Book This Hotel
Compare Rateswith OneTime
NEW!
Cairo Hotels: Reviews and photos of the Zoser Partner posted by real travelers and Cairo locals.
• 8 Photos
• 11 Reviews
• Satisfaction Index:
• 11 Reviews
• Satisfaction Index:
on July 10, 2006
With that said, there were some problems. One was with the taxi service (see below) Also, the area with the single elevator shaft can be a hassle if you are trying to go down from the 7th floor during a busy time. It lets people in who are trying to go the other way. For example, I was trying to go from 7 to the lobby. It let people on at the 4th and 5th floors and brought them up to 7. By the time it got to us, there was no space in the elevator with 16 bags and 5 people. Rather than pick us up first, the elevator let them in, bring them up to our floor, and then bring them down. I would suggest getting a room near the corridor with 2 elevators to avoid this if you are high up. These only open up if you are going in the desired direction.
Pros: Not too far from pyramids, good pool, good room service
Cons: Some dishonest people working in support services, illogical elevator programming
There is a mall across the street with a McDonalds and some other places to eat. The only problem is that the road can be extremely busy and dangerous. There are no crosswalks, no traffic light, no pedestrian bridge, and no tunnel. You have to cross that road to get there. When traffic is at its worst, it may as well be the Grand Canyon between you and the mall.
We did have a problem with the onsite taxi service. We approached the taxi desk with an itenerary of stops we wanted to make and clearly explained the itenerary before leaving. He agreed to a price, and we left. He did not even know where the Nilometer (one of our stops) was, and took us to the Opera House instead. We were hiring the taxi based on total elapsed time. From the beginning, we told him where we wanted to go and in what order we wanted to visit the sites. Rather than tell us he did not know the location of the Nilometer, I guess he omitted this detail until it was painfully obvious he did not know. So we had to skip that stop. When we visited the Khan al-Khalili market, he agreed to pick us up at a certain point after an 1 and 15 minutes. We were barely 15 minutes late to the spot when he waved from the other side of the street and walked us back to where the taxi was parked. He claimed he received a parking ticket from the police and that he had to pay 20 LE to park. The car was parked on the side of the road, and there was no paperwork or reciept for any parking or any ticket. Back at the hotel, I was generous (maybe too generous) and paid him for 6 hours despite the fact it was really about 5 1/2 hours and despite the fact he wasted time taking us to the Opera and a couple of unsolicited stops. When I paid him, he tried to get me to pay for the phantom parking ticket and the "parking lot" fee. When Sheri mentioned discussing this with the tourist police, he backed down. I guess my point is, be careful about taking a taxi. They are after your money and seem to have selective hearing when you explain the service you actually expect and where you want to go.
I had also hired a driver to take me to the pyramids. He tried to stop at a couple of places to convince me to shop and/or ride a horse or camel. My explicit instructions were to bring me to the pyramids. If you hire a cab, make it clear to them that you do not want to make ANY stops. It may or may not work, but at least you tried.
