Our fourth family holiday to Sharm and first at the Marriot.

For £80 a night, half-board this was stunning value. (Booked direct via Marriot website - limited offer on off-peak dates.) Partly it was cheap to us in UK because of US$ weakness - all prices are quoted in US$, but you'll pay the bill in Egyptian currency on checkout.

On the beach side of this resort, which is split by the Peace Road (toot toot!) no pools are heated - why do all Sharm hotels, even the "quality" ones, pull this stupid stunt? The mountain side pool is heated, but with the attractions of the beach for our two toddlers, we only trooped across the road once... a heart-stopping experience with a buggy and two little boys!

Serious complaint - they say (on a notice in the lobby) that they do a kids' disco nightly at 9pm (which is too late) but they don't. It simply doesn't happen. We asked Dave Doubledecks to play something for our kids one evening, and he played two songs - to an otherwise completely empty bar. On the beach are half-a-dozen pieces of plastic play equipment which are ALL broken and sun-bleached, in a tiny fenced compound. Message to the Marriot - either provide properly for kids, or proclaim publicly that this is an adults-only hotel - but please don't promise stuff you don't deliver, as it causes resentment. (Two hotels away towards Naama Bay is the Hilton Fayrouz - THAT is how to provide for kids!)

Staff, however, were fantastic, without exception. Always made a fuss of our boys and looked after us very very well.

Insufficient sunbeds at the beach - problem solved with LE50 a day, as usual - can't say that this bothers me, but if you haven't been before, you may want to budget for it.

Buffet food got boring after 11 nights but they all do.... familiarity breeds contempt. No bad tums this time, though, so hygiene seems good.

I think we'll give the Hilton Fayrouz a go next year - good reviews here on TA, and we stopped by to see a room and find out what they did for young families - impressive.

My husband and I stayed here in April 2007 for his 40th birthday and i kept meaning to write a review. My husband did not really want to go to egypt but I convinced him with the climate, which was fantastic whilst we were there, the Marriott was great really friendly, clean, peaceful and with the choice of the hustle bustle of Nama Bay which was really lively and pleasent. I am taking my 2 children 11yrs & 14yrs next year without my husband so that must mean I am pretty confident in my safety there (obviously I would not venture into residential areas) I found the people really nice and could not do enough for you. The food in Nama Bay was a real experience and worth every penny (which was never much) as we only had bed & breakfast. The negatives are simply you are always in danger of a dodgy tum simply because you are in a diferent climate with different spices and possibly more to drink than usual but that can happen in Bognor on a good day. I say go with an open mind and enjoy, we did.

Back from a marvelous week. We had a seawiew superior room, and although I have read reviews stating the rooms to be rather small, we realized that we did not need the extra space. Time is not spent in the room in a place like sharm. We found the location excellent; on the beach and not too far from the centre of the bay. The staff was nice and friendly and we had all we needed at hand. The food could have been better, and we understood that the staff was working on that.

Having read some of the reviews for this place, especially with relation to the mountain side part of the hotel , we were a little worried that we may have come a bit of a cropper with having already booked a weeks stay. However, despite the fact that we were staying in the mountain side accommodation (which is actually completely A1) I have nothing but praise for the hotel, location and staff.

The hotel is in a great location, only a 5-10 minute walk from where everything is happening, and far enough away for the hussle and bustle of Naama Bay nightlife not disturb you if you want a quieter life. The pool area was lovely at both (mountain and beach) and in fact the mountain side pool was heated at the time we were there and the beach side wasn't. The grounds are well maintained and clean, as are the rooms.

Any staff that we came across over the week's stay were always friendly and courteous and couldn't do enough for you. They really made us feel that we were welcome and valued as a customer.

I would definitely go back to this hotel again without hesitation.