Palm Royal Resort, Safaga

although its a very luxurious hotel,with an amaaaaazing lobby decoration, it has so many disadvantages;on our 1st day we waited for more than an hour and half to find us a room although our reservation was booked a month ago, its located so far away in the desert away from any entertainment and shopping malls and city of hurghada , it has a service of a 3 stars hotels , the food was average , the menu remained the same for almost 4 consequent days, the toilets in the lobby have a bad smell and are not well cleaned, the hotel rooms although looks amazing , they r not well cleaned , the dust was everywhere on the floor and the balcony , i found a gecko in my room and they told me its ok cuz we r in the desert and i waited for half an hour till room service came. at night time we felt sooooo bored there is nothing u can do at all but stayying at the lobby to have some drinks and chat with ur friends, a bottle of water 1.5 litre costs us 17 egyptian pounds ; thats what i call theft , and moreover on the day we left some of my friends couldnt find their luggage , and after searching they found it thrown in the garden in front of the hotel lobby!!!!although iam an egyptian citizen but i really regret travelling 700 km from alexandria to safaga in vain, it was really a bad choice , i'd better went to the north coast or sharm el sheikh

The hotel is very large, imposing has a vast amount of room and is totally isolated. That said it could have been the ideal 'away from it all' holiday, had we and the majority of other guests not been struck down with severe Gastroenteritis. We were led to believe by the Hotel Doctor and Mark Warner staff alike that we were the only guests with this complaint! Yet on emerging from our rooms after several days of hiberbation realised the true extent of the problem. I would estimate that 80% of the guests were affected. Reading the on-line reviews it appears that this has been going on for more than 6 months. Our complaints by InterContinental Hotels have been completey ignored and the Mark Warner Management Team are very defensive trying to squarely place the blame on change in diet, weather etc. A number of people had to be placed on drips for re-hydration. Unless something is done about this very soon, I believe anyone visiting this hotel with a compromised immune system, particularly the very young or old could face fatal consequences. My advice is don't go, unless your only aim is to lose over a stone in a week! Once this is resolved, I would have no hesitation in recommending the hotel - lovely beach and idyllic waters, perfect for watersport enthusiasts.

Hotel: Great place for soaking the sun and the sea. Well managed with really pleasant and helpful staff. I think it is the greenest of all the resorts in Hurghada. Spacious rooms - great lay out such that almost all rooms have great sea views and balcony. Lying in bed watching the night-lights across the bay, or waking up watching the turquoise blue sea were such great pleasures. Shopping: WARNING: KEEP AWAY FROM THE HOTEL SHOPPING CENTRE. These are independent shop keepers who pay a rent to the Hotel. Because the resort is located a cool 50USD taxi trip from the nearest town and shopping center, they know people fall for the trap. And we learned from experience what a trap it was. Paid LE250 for 400 grams of Egyptian Hibiscus tea (Karkade) from the Hotel spice & exotic oil shop. Thought it was a good deal when we haggled it down from LE400. Only until when next day a manager at the hotel told us it costs no more than LE30 per 500 g!!!. They generally hike up the price some unbelievable 15 to 20 times what locals would pay. Then you haggle it down to half, they would still have ripped you off big time! And they do this at all shops there - mainly because they know that people who come to a 5* hotel are reasonably affluent, probably have very little local knowledge, and are trapped in the resort due to its remoteness from other shops, and lack of competition. Of course it is the basics of a free market in action - but to me this was sheer disgusting robbery. And they are exceptionally good at smooth talking, swearing in the name of God (God forgive them) and giving you a welcome drink and free gifts. Opposite the spice shop, there is a souvenir shop - that's even worse! Never ever seen such aggressive in your face selling and gut wrenching greed and rip off mentality. Worst is if you don't speak Arabic, the thought that they really laugh at you and take the mickey with their colleagues - or at least you feel like that. Left us with a real bad taste and spoiled two days of what was other wise good break, and really could not trust any of the locals any more. So, if you are planning to include some shopping in your holiday, you may wish to reconsider location of the resort. Or, if you really want to buy souvenirs, my advice is to try and include it in a paid excursion to Hurgadha (£25pp day trip) and venture in to the town bazaars - sure, they will all quote sky high prices - at least you have the choice of different shops to compare and decide. A third option is to try and get to know one of the local hotel staff (they all expect and get tipped any way - and ask them indirectly, how expensive are things etc - don't ask direct, or they will either not tell, or worse, stitch you up with some shop for commission!). Finally, unless you really know the value of something you are buying, or are desperate, never pay more than c. 30% of the price they quote. We also later found out that shopping at airport (departure) was a relatively better option - plenty of shops with lot of choices - and certainly prices more close to real life. To break our heart, we found the said tea bags being sold at fixed price of Egyptian Pounds 14 for 100g!! We were stupid and learned our lesson... Also, don’t fall for buying any exotic items (oils etc) they sell on the beach – not genuine. Food: We went on a half board package (buffet BF and Dinner). Plenty of choices, although nothing special to write home about (i.e., no exquisite top chef cuisine - clean and good food and plenty of it to keep you happy). Included meals can only be had from one restaurant (the main one - Cafe Stella) - but in fact, the others were always empty (Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Sea food - closed) - so I would not want to be the only customer there any way!

We went on a Mark Warner holiday, mainly for recreational kitesurfing. We got a great late deal, took own kit out. The hotel was really nice, however incomplete in parts especially the many ponds around the complex. Biggest negatives were the ridiculously expensive drinks/bar food. It was commented on by all guests. No water supplied so everyone forced to buy 2 litre bottles at GBP2 a go. There were a few people with stomach upsets throughout the week. If budgeting do what we did and just make up a load of baguettes at breakfast then sneak them out with a load of pastries - lunch can be free! Plus side was its windy so windsurfing was good however its very flat so can be dull, small chop especially first thing when its windiest can be found. The kitesurfing was brilliant, however Mark Warner dont cater for this so expect to be sent to the German Centre to kitesurf with additional £45 cost to cover kit storage and safety boat fuel. This wasnt explained by Mark Warner despite several telephone conversations prior to departure to confirm kitesurfing facilities. The Mark Warner waterfront team were great, gave good advice and coaching points, were helpful with launching/landing. We had a great time and hope to return later in the year. In summary - consistant high wind, warm sea, great sailing, expensive hotel with no nightlife but if you go at it on the water like we did you will be too exhausted to party anyway!

Visited Abu Somer and really enjoyed the holiday with plenty of activities to fill the day. My children really enjoyed the activities and the nannies were fantastic and very friendly and made the children's holiday. Food could have been better and to a higher standard (this is a 5* complex after all). I felt that the childcare staff though worked far too long hours for little pay and were fed poor quality food but remained positive, happy and cheerful in their work and care commitments. A credit to Mark Warner but their walfare remains to be improved. I hope this changes, would go again.

we went to Abu Soma in August and had the most wonderful holiday. The hotel is beautiful, the staff very friendly hotel and Mark Warner alike.The food at the start of the holiday was pretty average but improved as the fortnight went on. We found the food in the inclusive Cafe Stella better than in the places where you had to pay extra and also it was expensive. The room was huge and kept very clean and nothing was too much for the staff.The children had a wonderful time as did we, and we will be back.

the staff for the kids its very low i reaslly feel sorry for my kid that girl was depress simply wasnt good at all and my kids speak french they didnt want to go to the other kids club

Went on a Mark Warner Holiday to InterContinental Abu Soma. Before heading out to Abu Soma a read up about the resort and the review were not that good! I would just like to say that we had a wonderful time out in Egypt. The food at the Hotel was top quality and the service was excellent. I can't forget to mension the Mark Warner Staff on the Beach Front and expecially the Kitesurfing Team - Dan, Oli and Euan. Thanks for making our holiday so much enjoyable. If I could go back tomorrow I would be on that Plane! Thanks to all the Staff at Mark Warner. If you don't like windy places I would advise you to find another destination and the wind is excellent for kitesurfing and windsurfing. The pool's that have been drained down are not swimming pools. They have been drained down due to a problem with mosquitoes!! Other reviews were very missleading! From Nicky and Jayson Cunningham

loved the hotel found it very clean while the restaurant staff are very helpful there also slow and forgetful food excellent omletts cooked to perfection couldnt afford to drink at nights as drinks were very very expensive that would put me off going back reccomend buying drinks before you get there tennis courts were being resurfaced the week we went so dissapointed at that .

This is an extremely luxurious hotel but has no entertainment, no activities and is situated in the desert well away from any signs of life and is 50kms from Hurghada approx GBP 12.00 one way for a cab which takes an hour - so you are tied to paying extortionate prices like GBP 2.00 for a bottle of water or a can of coke and GBP 3.00 for a bottle of lager. It has some nice restaurants, Italian - pizza GBP 3.50, Greek & Lebanese main meals approx GBP 5.50 plus their buffet at GBP 12.00 - don't get caught and book in for dinner as it is far more cost effective not to as this hotel will only allow you GBP 8.00 to eat in their other outlets rather then the buffet which is charged in advance at GBP 16.00 - all prices are subject to Stamp, Service and Tax which adds approx another 25% to your bill. Most people were being hit by stomach upsets which appears to have been ongoing week after week. The beach is quite stoney as this is man made and all the sun loungers are plastic coated and get extremely hot. The swimming pool is massive but none of the water features are in operation. The bedrooms are large with balconies but the air conditioning cuts out as soon as you open the balcony door, these can not be opened from the outside as they do not have a handle. Any trips arranged by the hotel were extremely expensive and well overpriced.