The hotel is listed as 5 star, and should be listed at 3 star at the most.

The pools sides are dirty and so are the pools, about ten minutes from Naama Bay by Taxi.

Staff were not interested unless you were Italian.

Entertainment was poor apart from the mini disco which my daughter loved.

Stayed there in Aug 2006.

Place is Clean and Tidy. No Evening entertainment at all apart from 1 Night Belly Dancer.

Do Not Go to this Hotel if you want Good Food and or indeed wish to drink. Water Limited. Beer only available Warm and in 1/2 pint Glasses 1/2 filled.

Food same every Night Pasta, salad, and some stew type stuff made out of left over meat from the Night Previous.
OK for about 1-2 Days no longer.

Beach is good Red Sea Fantastic.

Staff keep saying no problem but the Hotel does have problems. They need to up the Anti if they want the British to enjoy there stay.

I would go back to the red Sea but NOT to this Hotel.

On arrival at the hotel was given a drink while waiting to check-in..which was fast and suitcases were whisked to our rooms-very efficient!

The food selection was good with salads soups selection of mains and lots of fancy cakes-and the quality was similar to other hotels we have stayed in. Some repetition but on the whole fine. No poorly tummys!
Breakfast 7-10 (fresh omelettes)
snacktime 11-12
lunch 1-3 (fresh pasta)
cakes at 5
evening meal 7-10 (I think!)(fresh stir-fry)
so food near enough all day..
Ice-cream situation is crazy tho-kids under 12 one small blob per day-pretty silly as it always took the staff ages to serve them too-the kids had to be really insistent!!

Hotel spotless with the only comment being that the hotel has been rushed to completion and so although it has been built using stunning features and expensive materials it has been badly finished..mainly things like broken tiles and untidy work which didnt spoil our hol!

The location is far from anything-no evening strolls-just a chill-out zone..unless you hire a taxi-and venture out to neighbouring Dahab or Nuweiba(we didnt!)
The beach wasnt good for the kids but the pools were fab-the smallest one being covered from the sun-and it was 42degrees some days!

Hotel staff where really helpful and pleasant-couldnt ask for more..Natalie the rep and Louise (hotel staff)were stars and helped us with any small problem we had.
The entertainment during the day was exercising and water polo etc round the pool.
Evening mini-disco was the exact same every night-my 4 year old loved it-but it was his level and older kids didnt have anything to amuse them. The animation'team' was 2 strong and just couldnt achieve a lot by themselves..although about 3 days before we left they replaced the guy member and the new guy seemed to be trying much harder and livened the place up a bit!!
Adult entertainment was non-existant except for a belly-dancer twice a week, but we were prepared for that and really didnt want more.
We would visit again as it was lovely and with time can only get better!!

Where does one start?

This is billed as a four-star hotel: put simply, it's not. The hotel is clean but pretty nondescript and the rooms are functional but plain.

The food was, frankly, dire. We resorted to eating soup and bread for a week: great for those on a diet, I guess. And unlike other all-inclusive hotels we've stayed at, snacks were not available.

The pool area is lovely. However, it was spoiled by an over-zealous DJ who insisted on shattering the tranquillity with his "alternative" music. Moreover, the pool HAS to be good - the beach is awful. A combination of rough shingle and filthy water conspire to make it pretty bleak. On one occasion, we were warned not to snorkel as the water was so disgusting!

The wider problem for the hotel is the surrounding area: it is a desolate wasteland! As there is literally NOTHING to do in the hotel save sunbathe, and there is no resort as such, you are stranded. For a week's relaxation, it is perfect - provided the weather is kind. But if you want to do something - anything - whilst on holiday, this is not the place for you!

My advice - look elsewhere. There are other, better hotels in nicer locations that deserve your attention.

My partner and I were at the Holiday Inn, Taba from 24th January until 7th Feb.

We loved it there! It was one of the best holidays either of us had had.

We both had reservations after reading the negative and mixed reviews, but went with open minds and were very pleasantly surprised.

The food was wonderful. We had fresh salads almost every day and neither of us suffered ill tums. There was a large variety of food every day and we both put on a lot of weight! There were also different themed evenings, including an Egyptian evening with bar-be-que - yum!

The staff were amazing. There really wasn't enough they could do for us. They work so hard for so long without days off for months and they still always have smiles on their faces.

The weather was a real mix. The first two days were very cold, cloudy and windy, but we still sat by the pool in our jumpers - desperate for tans! We were rewarded by brilliant blue skies and high 20s from the third day onwards and there were only occasional grotty days for the rest of the fortnight.

This is very much a resort for people who want a VERY quiet, relaxing holiday. As previously mentioned, the nightlife isn't great, but we weren't too bothered by that. The belly-dancing was hilarious though! One night, after she'd finished, the dancer left the bar and proceeded to extract a mobile from her person - heaven knows where she's been keeping it!!!!!!!

The swimming pools were really big, but sadly empty for the majority of the fortnight. The big one was absolutely freezing and not heated in the slightest. It was literally like stepping into an icy bath. The circular one is supposedly heated but was still far too cold. We kept mentioning it to the staff and they said it was being fixed, the next day it was slightly warmer, but from then on it was just as cold as before.

The rooms were lovely and the towel-art on the beds was incredible.
We did get a chance to speak to the management at a cocktail party they held. They were very responsive to any criticism and listened carefully to what we had to say.

We will definitely be going back there in the future. It was an absolute bargain.

Have just got back from the Holiday Inn. Had a fantastic week here.The hotel itself was really nice, the rooms were big, but sparsely furnished. Best to take a travel kettle & teabags as they don't provide them.

The staff were all very helpful.

The food was Ok - a bit bland but plenty of choice in the buffets and we were never stuck for something to eat. There are no snacks provided so you should take you own crisps or biscutis, or you can buy them from Mark's shop in the hotel.

The shop selling papyrus paintings in the hotel, run by Victor, is well worth a visit - he loves to make people tea and tell them all about his country. He is a really nice guy, and the pictures are well priced and good quality (be careful is you go shopping in Dahab as a lot of the pictures are printed - not hand painted!). Go and give him some support!

The safe in the room takes a bit of working out, so make sure you ask for specific instructions when you check in, as we had to wait ages for someone to come and show us how it worked.

Beautiful hotel in very remote area. Hotel is listed as Holiday Inn Taba, but it is actually 50 KM from Taba, and a taxi ride to either Taba or Dahab, in the other direction costs 15.00 per person so I would definitely only go here if you really do not want to do anything but lie by the pool for two weeks (in which case it is absolutely perfect)or are prepared to pay to go anywhere else.

The food is buffet style and there is plenty to choose from, but being vegetarian there were a couple of nights when *everything* contained either meat or fish (even the rice and potatoes!) so it can be a bit hit or miss what you will have. If you are prepared to experiment with your food, then you will be able to eat something different almost every day there is that much to choose from, and the quality is excellent.

The staff are helpful but in my opinion there needs to be more of them. The reception always had 3 or 4 people on it(overkill), but the bar in the evenings was almost always run by only one person who often did a very good job considering the queues got 2 deep at times.

The hotel also lacks standarisation. In saying that I mean that they have about 5 different type of glass to serve in, ranging from egg cup size (im not joking) to pint glasses, and it is a total lottery what size drink you get. Most of the time it is wine glass size, but that really is only about 3 gulps of beer and its time to get back to the bar again...

The entertainment is very basic. Most of the time the evening consists of a big sound system sat in a big open area playing cds at loud volume. They do have a "kids disco" at 9 o clock most evenings, where they play about 6 songs (always the same ones every night, the music man, birdie song, hokey cokey etc which is run by 2 enthusiastic members of staff who also do things in the day like aqua gym, stretching etc) then its back to the sound system.

I would go back to the area again but i wouldnt go to this hotel. Closer to Taba there are 6 hotels grouped together which have a wider variety of things to do such as water sports and glass bottom boats trips in the day which this hotel has nothing like, but if you really just want to get away from *everything* then this is the hotel for you.

One last thing, if you have ever been to the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Florida and had the maids create things from towels whilst they cleaned the room, well you aint seen nothing! The staff here create absolutely wonderful things like crocodiles, flowers, swans and peacocks. One evening I had a minor heart attack when I came into the semi dark room as I thought there was someone sat on the bed. When I turned on the light I was gobsmacked to find two towel men sat holding the remote control for the tv. I have no idea how long it takes to create these things, but they are amazing.

We stayed all inclusive which was a wise choice. Food on offer was good if you like junk food it's not for you. You will be charged for ice creams at end of hoilday.

Once you cheack out of room you are no longer all inc so buy a drink before hand as a glass of wine will set you back