I am writing this review on the last day of my stay at the Sheraton Sharm, because I am so excited to tell about it!
The Sheraton Sharm is located in Sharm El Sheikh , Egypt on the Sinai peninsula. The Hotel is a SPG Category 1 property. Before you even think it, let me tell you, its MORE than safe here. Sharm El Sheikh is a tourist area that is VERY protected , not only the city, but all the hotels! I have been here twice now and I feel extremely safe!
I will say straight away that the absolute best part of this hotel is the Staff! Besides the beauty of the grounds and the Red Sea, the Staff truly make this a fabulous hotel, as well as one of my favorite SPG properties around the world!
Booking
The Sheraton Sharm is one of the lowest priced SPG properties I have ever stayed in. To be exact, with tax I am paying $40 a night per room. I of course have 3 rooms to maximize my nights and points with SPG, all the rooms are costing me less than $120 a night.
I booked this hotel on the SPG app, like I usually do, and the rate included breakfast! Reminder, always book direct with SPG and most other hotel chains, as you reap more benefits, and are recognized for your status, etc.
A few days before my arrival I noticed on my SPG app that I was upgraded from a standard room to the Diplomatic Suite, room 701 to be exact. This is the same suite I had a year ago when I was here.
Arrival
There are very few direct flights to Sharm El Sheikh, so I connected through Cairo on Air Egypt. The Sharm airport is modern yet small and easy to maneuver. I contacted the hotel via Whats-app while i was in Cairo to ask for a taxi to be sent for me (website says $27 dollars but actual cost is $20). As soon as I walked out of the baggage claim a driver was standing there waiting for me holding a sign with my name, and quickly whisked me away to the hotel. The hotel is about a 10 to 15 minute drive from the airport.
As I did last time, I felt extremely welcomed arriving to the hotel, even though it was after midnight! There was of course no other guest waiting to check in so I was warmly greeted and checked in by the night manager. I was told they gladly put me in the same Diplomatic Suite as I had my last stay. The Night Manager obviously did his research on me and knew I was Vegan and had thoroughly prepared for me!
Check in was easy and , again I must stress, everyone I encountered treated me like a member of royalty and you could feel the warm welcome and genuine hospitality they showed!
The Suite
The Diplomatic Suite is located on the Lobby level , which is floor 7, as the hotel is built on a cliff, you enter the hotel on 7. There are only 3 or 4 rooms (Suites) on this level and there is a private entrance from the lobby, and even a private drive at the end of the hallway. All this for 3 or 4 suites. Its safe to say it is a VIP area and I am so appreciative for the SPG platinum recognition I received!
The suite is HUGE, with a large living room and office, a bedroom, and 2 bathrooms! One of the best parts of the room is the enormous balcony overlooking the Red Sea!
I will say, the rooms are not necessarily modern, and they could use a refurbish, everything works like its supposed to though and the rooms and the hotel are immaculately clean!
The rooms, and hotel is sort of stuck in time, and I will explain more about why later.
All the toiletries are branded specifically to this hotel, not just Sheraton, which is a nice touch! Everything you expect elsewhere was here for my use!
The Hotel
The Hotel is very very large! I undertsand it has over 800 rooms, although only 400 or 500 are currenlty open for use. The Villas and resort section is closed, but all ammenties and options are available within the open Hotel section.
The Hotel was obviously a grand jewel when it was built! The size and details are noticed everywhere. Like I mentioned before about the rooms, the hotel is sort of stuck in time. The reason for this is quite clear, there are no tourist. The hotel is at extremely low occupancy, as are ALL the hotels in Sharm, but I must stress, service, cleanliness or staffing levels are NOT affected at all! To be quite frank, there are many more staff than guests in this hotel, so you are very well taken care of!
It amazed me last time, as well as this time, the level of service, cleanliness and operation this hotel continues to provide with so few guests!
The Hotel is beautiful, and charming in its own way, like I said before, its a huge, grand hotel! The hotel is actually one of the grandest Sheraton’s I have ever stayed in, as far as architecture and beauty!
Its unfortunate that few of the really neat, unique features of the hotel are closed, for example the enormous waterfall that winds all the way through the hotel and down to the sea level. I can just imagine how beautiful an unique this feature is when operational, but its totally understand why its currently closed!
Winding through and beside the waterfall are trails and pirate ship like lookouts and cabins that one can still use, but the view is of a dry waterfall, still neat and pretty and relaxing place to walk and sit!
Amenities and Activities
Its obvious that the hotel is trying its best to provide things to do, and keep people entertained and occupied even under the current tourism situation.
The Sheraton Sharm has 2 or 3 open pools, one with swim up bar, and a few Jacuzzi’s, right in front of the red sea.
There are also many many palapas and beach lounge chairs to sit and relax on the red sea, along with ping pong tables, volleyball and much more.
Another awesome feature of the hotel is the coral reef that is directly attached to the beach. The hotel has a peer from which you can swim, snorkel and dove off of, and let me tell you, you stick your head underwater and its like being in a beautiful aquarium!
Animation Team
A feature of this hotel that I have not participated in, yet I appreciate it is the animation team. They have a team of several people that holds daily programs like excercise, yoga, palates. etc. They put on shows with dancing, and even take a nightly trip to a disco in town as a group, the cost is somewhere around $15, and I was told it includes a drink.
The Spa
Attached to the hotel is a huge, and I mean HUGE spa. The spa is apparently rented out to another company and to be honest is in need of many repairs (more so than the hotel itself), but I , like last time, took a few massages there, and although a bit pricey, it was ok. Lets just say the massages cost much more than my room did. I find myself dreaming of the possibilities of how fabulous that spa was, and could be again each time I’m in it!
Shopping Arcade
Off the main lobby is a small , 3 level shopping arcade that has various stores, and even a beauty / barber shop, and doctor. Its not much but one can pretty much get anything they need without leaving the hotel, I didn’t this time, and I was here 5 days!
Food
The food here is very good. I need to point out, as a Vegan, I am totally catered to by everyone in the restaurant and room service department, they are always very accommodating and helpful and it is much appreciated! I would be amiss if I did not mention the night shift room service supervisor / waiter, Adel , he is one of the most attentive , helpful and on top of it guys that I have come across in the service industry!
The hotel offers packages with just breakfast, or breakfast and dinner (Half-board). For each of those meals there is an enormous buffet with so many options to choose from, and the food is always fresh and very tasty.
Because of the situation I spoke about with the lack of tourist the hotel currently only has one restaurant open, even though they have many here. The way I understand it is the chefs from all those restaurants are now working together in the White Cruiser, main restaurant to offer almost if not all the options that all the restaurants offer when open. You can get Steaks, Italian , Asian, Arabic, and many many other types of food!
Maintenance, Cleanliness and Upkeep
I am amazed at the attention to detail this hotel offers. Never a cigarette butt in an ashtray, never a dirty dish left on a table, trash cans always emptied, marble floors you can see yourself on, it goes on and on. The staff here does an excellent job and keeping this place very clean and up-kept. Like I said, it sure could use a refresh, but they really do a great job with what they have, and I admire and respect their efforts!
Every day the lawns are mowed and flower gardens cleaned, its amazing how clean and manicured this property is, much more so than many newer SPG properties!
Points and Value
As I previously mentioned, I am paying less than $40 a night for each of my 3 rooms. With SPG you can get credit for up to 3 rooms as long as the SPG member is paying for them all and staying in at least one room. Why wouldn’t I take advantage of racking up so many night credits towards elite status. I also get a welcome gift of 500 points for each room, and something I am very impressed with, even though this is a category 1 hotel, they still offer 500 points for Green Choice. Many hotels, like the Sheraton Maria Isabel in Mexico city only offer 250, so I am very surprised and happy about this. I estimate I will get over 7000 SPG points for my stay and 15 nights towards elite status. All this for less than $400 dollars total.
Wrap-Up
I cannot stress enough how happy I was to return to this hotel, and how I was not disappointed! Even with the slight negatives, the hotel is one of the nicest and most welcoming hotels I have ever stayed. I will even venture to say that the staff and recognition here is on par with all the St. Regis properties I have stayed, its that good!
If your looking for a place to relax or a place to rack up SPG points and nights this is your place!
With the beautiful, famous red sea, great food and entertainment, this place is a winner in my book and I will be back!
I wrote a post about why I am not scared in Sharm, that you should read, because I feel very very safe here! PLEASE PLEASE don’t be scared to visit this magnificent place, you will not be sorry!
Thanks for reading and please, TRAVEL MORE!
