Постараюсь быть объективным I'll try to be objective

I will immediately note the main feature of this hotel (however, probably, like many others in Taba) - its isolation. That is, it stands on its own and there is nothing around ...There is nowhere to go, and you will spend your entire vacation exclusively at the hotel (with the exception of excursions, of course). If you like "youth", party rest - it's better to look for another option. There will be a disco in the hotel - but its own, home-grown - animator's.
The hotel is a 2.5 hour drive from Sharm El Sheikh Airport and about a 45 minute drive from Taba. If it is possible to choose the airport of arrival - consider this. The hotel itself is located in a rather picturesque place - on the shores of the Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea, behind the hotel there are beautiful mountains. On the other side of the bay you can see the mountains of Saudi Arabia.
Looking at the photos of the hotel on different sites before the trip, I was all surprised - on some of them - the boundless sea, on others - the mountains are visible beyond the sea, and they seem so close that you can almost swim to them. He blamed someone's passion for photoshop for everything, but in fact everything turned out to be just that - on another day the mountains are very clearly visible, and literally the next - as if they were erased with an eraser! At the same time, the weather was sunny on that and the other day - not a cloud overhead. Such an interesting area : ) At home I measured the bay on the map - 15-20 km to the opposite shore.


The rooms correspond to 4 * - everything you need is available, but simple and no frills. But if you are traveling with three people, instead of an extra bed, they will bring an absurd plank folding bed ...And two will have normal beds. Is there a safe in the room. The toilet has a hair dryer, a full bathroom, not just a shower. There is no separate shampoo and soap - only a container with liquid soap hangs on the wall.
The plumbing worked well. The rooms were cleaned daily, only the replaced towels were not always white, and seemed to be from different sets. Two Russian channels are broadcast on TV (RTR-planet and Channel 1 - the program for the current week can be downloaded from their websites), and another Russian channel is a music channel. In my opinion, it was even sporty.
Almost all rooms overlook the pool and the sea. Well, except that on the first floors it may not be visible because of the vegetation. From the buildings to the beach to go somewhere a couple of minutes.
The hotel area is very green, and landscaping work is still underway (I went in December 2008), but only cosmetic - sowing grass where it is not. Around palm trees, shrubs with flowers, there is a whole garden of cacti. All plants are watered centrally - through a hose system (which was just masked by a lawn) with tap water. The smell is pleasant.
It's no secret that some Egyptian hotels use wastewater for irrigation ...In this hotel, this is fortunately not the case.

Only one moment alerted in the planning of the territory - quite recently a whole grove of palm trees was planted on the beach. When I drove, they were still "unpacked" - with bound leaves - like candles. Their purpose is not entirely clear, because the beach should still be an open place, especially if the hotel is on the east coast. When the palm trees bloom, they will simply block the sun ...Apparently, the new owners of the hotel (more on this later) saw such a reception in some hotel in Sharm (facing south), but did not take into account the different location of this particular hotel. By the evening, when it is already possible to sunbathe safely, we had to move the sun loungers so as not to fall into the shadows of the palm trees. And when they bloom ...on the beach in general, in the late afternoon, sunbathing will not work.

Now about the beach itself.
Entry into the sea is very difficult - and do not even try to enter for the very first time - for reconnaissance, without special shoes. Sunset rocky and a lot of hedgehogs. Special slippers are sold in the hotel shop for $ 10 - you will find it cheaper at home - take it with you. It would be right to make some kind of pier or pontoon, but ...there is not even a hint about it. There is only a section, fenced with posts with wire, on which it is written in Russian "do not swim" ...A fairly decent coral reef begins 5-7 meters from the shore. Be sure to bring (or buy locally) a snorkel mask. Snorkeling at this hotel is perhaps more relevant than swimming on the surface - only tubes stick out of the water instead of heads : ))))

I'll also check the weather. Not for everyone, but still. Going to Egypt in December, I was traveling with a sweater and an attitude to the wind, which everyone was talking about - both managers in the travel agency and acquaintances and reviews on the forums ...
But when I arrived at this hotel, I did not feel a breeze! Of the 9-day stay of day 4, there was a complete calm (! ) of day 4, a light, barely noticeable breeze blew from the sea, and only on one of the days it was quite noticeably stormy, which did not interfere with swimming at all - and even vice versa, allowed at least one of the days of stay on the sea to sway on high-grade waves : ) Maybe you just got lucky with the weather, or maybe it's the merit of the hotel's location - surrounded by mountains. In any case - in October (considered a comfortable season for Egypt) in Hurghada (Safaga) a more noticeable wind was blowing than in this hotel in December.

So, this was a review about the hotel itself, in its unchanged part. And in general, it would be possible to put a solid 4, but ...the orders, and the people working there, do not allow this to be done ...


So, in order about the orders in this hotel at the end of 2008 (maybe later something will change for the better).
As already mentioned in previous reviews, the hotel was bought by Pegasus, and now it is not Holiday Inn, but Holiday Taba.

Water in the room. If you are traveling on an all-inclusive basis, and you think that it is really "all inclusive", you are mistaken - you will need to buy water in the room yourself. Such are the orders here! Upon check-in, you will be given a bottle per person and that's it! In the future, water will have to be bought. Moreover, the hotel is isolated - there are no shops nearby - and you will have to buy water at the bar in the same hotel and at a price of ...2 dollars. In any store in Egypt, water is sold for 2 pounds, here, like this, at six prices, and there are no options. So keep that in mind when planning your travel budget. When trying to pour water into a bottle from a cooler, a manager with a wild face runs up, snatches it from his hands and defiantly throws it away. And at that moment, his face lights up with an impudent, haughty smile....

Check out.
If your check-out time is later than 12 noon, and you are renting a room as expected, but hoping to use the hotel services for the rest of the day, then do not rely on it. Your bracelet will be cut off and you will not be able to use anything in the hotel! All! You have been evicted! You are nobody else here! All inclusive for some reason also ended at 12 o'clock! To make it last you need to pay 30 dollars per person ...

Wine. If you prefer dry wine to other drinks, then forget about your preferences. Wine in this hotel is only in the restaurant, in other bars it was not as a class. However, having tried it once, I didn’t want to take it even there - it was very mediocre. But it's not even that, but the bottling. The most greedy bartender pours half a glass (one hundred grams) each and controls that no one from one company takes two glasses each. In front of me in line, a woman took two "(half) glasses" of wine while talking to a man standing next to me.

The bartender refused to pour this man at all - saying - your wife has already taken two glasses! And so it is with almost everyone! From this attitude, the bar has always had a disgruntled queue, communicating in raised tones, provoked by the bartender. Having seen enough of his behavior, I decided not to spoil my vacation and pour drinks on my own from the coolers, without even going to the bartender. And apparently there were a lot of people like me - there were sorely lacking glasses ...
In fairness, I note that in other bars the situation was quite normal. And in the pool bar, one can even say excellent - the bartender was polite, friendly, he treated all requests for topping up and overflowing with understanding - whoever asked for what - poured as much. Made good cocktails. Unfortunately, the hotel has problems not only with wine, but also with tonic. The traditional gin and tonic is replaced with a digin with sprite, which is not at all...
The only decent option from classic cocktails is rum and cola. Basically everyone consumes it : ) Well, more or less interesting cocktails at the bartender on the beach, as I wrote above.

A separate song - excursions and guides. These are two inseparable concepts - selling excursions - their main occupation - you ask them what time it is or where the tennis court is - they will certainly ask you if you have thought of anything about their exorbitantly expensive excursions. The situation here is the same as with drinking water. One to one. Pegasus is the only operator from which you can go on excursions from this hotel. There is no alternative, and if you do not take care of your rest (excursions) in advance, you will be forced to overpay them. And for some reason, their prices are even higher than the prices indicated on the official Pegasus website (an excursion to Israel is $ 20 more expensive! ). Apparently all because of the same monopoly.
It's no secret that many people go to Taba to go on excursions to Jerusalem and Petra - because of the proximity of the border. These excursions are quite expensive and monopoly guides are generally sky-high.

Yes, there is nowhere to leave the hotel, and an alternative can only be found by going to a nearby town. Or take care of this issue in advance and arrange excursions on the Internet. I personally did just that. I climbed through travel forums with reviews, was amazed at the difference in prices, and settled on the services of a certain Abdullah. I wrote him a letter - he sent his prices and programs of excursions of interest, as well as his phone number. Upon arrival, I sent him an SMS with the room number - he called back to the room and discussed everything in more detail - when the bus will pick up, when to pay, etc.
Of course, it was scary, because I was guided only by reviews on the Internet, but everything went more than safely, not counting the wolf looks of the guide mafia, apparently, among other things, listening to phones in the hotel !! ! The trip was well organized (I went on an excursion to Israel (Dead Sea + Bethlehem + Jerusalem)), with a Russian guide and completely according to the same program as the others. I was pleasantly surprised by the care of Abdulla - who collected breakfast for everyone, and called back everyone who was collected at the hotels - is everything in order. By the way, even about breakfasts: on the penultimate day, Pegasus postponed our flight 12 hours earlier, and we left at night with a hotel ration, which contained: three simple rolls collected from dinner (a sausage stuck to one! ), a rotten (! ) orange and a box of juice. Of course, everything except the juice had to be thrown away.
Abdulla also had a box of juice, croissants (in factory packaging), a pack of chips, fresh tortillas, a box of jam, cheese and a bottle of mineral water in breakfast! Feel the difference! Yes, there was also a pomegranate. Ripe and juicy. True, they did not dare to eat them on a trip - the fruit, inconvenient for butchering on the road : ), was brought back to the hotel, but still nice. In general, if you decide, his e-mail: abdulla1975@mail. ru - you can refer to me and my review. Why not make an advertisement for a person who does his job responsibly, well, and with soul. I recommend reading reviews and tips on this excursion on the Internet before traveling to Israel. It won't be redundant. I only note that be sure to take warm clothes with you. On the border between Egypt and Israel, you will have to spend several hours at night - a rather serious check at the Israeli customs. And in Jerusalem itself, the weather is unstable.
At 10 in the morning it was warm and sunny, and in the evening it got colder to 12 degrees and it began to rain ...This was the weather in the first half of December. On this, perhaps, the review will end. I wish everyone who reads to have a good rest, and remember - your rest is in your hands!