Aida Sharm Hotel

I'd never hated a hotel until I stayed here.

I don't even know where to begin with this. I'll start with the most serious problem: the staff. With the exception of one guy working one morning at 3am, the entire staff is unfriendly and downright shifty. The guests are something for them to endure, not help, and one of them almost rolled his eyes when he saw me approaching the reception desk. Further, if you have a question or problem, they just tell you whatever they think will most quickly make you go away or hang up. Here are examples:

EXAMPLE 1:
Our air conditioning was broken, and after being told several times over the course of two hours that maintenance will be there in 5 minutes, we simply stood at the reception desk and waited until they actually made the call to maintenance.

The maintenance people showed up a bit later, but they didn't speak English, so I wasn't able to explain the problem to them. They made a half-hearted fix-it attempt and left. The next night, we went through the same ordeal, trying again to get it fixed. After about an hour, we tried the waiting-at-reception routine again. This time, we waited for about 30 minutes until we just asked the staff to tell us straight out whether maintenance was actually going to come, so that we can stop wasting our time. They said sorry, maintenance wasn't going to come.

It was at that point that I sought out the manager and explained the staff problems. He made a call and maintenance showed up 5 minutes later. The employees were apparently hoping we'd just go away and forget about it.

EXAMPLE 2:
The staff lies. Upon overhearing something about a free dinner for guests one night, my girlfriend went to the restaurant and asked about it. The restaurant clerk checked the list for my name and room number and said yes yes, it was free for us, I could come down anytime and eat for free. So I did. But the food selection was awful, so I just ate a couple of bites and got up to leave, only to be told by the clerk that I owe money for the meal. I complain to him about it, my girlfriend does the same, he says that the manager told him to charge us (which was a lie, as I later found out). I go to the manager (again), explain the situation, we bring in the clerk, he says that yes, he told my girlfriend the food was free, but he didn't tell that to ME. What? Anyway, the clerk leaves, the manager says he will punish him for lying, but that he still has to charge me for the meal. Why? Because HIS general manager told him there was no middle ground when it came to bills. Whatever. $14 for a few bites of pasta.

OTHER ISSUES:
Out of 5 supposedly onsite restaurants, I could find only two. One was a simple poolside bar. The other had a "panoramic" view, as advertised, but it was a view of the pool; it also had a breakfast and lunch menu catering to the primarily Russian and Polish tourists who stay here. The breakfast buffet was 90% desserts, nothing redeeming or healthy.

The free wi-fi didn't work during our stay. I doubt it's ever worked, really. You can pay to use their internet-connected computer, though...

The rooms were big enough, but the bathroom could have been a little cleaner. It smelled slightly of the sewer, and the door didn't close. As I said, the AC didn't work for us and for many others. Other people apparently didn't have working water.

Twice each early evening, they clear the pool and outdoor area and flood the place with noxious smoke from a handheld blower, presumably to get rid of Mosquitos, but it didn't really work. They still somehow got in the room and I woke up the next day with my legs and arms covered in bites.

SUMMARY:
I've stayed in hostels and enjoyed it, so I didn't have any high expectations for this place. Nevertheless, I hate it and the people who work there.

By the way, the Aida group that owns the hotel has a website of sorts, but none of the contact information on it is valid...

Unique Quality: It is unique in that this is the worst place I've ever stayed in my life, and I will always associate Sharm el Sheikh with disgust because of it.