Hello,

Please can someone assist me with some queries i have. I am off to the LTI Grand on 28th Sept and have just received a letter from First Choice to say that there is building work at the hotel where they are extending the hotel bedrooms. They have also closed half of the main resturant for a refurb. Has anyone just got back from this hotel that could advise me on whether the building work is a bit of a nightmare or their opinion on this. I was really excited to be going away but after reading reviews of deli belly and building work and lack of sunbeds etc, I am starting to worry.

Thanks

Sarah

I have found the following regarding building works at LTI Grand which i found useful which may help others:

Please note that as from 17/06/2006 and till the end of December some
construction works will take place behind the cluster 08 from
09:00-20:00. In addition, some renovations will take place at the jetty
from 09:00 till sunset, which will be completed by 20th of September.
Its maintenance will comment in two parts. Some renovation/decoration
works will also take place at the main restaurant downstairs from
02/09/2006 till 16/09/2006 & upstairs from 17/09/2006 till 30/09/2006. All meals will be served at the same times but at alternative areas.
Works will not cause any inconvenience (partition & separation will be
used) and guests will be accommodated far from them when possible.

Hi, we were there when they started the refurb on the restaurant and I can 100% assure you, it wont disrupt you in the slightest........
In regards to the building work behind cluster 8, well they are building a hotel next door but you def cant see it from walking through the hotel......

As I have said previously.....the deli beli is not life threatening and I believe that it is down to the heat mainly NOT the food and we never, ever had a problem getting sunbeds and even if you wander down to the pool at 2 in the afternoon, the towel men will happily find you spare beds......

My advice......stop stressing and look forward to your holiday.....you will have a fab time and if there is any room in your suitcase, email me asap.......

Oh and the jetty.....it was nearly finished when we were there and we left on the 7th.......
Besides, we didnt use it anyway, you can walk the whole way in the sea...................

Thanks Squeeky, I feel so much better now. On the Hotel review some people are referring to this hotel as similar to Butlins and very disappointing!?!?

I honestly think it is what you make of it and i am not expecting glorious food or brilliant entertainment but a chance to get away and relax and top up my tan.

I am counting down the days

Hi,

Looking to book for a week in november, but sports rooms are alot cheaper than other rooms. Can anyone give any info on these rooms ie how far from the complex?

Price seems to good to be true!

Any info will be grateful.

Lindsay x

Can anybody recently back add anything further on the "ground preperation work for new bedroom buildings"

Please?

What ground preparation for new Bedroom Building? We are due at the LTI in June 2007, will the building work be finished?

Hello,

I have just got back from the LTI and i can confirm that it is lovely. When you first enter the Hotel, you are presented with the lovely lobby that is very nice. We had a top floor superior room and it was lovely and spacious and very clean. There are plenty of swimming pools to choose from although we prefered the Fountain pool as it was the quietest and more relaxing pool with less kids. The weather was lovely and seeing as you are right on the beach there was a lovely breeze which was refreshing. The staff are really helpful and will do anything for you. You will find that sometimes the Animation Team will come round while your sunbathing and try and get you to join in with water polo and various other activities but they never pressurise you. The food in the main resturant was ok. It was really what i was expecting as i have read other reviews that the food is not great and it isn't. Just remember that they have to cater for all nationalities though. The food was far nicer in the Al a Carte resturants which you need to pre-book. We ate in the Italian and the food was excellant. Deffinately recommend it. The jetty from the hotel beach out to sea is quite unstable. Everyday they had workman putting in new planks of wood and you would have to step over them and some planks were quite loose which was slightly scary. However snorkelling was wonderful although the coral is not the best along this shoreline. It is very very shallow and as there is not much coral, you tend to see more people then fish but its still worth having a go. Money wise, do tip using US Dollars or Pound coins. I dont know why some people think that the staff prefer Egyptian money as this is not true. They get more for their money with stering and dollars. The Egptians at the airport can be very abrupt and rude as they really do rely on tips to carry your suitcase and some of them do tend to try and snatch your suitcase from you but you need to be stern. The coach drivers also expect tips but its not compulsary. Be prepared to take toilet tissue with you especially for the ladies as if you use the toilet at sharm airport on arrival you do have Egptian women in the toilets trying to sell you toilet paper as each cubicle has none. We would go back to this hotel again. The let down was the entertainment. At night there was nothing to do within the hotel. Most evenings we sat on the terrace bar and had a few drinks which was very nice but its sometimes nice to have a disco or entertainment. There are free shuttle buses that take you from the hotel into Naama bay which you need to pre-book and this takes about 20 mins to Naama. There was no building work going on at the Hotel that i could see as this was one of my main concerns before going. There is work ongoing around the outside and across the road but nothing that will disturb your holiday. One thing i feel i should point out as no one i can see on any forums has mentioned this but you will see low flying aircrafts taking off and coming in to land that fly right over the hotel. Now although they are noisy and quite close to the hotel, they are not constant. At night we did not hear them as the buzz of the air conditioning in the room helped but lying round by the pool you will see/hear them. This did not ruin it for us though. Also our stomachs were ok. My partner did suffer with an upset tummy for a couple of days which we believe was from the food in the main resturant so be careful what you eat and drink plenty of water in the day but wait for it to warm a little as its not good to drink ice cold water on a hot tummy. We used Immodium and they worked fine. I am sure anyone going to this hotel will have a lovely time and we wish we were going back. If anyone has any questions at all then please fell free to ask. Its still so fresh in my memory that i wish i was still there

can anyone confirm if there is any kind of dress codes in the restaurants?? Also does the hotel show premiership football, or somewhere neaer by??

You do need to dress fairly smart if you eat in any of the Al a Carte resturants or go into the Lobby. I.E No shorts and T Shirts, although 3/4 length trousers are ok. As long as you dont look like you have come in off the beach you will be fine.

There were big projector screens in the snooker room where you can watch TV and play pool etc. This was the only place where you can watch TV but not sure if they showed the footy.

The pool room has 1 60 inch rear projector TV which has ART 2 & ART4 arabic sports channels, both show live premier league football 12:30, 15:00 & 17:15 kick off times back home. There is also BBC World & Eurosport UK which show news and very brief highlights.

Theses TV channels plus some english movie and TV shw channels are also available in all the bedrooms.

Hi - can anyone tell me how much it is to upgrade to a junior suite without the ultra all inclusive. I have stayed here twice before and would really like to upgrade next time to a suite but we do not want the ultra all inclusive. Many thanks

Eirian

Hi, going to the LTI Grand Azur, can you tell me if they have...........

Bank/money exchange facilities in the hotel ground

Are there CD Players in the rooms

Are Pool/Beach towels provided

Do you have to pay a deposit for the room safe

Just being curious what are the benfits of this being a PREMIER Hotel

also it is just me and my best friend going, (2 girls) so not to sure on what were doing!

do we need a visa if were doing trips? or is 1 just you need one if your doing trips as in the pyramids etc (were not), were doing local trips like, boat trip and star gazing in the desert do we need to get a visa for this?

if needed where is it best to get a visa, at the airport when arriving or before we go?

How much roughly is it for the visa? Went to sharm this Oct just gone, (didnt get a visa as just relxing so dont know anything about visa's) but heard they were about £13-£15.

Any Help would be great

Many THanks

hi can any one help with the previous post.
Many Thanks

This is a reply for lovethesun. I can't answer all your questions, but hope this helps.
The hotel will give you both towel cards when you arrive, so yes beach/pool towels are included.
As for visa's, once you have left the airport you can't get a visa. For most trips you don't need one, however if you are going to go to the national park of Ras Mohammed, you will need one. Also depending on where in the desert you are going you may also need one. My advice would be to get one, they are only about £12-£15, and then you don't have to worry about it and you can do any trips you like!!
Hope you have a really great holiday!

As for visa's, once you have left the airport you can't get a visa.

Not strictly true SW. Whatever the travel rep tells you, it is possible for them to get you a visa during your holiday, should you decide to go on a trip which requires one. The truth is, a lot of them cant be bothered, although if you suddenly decide you want to go on an expensive excursion, like Cairo, watch them go!!!

Had a great time at this hotel just before Christmas but there are a couple of points that I have not seen raised elsewhere.

Main dining room: The main entrance takes you into the dining room, but I thought the food was colder than it should have been by the time I sat down, so I checked the facilities and found that I could put my hand on the warm bricks which were supposed to be heating the food. Missed breakfast the second morning and were told we had to go downstairs, two stairways at the back which take you down into the ... main restaurant, upstairs is only a subsiduary, the food comes from downstairs and is kept hot. (or not). We never ate upstairs again. The food downstairs was always hot, the staff put tables together to accomodate our party every time they saw any of us, and we are not tippers, just polite. We tipped on the last day.

Snorkelling: Never came below a yellow flag so it may be different in the summer, but this is not a location for the less agile of us. OK the Coral is great but it is not a lot of use if like me and about 20 others that "session", you are stuck about 12 feet from the deep blue with no safe way to get to it. The problem is that unlike the Conrad where the jetty end is over the deeper water, at the LTI you still have to walk through the shallows over coral and rocks, there is no flat surface and there is constant buffetting from the waves. The clearance over the rocks was varying from just over knee deep to ankle deep with each wave. Some people were lying face down and trying to drag themselves hand over hand but still not getting there. I did work out a possible route to the deep but the wind came back up and so did the red flag. The good news is that by now they should have finished the jetty, the bad news is that it is 20 metres too short.

hi does the LTI have money exchange place in the grounds?

Many Thanks