Having stayed at the hotel in March last year, it seemed an ideal place to go at short notice for a relaxing break. It was therefore very disappointing on arrival to be told that the hotel had no booking for us even though we had written confirmation to show them. The reception staff were not helpful or sympathetic at all. Fortunately for us, the rep from the taxi transfer company (TRAVCO) argued with the reception and, after nearly 3 hours, we were given a room (despite reception insisting the hotel was full). This was not an Ambassador room that we had booked but sufficed for one day until we were able to transfer to a fifth floor Ambassador room.

Since last year the hotel has introduced an all-inclusive deal but they do not give guests any passes or wrist band to show to the staff. This resulted in a number of queries with items being charged that should have been "free" with all-inclusive.

Over 90% of the guests were from Eastern block - mainly Russian. They certainly knew how to make the most of the all-inclusive and their hygeine habits was quite off-putting with the evening buffet.

It was also necessary to get down to the sun beds on the beach by 6:00pm (latest) otherwise they were all taken - again mainly by the Russians.

The hotel is in a very good location, the staff are very friendly and helpful, and the facilities are quite good. The rooms are reasonable size and acceptable - very clean. However, there has been a definite lowering of standard since last year and we are unlikely to return to this hotel again.

>We had a few misgivings booking this hotel after reading some of the reviews on this site but as things turned out our concerns were unfounded and we had a most enjoyable fortnight's stay.

>As independent travellers, we booked directly with the Intercontinental Hotels Group through their website and arranged our flights separately with British Airways which worked out considerably cheaper than any package deal and represented excellent value for money for the quality of accommodation. A couple of weeks before our arrival, we emailed the hotel to book their limousine service for US$15 which we thought was very reasonable considering that taxi fares can be vastly inflated for unsuspecting tourists. One of the hotel staff met us as soon as we got into the airport terminal building and escorted us to get our visas, onto immigration control and then picked up our cases and carried them through customs to the vehicle. The definition of the term limousine is obviously different in Hurghada to that elsewhere as the vehicle was a fairly long in the tooth Peugeot 406 but it was very clean and did its job - the journey took 10 minutes and the check in process was carried out in the car. On our arrival at the hotel, an assistant manager was waiting to greet us and escort us to the bedroom. Ours was a junior suite on the Ambassador floor - the top floor - which we assume is their equivalent of the club floor found at other Intercontinental hotels. While this may not have been as opulently furnished as rooms of an equivalent status worldwide, it had a nice ambience and we were happy with it. It was a bit larger than most of the other bedrooms on the floor with better quality armchairs and also a small dining table. There was a kettle with tea and coffee provided (though no milk) with a complimentary fresh fruit basket and bottle of water delivered to the room every other day.
>
>As we were booked on the room only rate, we chose to have breakfast through room service rather than to face the hurly burly of the buffet in the main restaurant and the American breakfast (UK£5) came with so much bread that it was more than enough for one. For our evening meal we flitted between Fish Market, al Dente and room service. The Fish Market had fresh fish on display which were cooked to order - a grey mullet worked out at UK£6.00, a gilt head large enough for two at UK£12.00 and an unidentified fish from the Red Sea almost large enough for three at UK£25.00 - and were served with rice or chips sand vegetables. They are known by different names in Egypt (eg denis and morgan) so you'll need to know your fish to work out what they are. Al Dente was reputed to be the best Italian Restaurant in Hurghada but the prices came as a pleasant surprise with the majority of main courses less than UK£10. The décor was nice and there was a live pianist every evening which added to the ambience. Room service had a reasonable menu but were happy to provide dishes found in the hotel's restaurants for in room dining. It too was very cheap (eg mixed grill at UK£5 and king prawns at UK£8) and we found dining on the balcony of our bedroom with its superb views a highly enjoyable experience. There was good quality entertainment every evening at the Captain's Bar with belly dancers and various dance shows (one Russian troupe reputedly costing the hotel US$600 for a half hour act) as well as the resident band. As other reviewers have already mentioned, the sound permeates to the bedrooms but we didn't find this particularly intrusive. During the day, the two beachside bars provide reasonable snacks and their mixed grills were far better than that at the Fish Market for the same price. Local beers and wines were at western European prices - the latter at UK£18 for the cheapest bottle is barely palatable. Our advice is to take your own as part of your duty free allowance.
>
>The hotel's facilities are excellent with a good sized pool, surrounded by well tended gardens and what seemed to be a man made beach - the sand was a bit thin in places which surprised us given that Hurghada is surrounded by desert and it would only take a few truckloads to remedy. There was plenty of daytime entertainment ranging from yoga type exercises (known locally as stretching) and aqua aerobics to water polo and volley ball. Other facilities included a gym and tennis courts which looked reasonable enough from a distance. Horses are also available for hire for either a hack through the hotel grounds or for lessons in the ménage and though we didn't try them out, one at least looked very highly schooled as the groom put it through its paces by the beach. There is a massage centre where the dearest treatment was UK£25 for 50 minutes with the masseuses, mostly Ukrainians, wandering around the beach during the day looking for bookings. There is also a small shopping mall within the hotel with jewellers and souvenir type shops as well as a bank and ATM. Our fellow guests came from the full spectrum of nations which make up the European Union together with a few Japanese, Americans, Croatians and Bosnians. Russians/Ukrainians were however in the majority though not overwhelmingly while the British contingent was very small.
>
>Outside, Hurghada is still developing and the area immediately outside the hotel is a bit like a building site with lots of construction work at the moment but should be very impressive when this is completed. The main road is several hundred yards from the hotel buildings along a private drive after passing through a security gatehouse which would put many border crossings to shame - good news for the security conscious. In fact security seems a lot tighter than at the other grander looking hotels in Hurghada. The nearest parade of shops is a few minutes stroll away selling the normal range of touristy items but also has an internet café where 30 minutes cost EGT£5 - a fraction of that charged by the hotel. About a 30 minute stroll further is the centre of town with McDonalds, more shops and a myriad of restaurants and bars. The weather during our stay (end of February-early March) was good - virtually unbroken blue skies with the lowest daytime temperatures of 25 degree Celsius and the hottest in the low 30s but became quite a bit cooler after nightfall which made a jacket necessary for warmth outdoors. There was also a strong breeze on most days which made it feel considerable cooler particularly in the shade but its worst effects can be minimised through judicious selection of sun loungers which on the beach come with windbreaks. These are reserved using the universal system of placing one's towel on them but the best ones are gone by 8.30.
>
>Concluding, overall we found this is a well run hotel offering a very good standard of accommodation and excellent facilities at very reasonable rates by UK standards - the cheapest rooms at the time we booked were priced at US$72 per night which makes it remarkable value. While it may not be as lavish as other Intercontinental hotels worldwide, public areas such as the lobby and the Captain's Bar still create an excellent impression of a quality hotel and we found it easy to overlook the few small imperfections. We are looking forward to making a return visit in the not too distant future.

Stayed one week end March/early April 2007 on so-called "all-inclusive" package.

Received large room on Ambassador floor with King-sized bed and good pool/sea view. Only shower/no bath. Can confirm comments of other reviewers about noisy evening entertainment until about 23.30 and poor electrics. However cleaning first rate.

Except for average breakfasts, food was extremely poor. Dinner poor quality and lukewarm buffets. Lunch on all-in package limited to burgers, sandwichs or frozen fish, or another lukewarm buffet. Suffered a 36 hour bout of 'Pharaoh's revenge' so doubts about hygiene as well.

Package only covered soft drinks, beer and (rough) local wine. Other drinks prices extortinate, even for a five star hotel (eg €15/£10 for a large G&T).

So-called Health Club is a joke. Gym has only a few cardio machines 2 treadmills, one bike, one skier, but I never saw anyone else using equipment possibly because A/C was never on.

One plus - good pool area and beach.

All in all, I'm surprised 'Intercontinental' allow their band to be used for this hotel.

clean hotel - very nice garden & pool - good diversified food - NO casino (closed don't exist anymore but name still there) we received room upgrade to villa with private pool - bathroom amenities are poor BUT overall good price-quality Group of 13 persons