant will take a little more time. I said that I was ready to pay for a closer room, my guide said in a conspiratorial tone that for $ 40, I would get a room where I wanted - "you need to put money in your passport and give it to the guy behind the reception desk", so I did and got the number where you wanted. The nature of the conversation reminded me very much of communication with our traffic cops. Anyway.
Once in the room, we decided to go for a walk and have dinner. We got to the restaurant, since it is two steps away, but the way back turned out to be more difficult, perhaps the matter was complicated by the darkness and the fact that I did not immediately remember the room number, but it was not written on the key card.

Looking ahead, I’ll say that the intricacies of paths, streets, passages in the hotel and our search for the route point we needed, on the first two days of our stay at the hotel, somehow reminded me of shots from the movie “The Diamond Hand”, when Mironov’s hero wandered through the narrow streets of Istanbul . We found the number. Where can I eat at the hotel and how no one really showed me and explained when placing me, then I figured out what was what, the staff speaks English, there is one Russian-speaking girl Polina at the reception.

The room is completely ordinary, the view of the sea is worthy, as promised, the peculiarities are that the hotel is apparently not new, it was built ten years ago, respectively, the furniture is quite heavily worn, not everything that should work in the room worked , in particular in our room: the TV remote worked, but at times, if you move the batteries with a deft movement, it came to life, the air conditioner should theoretically maintain the set temperature in the room, but in fact it worked in two modes - on / off, the shower worked, but the switch the position of the faucet-shower falls off, there is a hairdryer in the room, but it does not work, I looked at everything, at this and I think - “is this five stars? ". At first, even upset. Arabs react to comments and try to fix something.

From communication with compatriots, I realized that the situation in their rooms is similar.
There is Internet access in the room, I tried to understand how much it costs, the answers were different and vague, however, like many other questions, the east is a delicate matter, the essence of this statement is that they will constantly try to deceive, every time on trifles, even it's not about money, it's just somehow unpleasant to feel cheated, more below. As a result, it turned out that access to the Internet costs 3.81 local pounds per minute, which is about half a dollar, the connection speed is similar to dial-up access. The impression of the architecture and the territory of the hotel is pleasant. From a professional point of view, everything is done very well, the buildings in the hotel are six stories high, but I didn’t see six floors anywhere, everything is so cleverly designed and built on the principle of terraces.
The territory of the hotel is really green and large, as in advertising, but this does not mean that a Garden of Eden or something resembling a park awaits you here, just the territory of Egypt is a desert and growing here, not only a tree is just a lawn, is already an achievement, in a word, between there is greenery in the buildings, you can walk there, but this is not a park. There really are golf carts from the hotel advertisement, but the hotel staff drives them, they will ride you along with your luggage on the day of arrival and departure.
There are tennis courts, hard courts, squash courts on site, you can use it without any problems. There is a karting center near the hotel, I recommend visiting, the track is 1.5 km. , everything is organized at the level, first a semi-position race is held, the time is recorded on the scoreboard, then a 10 or 15 lap race, the track is built correctly, completely safe.

Beach, sea:

The sea is the best in Egypt, crystal clear, transparent, fish of all colors of the rainbow are everywhere, the feeling is that you are swimming in an aquarium. In order to see all this underwater beauty, it is not necessary to be an advanced diver, it is enough to master the mask and snorkel, everything can be bought or rented here at the hotel. The beach is sandy, clean without problems, the entrance to the sea from the pontoon, as elsewhere in Sharm, for children there is a small area for entering the sea from the beach. The seashore resembles a cross between a construction site and a sand pit, it cannot be called picturesque, the beach itself, as I understand it, was created by people, reclaimed from a hilly-mountainous coastal strip. But the sea, the sea compensates for the squalor of the landscape, the vast majority of vacationers swim with masks and snorkels.

Directly opposite the beach strip is a coral reef, it is not boring to look at and study it throughout the rest.
From 3 to 10 boats with divers sailed to our coral reef every day, they did not create any inconvenience. The presence of a coral reef, of course, distinguishes this hotel from a number of five-star hotels. Right on the beach there is a diving center for $ 100 you can make a one-time dive with an instructor, for $ 350 you can complete courses and get a license (rights), it takes 4 full days of training. Russian-speaking instructor in the diving center. Here, on the beach, there is a volleyball court and a restaurant. The number of sun loungers on the beach is sufficient, there is no shortage. In general, the hotel has a sufficient number of square meters on the beach, on the territory and more than in the usual five, as a result, there is a feeling that there are not many guests in the hotel, this circumstance distinguishes the hotel from a number of ordinary fives.

About the people staying at the hotel.
Talk about the fact that there are few Russians in the hotel is greatly exaggerated, the number of Russian-speaking percent is 20, this is immediately noticeable on the beach, - “Vasya, look at what kind of fish ... ”, there are also children, so anecdotal with obvious signs of obesity, naughty and vociferous with their parents in full composition, mom, dad, grandmother, they even eat on the beach, it’s surprising that they don’t bring food with them, such characters don’t add comfort, one such child with relatives on the beach creates a lot of noise. The audience in the hotel is mostly from 40 years old, different countries, Germans of course and other Europeans. Leaving your wallet right on the sunbed is not scary.

Hotel food and service:
Restaurants in the hotel, according to advertising, there is some amount, in fact: breakfast buffet, enough dishes, no complaints, Nescafe coffee in a coffee pot, all kinds of juices are present. Dinner.

You can dine in two restaurants - one on the beach, the second next to the pool, the menu is not large, but decent, if you happen to order FB, ask how many pounds you can spend on lunch. There is no buffet for lunch. Dinner. Buffet enough food, no luxury but everything is of decent quality, except for tea, tea is reminiscent of the drink that was poured on our trains in Soviet times. There is a separate restaurant, but you need to book a table there in advance. The third restaurant, which works only in the evening, is something like our food court in some shopping center, there is also a stage on which the natives perform every evening. The show is not outstanding, but with nothing to do, you can watch. There is no animation in the hotel.
The staff at the hotel are Arabs, I’m trying to find the right word, it doesn’t work, let’s say, trained like that, many know elementary phrases in Russian, apparently they are paid more here than in other places and this affects, it’s clear that they are trying, but, alas, This does not make them Europeans. Who are the Arabs? Remember Azerbaijanis from the market. Women in the city do not wear except that the veil, otherwise everything is like in the "White Sun of the Desert ...Zarina, Zulfiya ... ". Faced with the Arabs at the airport and in the city, you understand that here they are certainly more Europeanized, but still the Arabs, what is it? Now I'll tell you. Everything is known in comparison somewhere in the city, an expression like, - “Hey Russian, come here ... ” is in the order of things, of course there is no such thing here.

The staff at the hotel, mostly well-trained, but still you come across an expression on the faces of eloquently speaking, “infidels have come in large numbers ... ”.
I ordered an ordinary lunch - salad, juice, coffee, ice cream, but even among a small number of dishes, five times in 10 days, they tried to deceive me, not that I would look for discrepancies in the bill, but when there are only three or four positions , it is impossible not to see the discrepancies. Errors are corrected immediately and unconditionally. You just need to say that there is an error in the account. The speed of service is a separate song, they are not in a hurry, to put it mildly, the solution to the problem is extremely simple - the dollar is green, and literally, one dollar tip and the service is fast and without questions, it is only important that the waiter be the same and know that you tip.

In general, if you are properly prepared, there are no problems for staying in an Arab country, you can even have fun with all this, including the lack of price tags.
Total: the sea is wonderful, the rest is good.