New to the forum
This is fantastic news! I used to work for MyTravel writing all the copy and Egypt was one of the areas I managed. I was booked to Ghazala Gardens (I went with work last year and knew how nice it was), so I was gutted when I got an email at work saying the contract had gone. We've been put in Sonesta Beach instead (go Thurs morn!)

I always fancied the Grand Resort and Makadi Palace, so this is great! Already looked at prices for November. Shame they dont fly from Manchester, but could always spend a night in hotel at the airport.

Thomas Cook have lost some fantastic hotels with the Red Sea Group - they really are fantastic.

i was one of the people who was supposed to go to makadi palace this year., we still went to hurghada but stayed at the sunrise mamlouk instead (which was great). i am pleased to see red sea hotels on sale again, and the flights etc seem really good, shame that none of the hotels seem to have family 4 rooms available with globespan

Makadi Palace always had a double page spread in all my brochures - hugely popular and you can see why! Maybe if you really want to go there, you could enquire about the rooms? I'll hopefully be going over the next few years

Ive just tried the Globespan site and there seems to be no sign of Red Sea Hotels in Hurghada....

I stayed at the Siva Grand Beach in October last year and had an absolutely fantastic holiday. So much so that I rebooked to go again in june this year - I was one of the people affected by the "Thompson lost the Red Sea contract episode". It was only after speaking to TC ops that they agreed I wouldnt be going and to refund my money. I ended up going to the Sunrise Mamlouk Palace in April this year instead - nowhere near as good as the Siva in my opinion. I did however speak to Sammy from ETI whilst I was out there and was told that they could get me from Germany to the Siva no problem.

Ill be contacting Globespan in the next few days as I would dearly love to return to the Siva.

Anyone else got any ideas about a UK operator for Red Sea?

Hi Southern Dave, the Globespan flights start from 5th November flying out of Glasgow. I've checked and the Siva is available. Alternatively you could book with the hotel direct and book flights independently - the hotel said they could offer me a quote but the expensive flights have to be taken into consideration. If the price is not right suggest that you, 'as a valuable returning customer', try the Egyptian skill of haggling!

Obviously there will be very few English at the hotel which may eventuallly have a knock on effect with staff language skills but we were always very much in the minority anyway at the Grand and Grand Resort although there did seem more last June.

How far is the Sunrise Mamlouk Palace from the Siva and Village Road area (the stretch that has Marriot, Siva, Grand and Hard Rock Cafe)? I've been tempted to try the hotel as I have been to Sharm a couple of time since but do miss Hurghada!

Regards, Caro

The Mamlouk is 20 minutes the other way from the airport compared to the Siva. The biggest prob I found about the Mamlouk is the waiters/barstaff getting the wrong spirit put in a drink. This even happened to a couple of 10 year olds I saw and the parents were less than happy to say the least. The Mamlouk is also predominately Russians, not Germans. It is an up and coming area and nowhere near as "finished" as Village Road. The hotel istelf is very pretty, there is a sister hotel next door which you can use but we diddnt need to. The road outside the hotel is also considerably busier (Safaga Road) and is almost impossible to cross at peak times even though there are large humps in the road to slow the traffic.

With regard to the Siva being available I think ill give the travel agent a call and see what transpires, I can fly to Glasgow from Gatwick or Standstead pretty cheaply so that wont really be an issue.

Thanks for your help.

Happy to help Dave!

You mentioned about the Russian predominence at the Mamlouk which probably gave it a different feel to the mainly German/Italian feel to the Siva. Did this impact on your holiday at all or was everything ok?

Unfortunately, yes it did. As im a newbie on here I have no wish to offend anyone so it would be better for me to keep my thoughts to myself or word them very carefully! At present I am unable to PM you and give you my thoughts, which I feel would be safer. Let me put it this way, I wont be going back.

Thanks for the information Dave - think you've answered my question! Have to say that at the Conrad, Sharm in October the Russian contingent was easily recognisable and they didn't appreciate the concept of a 'quiet pool' but to be fair the behaviour was probably no worse than the sort of 'Brits abroad' behaviour that makes us ashamed to be British (fortunately have not come across this in Egypt....yet). At the Novotel in Naama Bay there was a mix of nationalities with no problems at all perhaps the result of being the hotel sold on a bed & breakfast basis. Any way I seem to be going so best regards, Caro

I received this email today from Red Sea Hotels. Great news for fans of the Red Sea Hotel group!

Kindly be advised that in addition to our cooperation with Globespan, we are in the process of establishing our tour operator in the UK "ETI, Express Travel International" through which you will be able to book your whished holiday from Manchester or London Gatwick. We are expecting to launch our first operation as of November 2008.
Again, we ensure you that we are keeping you on our top priority emailing list, and will update you with any new news.

Fantastic! Will be able to fly from Manchester now, hopefully be booking Makadi Palace at some point.

Thats great news Caro as its the Mrs favourite. Going to the Sunrise Makadi due to the loss of Redsea Hotel group. ETI is a strange one though as I thought it was a german tour operator???

I think you are right about it being German - I googled it and the current website shows flights out of Germany and Switzerland. I seem to remember it was always ETI reps that were available at the airport and Mytravel used them for their tours I think too.

Red Sea hotels do seem to have a loyal fan base so lets hope the prices are reasonable when they come online!