Caro,
Some reviews here for you:
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/

HTH

Van

HI THERE

ME AND MY CHAP ARE STAYING IN THE GRAND RESORT TOO! (HURGHADA) FOR 2 WEEKS OVEREASTER. WE HAVE ALSO BEEN LOOKING FOR ANY INFO. THERES ONLY THE LINK ALREADY GIVEN TO YOU THAT HAS ANY INFO ON THIS PLACE.

Hi Cathsob
Have you seen the following website redseadivers.com ? They have plenty of information this hotel. There is some information on tripadvisor.com (not good - refers to Hep A outbreak last August)and if you 'google' the hotel on worldwide sites you can translate German sites. Not too concerned about the comments about Hep A - am vacinated and the hotel should have brought things up to scratch if still being used by UK operators. Looking forward to holiday in 2 weeks time![/url]

Correction to the above post - the website should read redseahotels.com NOT redseadivers.com. Sorry!
Caro

thanks for the website-looks gorge on there.
Have a fab time and be sure to give us a few tips when you get back of where to go/what to do, etc. I won't worry abou tthe Hep A thing sa if it was still a problem now we probably would have been advised not to go.

THanks

If you have any specific queries regarding this hotel or Hurghada please let me know and I'll endeavour to find the answers for you. Travelling tomorrow - just getting excited about the thought of leaving this damp, cold country behind. Need a bit of solar therapy!

Dear Cathsob
My sister and I stayed at The Grand Resort last March, we had a great time.
The hotel is huge and made up from the new side and old side. It lives up its name and is very 'grand'.
The rooms are amazing, very spacious, we had a standard room on the ground floor. The bed was outrageously big and had a nice canopy over the top.
One thing that we werent prepared for was the wind. Apparently the resort is at the windiest point in Hurghada. You seem to notice it more at night when it can get quite chilly (but this was early March and the wind drops throughout the summer season). But during the day the weather was lovely. We sat around the pool most days, the vibe was very relaxed and members of the animation team are on hand to give massges around the pool.
The beach is across the road, you gain access from sister hotel The Grand, the beach is great with clear waters, the sand is quite shingly but most beaches along the red sea are.
We were half board and ate at the hotel most nights, our tip is the italian restaurant in the hotel 'shopping centre'. Great food at about £10 per head with wine.
Nightlife tends to stay around the hotel, we went downtown a few nights which is about 20 mins away by taxi. There are some restaurants along the strip mostly Italian. There are some nice shops amongst the usual tat.
Overall we had a great holiday, very relaxed which was just what we wanted.

thankyou very much for the info. Feel more at ease now.

Just returned from a great holoiday at this fabulous hotel. Full report to follow. Cathsob, I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Nice one Caro, I eagerly await the report!

Cathsob

Have now added hotel review - anything not covered please ask and I'll try to answer specific questions.

Whilst there we did 2 trips with Mytravel group - day trip to Luxor (£65) and snorkelling trip (£20). Both were very good and excellent value.

The Luxor trip left very early. However if you book an alarm call at reception they provide you with an early breakfast pass. At breakfast they also provide you with a bottle of water (thoughtful touch is that they give you this as you go in so they ensure you have water with you on your trip) and a box which you can fill up with goodies to take with you as snack. The coach travels in armed convoy to Luxor where there is a visit to the temple at Karnak. After this there is lunch by the Nile, a boat ride across it to the West Bank and a visit to the Valley of the Kings. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes and apply sun block in the coach - you will not get a chance to do it while you are there. The guide was very helpful and knowledgeble.

The boat trip was very good too. Two snorkelling stops at sea, sunbathing at Giftun Island. The boat was incredibly clean and lunch excellent. The tour leader accompanied people on the first snorkelling trip stopping to point out different fish etc. The only drawback was having to climb off the boat at Giftun Island - quite tricky for the less agile which meant an older couple had to stay on the boat though they were well looked after on board!

Advisable to take protection against mosquitos - for the first time ever I became dish of the day for the local mossies!

Caro:

The reports are great. Sounds lovely. Hope you get this reply before Friday when we go but there just a few more questions I wanted to ask...

1) Is there an iron/presser in the room/available for hire?

2) Whats the dress code like at night in the hotel? (eg: men wearing shorts or trousers? women wearing dresses or jeans/trousers??!)

3) Would you recommend going down town at night? Or is it beyond safe?!

4) Is there any other nice beaches to venture to or is there just the Sister Hotel's private beach near by?

5) Did you take Us Dollers or Egyptian Pounds?

6) Whats the average expected tip for waiters/porters, etc

Thanks so much, glad you had a lovely time.

Catherine x

Hi Catherine,

In answer to your questions:

1) Don't know if you can hire iron but just ask at reception. If they don't have them the laundry service is very good and cheap. I didn't pay for express service but still had the clothes back the same day - though I wouldn't count on this on the last day just in case you have to leave half your wardrobe behind!!

2) Don't recall seeing men in shorts at night but wasn't really looking! Fairly mixed dress code from casual to more formal. Sure you could get away with jeans and fancy top!

3) We only travelled into Sakalla once at night but would have done it again had we had the opportunity. It was quite lively and we had fun in the shops and then drank coffee in a bar frequented by locals - felt quite safe despite being 2 middle aged women without our husbands in tow. Caught the bus there and back. Your rep will advise you to watch for scams, ie. pretending you gave a smaller note than you actually did etc. The bus driver asked us to change some money for him and gave us a wadge of notes - we just declined and said we didn't have the note he wanted rather than risk being ripped off.

4) Only used the Grand beach once though it was quite pleasant. Was told by hotel staff that Siva Grand Beach has an even better one and can be used as well but we didn't go there. As you leave the hotel turn left - check with hotel to see if its within walking distance and whether you can use towel card there.

5) Changed a small amount of currency here (get better rate there) and used credit card to obtain money from ATM just across the road. Was aware that there is charge for cash withdrawals on credit card but I was able to register it for use in Egypt before I went. There is a money changing desk at the hotel. If this is shut reception will change small amount for you although suspect rate isn't quite as good.

6) The norm at the hotel is to sign and settle the bill on leaving and prices say they include service and tax. However we normally left about 10% of what we signed for if we had suitable notes. We paid the porter 10LE and the room boy 50 LE. A previous post on hotel review site suggests that reception added 15% service charge to bill. This did not seem to be the case with us but we did pay in cash just in case they added a surchage for credit cards.

Have a wonderful time. Am quite envious - would love to go straight back!

Caro

Catherine
Forgot to mention another plus about this hotel - transfer time from the airport is only about 10 minutes - a real bonus. Despite this you are never unduly bothered by aircraft noise.

Thanks I'm going now to finish packing then leave tommorow morning. Thanks so much for all your advice. xx

Hope you have as much fun as we did! Look forward to hearing how you got on when you return!
Caro

Am going back to this beautiful hotel next Friday, March 10. If anyone has any queries regarding this hotel (or the Grand Hotel across the road)do let me know and I'll try and find the answers.

Just started thinking about what to take and am getting quite excited....

Caro

Returned on Saturday from my second holiday at Grand Resort. Hotel as beautiful as before and the closure of one pool for renovation had no significant impact on holiday. Couple of hiccups - first room was noisy but we were moved without any quibble and despite paying 100ep to keep our room on on last day the key card to our room had been de-activated and ceased to work. Fortunately we had enough time to sort it out (and they then tried to charge us for unused minibar!) and sort our belongings before leaving for the airport.

Have had such relaxing holidays there that I've already booked to take my daughter on a post-GCSE 'stress buster' holiday the day after she finishes her exams in June. This time have taken the cheaper option of the Grand Hotel across the road, not as plush but perfectly acceptable (though have read online reviews and have upgraded rooms!). It has a lovely beach, which we used from the Grand Resort and the restaurants next to the beach are good too.

Can't wait now, only three months to go!

Anyone been to the Grand Hotel in Hurgada recently?