Novotel Marsa Alam Beach Resort 5 stars

When I first arrived at the hotel, the receptionist told me it was the first time he had seen my type of booking from the hotel's website, and he wasn't sure how to handle it. Because of that, I waited around two hours (from about 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM) before I got my room. They were very polite, and I think it may have been because the hotel was busy, so I don't want to blame them. After that, they upgraded my room because I had booked the Romantic Escape package. They gave me a room with both a pool view and a sea view, and honestly, the room was excellent. However, the Romantic Escape package was supposed to include towel decoration, a cake, fruit, and a welcome drink. When I entered the room, none of these were there. I didn't complain because I thought it wasn't a big issue. That night, I found two cockroaches in the room. I killed one, and the other one was inside the air conditioner. I called reception, and they told me someone would come to spray the room, but no one came. The next morning, I explained all my issues, and they asked me to speak with the Guest Relations team. I met Lena (or Leen) from Tunisia, and she was honestly the best person in the hotel. She handled everything professionally and with a smile. She arranged the towel decoration, organized our romantic dinner, and sent someone to spray the room. They also sent me photos after the room was sprayed. However, I think the hotel should send a short video instead of just photos because photos don't prove that the room was actually treated. A video would give guests more confidence. Later during my stay, I became sick with vomiting and diarrhea. When I called to ask for a doctor, the first response was that I had to pay 750 EGP. I understand that medical services may have a cost, but the first priority should be checking on the guest's health and explaining everything in a caring way. If a guest cannot pay immediately, the hotel should still try to support them. Luckily, my wife's father is a doctor, so he helped us over the phone. At first, I thought the food might have been the reason, but after speaking with Lena, I changed my mind. I even saw her eating from the same open buffet restaurant, so I believe the food was good, and my illness may have been caused by something else. Another issue was the late check-out included in the Romantic Escape package. Every time I asked reception about it, they told me to ask again later. This happened around three times. Finally, Lena saw me asking again and told the reception to approve my late check-out. But surprisingly, even though my check-out was supposed to be at 4:00 PM, my room key stopped working before that time, and I was locked out of my room until they reactivated it. While I was walking to reception to report the problem, one of the staff members jokingly told me, "Please don't mention this in your review." I found that a little unprofessional. I also noticed that the drink options for Egyptian guests were very limited. Sometimes the drinks were not prepared with the same care as they were for foreign guests. A few times my drink tasted like sugary water until I asked them to remake it, and then it was much better. One more point is about the desserts. I think the pastry chef could improve the cakes and dessert selection. Most of the desserts tasted average, and many of them seemed very similar every day. It would be nice to have more variety and fresher ideas. Since I work in cost control, I naturally notice these things. I felt there was a strong focus on reducing costs in many areas of the hotel. I'm not sure if that's really the case, but it gave me that impression. Finally, the breakfast served in the room was not as good as the breakfast in the main restaurant. I think room service breakfast should include more variety and better quality. Overall, I had a good stay, and the hotel itself is nice. A special thank you to Lena (Leen) from Guest Relations. She was by far the best employee in the hotel, and without her, my experience would have been much worse. I hope the hotel takes the above points seriously, especially the cockroach issue, because I'm sure there is still one inside the air conditioner.

Friendly checkin and checkout, very limited food choices specially on protein like meat/chicken/fish , the egyptian night was better, the staff at the restaurant limiting the portions, it implies that they were asked to limit protein given out, this is not a 5 stars i am expecting not service from novotel other than reception area the staff is not friendly at all, although i consider myself a very friendly and easy person to talk to, and i am an experiences traveller across the whole red sea area.

The room service was good. Also the restaurant was very good. Pools and beach was great. If I have a comments I would say that the reception need to be more helpful because my check in in all accor is 12PM and they delayed us to 12:30 because they think that the check in is 2:00 although there is some ppl came after us and they made the check in for them before me. The room were great well organized and very cool lightening and noice insolated. The boiler wasn't working so well. Overall it was very good experience and I will repeat it again