I planned a vacation at the Solymar Sea Star in Taba and pre-paid for two nights hoping to extend for a third night if I liked it. I am an Egyptian who lived in the US for a long time and travelled extensively in the region as well as in beach resorts from Hawaii to Cancun. There is no way that this hotel can be a 4 Star hotel judging from other 3 and 4 star places that I stayed at.

- The hotel is not on the beach and you have to cross the highway and walk for 400 meters to the beach. Not an ideal situation if you have children.

- The beach area is not great and not well maintained and the beach towels smell like vomit. when I asked the guy about how the towels smell so bad, he explained that with all the guests' sweats, it is hard to keep these towels clean!!!

- The rooms are filthy and not cleaned thoroughly and the hotel is worn out. Also, there is a sewage smell in the garden behind the rooms which is suffocating and gets inside the rooms at night. The AC was also not working. The bed was not comfortable.

- The food is horrible and I suspect the hygiene level of the kitchen based on the stains and the dirty clothes of the Chef who pops out of the kitchen every now and then. I also suspect that they serve left-overs. I personally did not eat dinner or breakfast except for oranges. The kids ate very lightly and survived it.

- The pool is okay.

- The staff is friendly and they tried to fix it for me but the whole set up ws not right. They were decent to refund me the one night that I pre-paid

I decided to leave the hotel few hours after I arrived but all the other area hotels were fully booked. Movenpick had a room available the next morning. I spent the night and checked out of the hotel the next morning. For $20 price difference, our vacation was much better at the movenpick.

Having only been back a matter of hours from this, one of the friendliest hotels I have stayed at. I agree with others that the food was the only blip on what was an excellent holiday. There was nothing wrong with it but repetition.
The staff from waiters to gardeners to reception and pool staff were all brilliant. Special mention must made of Osama (Ossie) (Bar) fantastic.Ashif (Ash) Pool attendant, a good joke teller. Hatem, this young man clears glasses, cups etc from the bar area and reception, I think he works longer hours than anyone else. He was always there. Reda and Emud waiters Just brilliant all of them.
I read reviews prior to departure and discovered that those rating the hotel badly were way off beam. It is clean if showing it's age but the perfect place to totally chill out, the staff want you to enjoy yourselves and help you to do it.
We had 2 fantastic trips with Longwood to Petra and Masada, contacted them in resort via E mail and followed up by phone to confirm credit card details so everthing was paid for prior to departure. Peace of mind. Katie in the office and Hany (shortly to marry his English rose) our tour guide were first class.

We were really surprised with night in the desert ,star gazing, have now got a photo of Saturn and have never seen so many stars.
If you have a birthday whilst there the head Chef Usama will ensure you have cake presented in the Egyptian way, noisily but not really tuneful!!
The annimation team Samba, Mika and David otherwise know collectively as the Muppets but individually as Sprogg,Old Man and Sniffer were excellent and so funny.
To get the most from your holiday at the Sea Star you must get to know the staff they certainly want to know you. One last member to look out for is the youngest,15 years old Khalid, my suit case was heavier than him but he insisted it was his job to take up the stairs. Cracking young man.
Use the shops on site seek out George and he will supply the cups of tea.
Met some lovely people and had a fantastic time. After all a holiday is what you make it. The staff will point you in the right direction it's your decision. Enjoy, we did.

First thing i will talk about is the food. The food at the hotel was quite nice, however did get a bit repetitive, but if you dont try everything in the first two nights you're there, you should be ok.

There was a fair variety, but we noticed some of the food seemed to be the same thing in different colours!
We never got any funny tummies or ill from eating any of the food, just be careful of the heat, and drink lots of water, and dont leave the air con on freezing cold in the room as that will affect your body temperature and could make you ill if your out in the heat all day!

The hotel was very nice and clean, the rooms were cleaned at least every other day when we were there. The rooms come with the basics included such as hair dryer, mirror, soap and glasses etc, however the water from the bath was a bit of a funny colour when we were there! so recommend quick showers.
Another thing we recommend is using bottled water to brush your teeth rather than use the tap water.

The pool areas are really nice and lively, they play music and try getting you involved in the activities such as water volleyball etc, the staff are all nice and friendly and couldnt do anymore for you if they tried! they provide more towels for you by the pool areas so you dont have to bring one from your room.
It can get a bit annoying if you dont want to get up and join in (sometimes you just cant be bothered or not in the mood) but if you say no they do leave you alone.

The private beach is only about a 5 minute walk from the hotel, also there is a free shuttle coach which will take you there. On the beach there is another bar which is all inclusive again, and more towels for you so again you don't have to bring your own.
The beach is really nice and you can see some really nice sea life and coral too! There are also deck chairs, beds available to lie on and there is normally some spare.

The shops in the hotel are ok to get some bits in, dont expect them to be cheap though, however you can haggle them down a bit, never pay what they first offer you.

If you want to do a bit more shopping, you can take a taxi from the hotal to the Taba Heights resort, there wasnt a great deal when we went but was construction work going on. you can get a all you need from the shops, theres a few souvineer shops, a food shop, jewellery shop, perfume shop and a few others that might be worth a look at.
The taxi fair wasnt cheap, but with most things you can haggle them down a bit cheaper, they originaly said about 30 English pounds before!

Booked this holiday with thompson after reading through all the reviews thought it would be just what i was looking for,somewhere to relax,piece & quiet.I was right.Only downfall i had was i didnt book transfers from the airport,well didnt get the option with thompson as they said i could get a cheap taxi from the airport to the hotel,WRONG,so pre book from the uk or with your agent.Hotel is 20mins from airport down through the mountain pass,stunning.
Can honestly say it was great,good variety of food,had 2 rooms as took 2 teenagers and they were spotlessly clean,everything worked,beds and linen clean,staff were most helpfull and fun,great animation team,mika,dave and arhmed(curly),infact the girls all want to return as they enjoyed it so much!
Taba is very quiet ,there is literally nowhere to go,walking etc,only to the beach in the day,unless of course you book excursions out.taba heights is 15 mins in a taxi for other hotels and shopping.
Definately recommend this destination sun,sea,quietness.