I booked through a reputable travel company in the UK for my partner and I to stay at the Hilton Sharks Bay from 4 -11 May 2008. We returned from Sharm El Sheikh last Sunday after a truly awful experience at the Hilton Sharks Bay.

We paid a substantial amount of money for a much-anticipated all-inclusive week’s holiday. We have never been to Egypt before and booking to stay at a reputable chain such as the Hilton, with the brand promises of quality and excellence it carries, we were not concerned about our stay and were in fact very much looking forward to it. However, we encountered a string of issues and a very bad experience overall at this hotel, which has not only put us off returning to Sharm El Sheikh again, but has damaged Hilton’s reputation in my eyes.

We returned from the Hilton Sharks Bay on Sunday 12 May – I contracted a bad stomach infection during our stay which has still not improved despite strong antibiotics, and my partner is still suffering from pneumonia and waiting test results from the hospital for suspected Legionnaire’s disease. In addition, we are left with a very angry and disappointed feeling from the hotel for the reasons listed below... Sorry for the long post but hopefully this feedback should help you:

Prior to arriving, we had read some concerning reviews on this site about the building works taking place next door to the hotel so on arrival, we were offered a room upgrade at a cost. We accepted this and paid the price, but our room was very disappointing considering the amount we paid for it, plus the extra upgrade fee. We still had a view of the building site and albeit a pool view, we were right above the pool bar so it was very noisy at night. And the noise from the building works during the day when we were trying to relax by the pool was really unpleasant.

For an upgraded room in a 4 star Hilton hotel, we expected a bath and only got a shower, which had invariable and unreliable water pressure, so sometimes we could only get a dribble of cold water, and the drain emitted a very unpleasant smell. We paid extra for this room so it makes me wonder what the standard room is like. Our room felt very small, dated and in need of a serious facelift, as did the whole hotel in fact. The pool area footpaths were being painted while we were there, but they still looked very shabby, as did the pool table and table tennis facilities.

On the topic of food – the general quality and variety of the food and beverages was APPALLING at the Hilton Sharks Bay and really unacceptable for a 4 star hotel. We experienced mouldy mini pizzas at lunchtime, pink oversalted seabass in Il Rustico, badly cooked barbeque meat, bland unimaginative vegetable dishes, poor quality fruit and undrinkable house spirits. We were therefore forced to skip lunch and travel to Naama Bay in the evening to pay for dinner, as we had spent the first half of the week having a very bad time with the food in your hotel. For an all-inclusive 4 star resort, this situation is unacceptable.

Moreover, in an Egyptian 4 star hotel, to only have one night where traditional food was served is really poor. We expected a range of local tasty dishes, but all we got was bland, badly cooked burgers, chips and pizzas. We could have eaten better in a back-street London café for a fraction of the price.

When we went on the only day trip of the holiday before our illnesses became even worse, we were provided with an unacceptable breakfast box which we actually left at the hotel rather than take with us. It consisted of two inedible sandwiches and no water, which on a day with weather approaching 40 degrees, was not only poor service but irresponsible from a guest care perspective.

Finally, on the topic of food, a senior business associate of mine arranged to send my partner and I a bottle of champagne and a hamper of fruit during our holiday. This arrived on Saturday 10 May on our last night and should have been a nice surprise.... However, the plate of fruit that turned up had been sitting in our room unrefrigerated all day and did not taste fresh. And the champagne was local sparkling wine and was undrinkable. I doubt it was what my colleague had ordered. I spoke to my business associate after the holiday who said he had experienced a very poor service from the Guest Services team at the Hilton Sharks Bay reception and was actually concerned about how we were getting on in the hotel because of his bad experience with them.

We actually found the reception staff unhelpful on several occasions and the tone of the other staff (not all, as we found some very polite and amenable) ranged from sleazy to sarcastic and you were never guaranteed a consistently polite interaction, as you would expect in a 4 star hotel.

The shuttle bus we took to Naama Bay and back was at a cost, which for an all-inclusive hotel of 4 stars, is not acceptable and certainly not the norm. All other hotels I have stayed at, even those with a lesser rating, have provided a free shuttle service to the local town centre. Moreover, the shuttle bus vehicle itself was old, damaged, dirty and the driving was very dangerous!

The pharmacy we were advised to go to by the Reception team was nothing short of daylight robbery. A packet of aspirin (which in the UK costs approx 50p) cost us 50 Egyptian pounds for instance. We must have spent around £50 in total in that pharmacy over the course of our week’s holiday and not only did the medicine not help us, we did not get a receipt, there were no prices on the packets and I truly feel we were ripped off.

On the topic of overly priced essentials at hotel-recommended places or actual hotel services, the newspapers were extortionately overpriced. Despite the price tags of 23 Egyptian pounds on yesterday’s copy of The Times, we were asked to pay 40 Egyptian pounds, which at a non-negotiable price by a seller on the hotel’s premises is unacceptable. I would expect to pay more for a UK newspaper abroad, but not £4.00 for yesterday’s news! The treatments at the hotel are also massively overpriced.

On the plus-side, the weather was fantastic, but would not recommend this hotel to anyone.