Marhaba is located very nicely near the train station. The big tourist-local market is only 1km away from it. The view from the roof is amazing of the Tombs of the Noble across the Nile river.

I stayed only one night at this place and had a trerrible time sleeping. There was only a two hour peace time during the night, otherwise there was constant loud noise in the vicinity. The bathroom did not have any shower curtains - only I know how I took a shower without a curtain :-( The next day we had to check out early, around 5 am, and the lift was not working so we had to carry our luggage 5 flights down!! (They did give us boxed breakfast though!!)

I would not recommend this place if one is staying for more than one night.

We picked this place based on the reviews in the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide tour books.

They both raved about the "fabulous" breakfast buffet and the glorious roof top bar.

First allow me to say that my wife and I live in Egypt. We are used to the "faded glory" that is common in hotels in Egypt. We can overlook dirty or torn rugs etc for decent rooms with clean, functional, bathrooms.

However, the Marhaba has either faded RAPIDLY since the guide book entries were updated, or they have paid off the guide books.

The fabulous breakfast buffet was a joke. No hot food, terrible beans (by egyptian standards) stale bread and corn flakes.

The roof top bar appeared not to have been cleaned since Sadat's time. Many cushions were missing. Of the cushions that remained, they were filthy and torn. I would not sit on them.

The "tent' fabric on the roof that was there to provide shade was also torn and ratty.

The "18 channels" or satellite tv did not exist. That may have had something to do with the cable connected to the tv being stripped of its connectors and the bare wires barely hanging on to the tv and the wall connection.

The shower head was clogged and had no pressure.
The shower curtain looked like a knitted cotton window curtain.
There was no waterproof liner, so the entire bathroom flooded when the shower was used.

Now if you didn't read the guide books and expected an average egyptian hotel (worn down, not everything worked properly) then this place is not that bad.

But for the price they charge and given the description in the guide books, it is a vast disappointment.

Here is the letter I wrote to Egyptian Tourist Authority regarding the hotel:

In the morning of October 17 in Aswan, I made a payment of 150EGP to the hotel where I was staying, Hotel Marhaba, for a day trip to Abu Simbel. The trip was to leave Aswan at 4:30am the following day. At 9:00pm that day I was informed that the driver had cancelled the trip and I got my money back. I tried to make alternate arrangement but it was already too late. I got up at 3:30am the following morning to arrive at the place where the Abu Simbel convey was assembling and asked to see if anyone would take me. The tourist police at the site was also helping. But eventually no one could take me. I went back to the hotel at 6:00am to ask them to arrange for me to get on to the second convey, which was supposed to leave at 11:00am. I also asked them to arrange for a flight. After much negotiations and finally at 11:30am they didn’t do anything. I asked them for compensation and they refused and told me I could report to the tourist police, which I did. I filed a report with them and left Egypt without seeing Abu Simbel and wasted a day in Aswan.

In addition to that, I also would like to report to you of the bad practice of Hotel Marhaba in Aswan. I arrived on October 16 at 10:00pm after a 17 hour bus journey from Dahab to Luxor and a 3 hour train journey to Aswan. I went to the hotel asking for a room and I was quoted US$45 per night. I negotiated it down to US$40 knowing that the official rack rate was US$70 per night (as it was posted at reception). The hotel was empty and I thought US$40 would be reasonable. I asked to see the room; the room was satisfactory and I left my luggage in the room and went down to the reception for paper work. At that time the staff told me that the rate was in Euros. I was too tired to argue or leave at that time and I took the room. I didn’t report this to the tourist police but I think you should know about it and hope that something can be done to prevent this from happening to me and other tourists.

I spent one night at Marhaba, in between two weeks of heavy travel throughout the country.

Impressions: The hotel was much bigger than I realized - with many floors and an enormous number of rooms on each. The management was very friendly. The room rate was good. And...there is free internet - a major perk in this part of Egypt. Also, the roofdeck is cool - with cushions set up to take in evening views of the city.

The room: The bed was comfortable, the room was enormous, with a TV, AC, a private balcony with a great view of the Nile, and a big bathroom. The bathroom was very, very clean. Marble floors and counters and nice soap were added perks. I slept great as well. The room itself could have been a bit cleaner and it did have a bit of a mildew smell to it...despite having marble floors. Overall it was good enough, but nothing more.

The restaurant: Lunch was terrible. BUT, breakfast was great: fresh pastries, juice, coffee, cheese, jams and honey.