Carols Makadi Bay Resort Hotel

Booked this hotel as a retirement celebration, hotel was beautiful, grounds were well maintained, pool areas were great, the let down for us was the room allocation, we were placed in a hotel room a half mile from this massive complex in building 5 close to the entrance to the grounds of the hotel which had 42 steps to our room and no balcony!!! we love to sit and chill out on the balcony of our hotel room when on holiday but no such luck here.
The hotel lobby reception is very impressive and we thought our room would have been in the hotel or at least inside the complex.
The staff are all superb, so friendly and always smiling,except for 1 or 2 but you will know them if you visit this hotel.
The hotel is now called Serenity Makadi Heights as it has a new owner who we met inside the hotel when he was sitting next to us and chatting about our holiday and our complaint about the room allocation. He sent fruit and drinks to our room as an apology
for our disapointment which was a nice gesture.
Make sure when you book this hotel that you have rooms inside the complex and not in the building we were in. Overall we had a nice holiday and hotel has a lot going for it in the future.

2 readers found this review helpful

If you want a joke of a holiday this is the place to go.
Very nice rooms and view so long as your inside the main complex and not in one of the rooms out on the driveway up to the hotel.
This is the only nice thing I can say about it. In order to eat you first have to find a table then clear away dirty plates, cutlery, and any other dirty dishes, once you have done this you then have to track down clean knives, forks, and whatever else you might need.
After doing all of this you will be lucky to find any food that is somewhat edible.
This is not the first time I have been to Egypt but it is the first and last time that I have stayed at this hotel. I have stayed at better 3star hotels and had a great time. So if you want a holiday from HELL stay here at your own risk.

2 readers found this review helpful

Do not go to this hotel!
We booked to go for one week, my husband and I with our two year old daughter and also my parents in law (my parents were already there having gone for two weeks). We arrived to have no rooms allocated and they asked us to take a family room (this being two adjoining bedrooms with one entrance). We agreed to try this, but to be moved should we require it. It did not work - only one bathroom, off one of the bedrooms and only one exit off the other led to numerous problems so we asked for two other rooms. In the end, they only had one room so we agreed to take this for our parents and we would stay where we were.
The next day however, they decided we needed to move out of this room for 4 (two beds being bed settees so not really for 4 adults anyway). So, knowing that they would no doubt encounter problems with us moving (and they would have!), they turned the electricity off in the room! We had to pack (and manage a 2yr old) in the dark and move rooms. Could not believe it, and from a 5* hotel - I don't think so.
Don't get me wrong, the rooms, the grounds, and the pools everything was lovely and spotlessly clean, but the service leaves a lot to be desired.
Meal times were hectic in the small restaurant and food not good. English are a very small minority there and this is evident in the menu selection. There is only one indoor bar, which at this time of year is no way enough. Counting the seats, it could house 90 max, in a hotel with 500+ rooms of at least two in each - you do the maths!
I won't go on, but basically, we heard a complaint from every english person we spoke to and our room allocation incident was far from isolated.
My parents have been to Egypt regularly and it is by far the worst they have encountered. If you fancy this area, pay a bit extra and go to the Meridian. My parents stayed there last year and said it was lovely. We also visited there on our holiday as we booked a boat trip from the marina there and the beach is far superior to that of the carols/serenity.

Hotel splendid, pools etc splendid, restaurant too small for number of holiday makers, too often a mad scramble at meal times with uninspiring selection, forever running out of plates, cups, glasses, too keen to reset for next meal times, sometimes an hour before service finished. Al a carte fish restaurant well worth a visit or two or three, but an extra charge applies.

I must say this is not a 5 star hotel, although the building, the lobby and the all the pools are very good. The rooms are also large, modern with a great shower. None of these could be faulted.
However but for the bar staff on all the pool bars, these were great, but the service round the lobby- miserable and did not seem to want to be there. The Italian restaurant was excellent- but the main buffet was just bedlam- wandering from station to station for various items, the only warm food would be cold. They continually ran out of things plates, cutlery or food items. Every meal was queues, and a lot of the food was not very good, not hot and in some cases not cooked thoroughly. I would say it certainly needs the dining room sorting out- the hotel was 70% full and they could not cope. When they do this then it may be the grade is supposed to be.

Hotel clean grounds, well looked after-enjoyed pools-2 swim up. Found all bar staff on pools very good and always pleasant. Bar staff round the main area- not so obliging, in fact morose.
Rooms excellent, large and air con- however cleaner not so good, would not stock milk or coffee up, unless approached- same with loo roles- had to keep stocking up from restaurant or other loos.
Dining room was complete shambles, going from 1 section to another, queueing for everything cutting bread, for the toaster, 10 deep for omelettes, tea machine-- always running out of things, glasses -plates, food items not replenished without a wait, and not at all 1/4 hr before restaurant times. Food not good- catered for Russian and German a good many times cold, ate in the Italian this was excellent-Oriental not open.
Would say this is certainly not a 5 star, more 3 to 4 Hotel only 70% full- hate to be there when full. Used laundry was good however charged double on both occasions, when queried with reception, english not good, so no result.
Overall, enjoyed stay grounds and pools relaxing, but would not stay here again.

Very good. Lovely hotel with good rooms, plenty of choice of food. Loads of sun loungers round the five pools and private beach.
Remember to tip the staff early on and you get excellent service. Great scuba diving with Sammi and the guys at Aquarius red sea.
Fantastic trip into the desert by 4x4 to see the Bedouin, including camel rides, bread making, singing, bbq, oasis, and desert sunset.
Agree with the other comments.
The shopkeepers in Makadi Bay were more persistent then the ones in Hurghada, but we had been warned what to expect. You have to haggle over prices in most shops.

Just returned from a fantastic week at the Carols Makadi, again booked via internet without any real knowledge. Would echo sentiments posted previously.
Transfers with A2B were brilliant showed where to get Visa without any hassle. Transfer in small minibus to resort with only one stop - next door hotel, transfer back was only 2.5 hrs before so not much wasted time at airport.
Went with my husband and 3 yr old daughter who was free, we only paid £150.00 each!
Couple of pointers: Visa prices vary with which kiosk you use; we paid £10.00 each one couple paid 16.50 each.
As my daughter was free at hotel we had no bed- we took our own inflatable- or towels, although the rep sorted this for us.
Trip into Makadi bay is a must v clean taxi about £5, camel’s rides and snorkelling available.
Hurghada not recommended if you have small children - a lot of hassle to go into shops.
Read the guide book you are given on arrival as gives you pointers on what to do if you don’t want to go into shop or if offer you "Egyptian hospitality".
Finally, on the first morning you will be targeted by the other restaurants on the complex and the beauty salon, they seem to spot the pasty looking guests.
These are the only slight negatives on a truly lovely place, good food, friendly people and very very clean. Make sure you take small notes with you if possible for tipping on arrival at hotel.
We arrived first week of March little bit windy, but kept temperatures at bay, and hotel was only half full - 400 guests but due to double the day we left.
Would thoroughly recommend and return - and I swore I would never go back anywhere!

Having been to Egypt before (Sharm & Taba) I am more than aware that a 5* Hotel does not always turn out to be a 5*-many of the supposed 5* Hotels that I've been to have been a Spanish 3* standard.
I booked this last minute at a great price (£400 for the adults & the two children, 10 & 11 paid £319) but with some trepidation as I could find little information on the Internet about it.
The agent we booked with, Chris, sent some pictures that he had taken from someone’s private travel blog (useful as showed lobby, rooms, pools, etc) & one review (this made hilarious reading as it was translated from Dutch!) - which was very good.
The Hotel opened in November 2006. Since booking we found the other review on here that was very good but were still somewhat nervous, especially as when we phoned around no other teletext agent had this on their books?!
Apparently Co-Op Travel have some direct deal with the Hotel. The agent assured me there had been great feedback so we nervously waited to see this '5' star Hotel as we were transferred by minibus to the Hotel (about 45 minutes).
Hurghada airport was fine-don't waste time getting your visa in the UK-too 5 minutes on arrival. Be aware there is now a small 'departure tax' to pay as well (this I'm told is new)-approx £8 pp if I recall.
We arrived at the Hotel & were struck by the style of the place-very 'Moroccan’ Arabian nights' & certainly a change from the standard looking Hotels.
Check in was swift & we were well impressed with the marble reception area & the rooms-as well as the spotless private beach! The rooms were spacious & very clean-again marble was used to great effect. All rooms had sat TV/minibar, tea coffee facilities.
So...the food! Off down to dinner! Choice of 4 restaurants to use-the buffet, oriental & sea food restaurants (need to book with reception for these). We chose the buffet as the others could not be booked until the next day.
Food was great-loads of salads, some spicy Egyptian Chick pea/lentil dishes, freshly cooked grilled meats/fish, good choice for desert too! Very friendly staff as well-good, unobtrusive service.
After our meal we went to the entertainment-usual holiday resort fare but great fun-with no one being forced to take part! A few nightcaps (well it is all-inclusive!) & off to bed looking forward to our full 1st day.
Fantastic pools! Four in total. One heated (& although 77 degrees this was nice), 2 large other pools & one for the kids. We felt stuffed from the (big) breakfast so were thankful you could get snacks at the pool bar.
We pretty much spent our 1st day chilling by the pool/on the beach/in the bars (4 to choose from). Also the Hotel has a Jacuzzi/sauna, children’s club (which our 2 loved) & daily entertainment (not for me-rather have a drink but looked fun).
A tennis court is also available (no thanks-to hot!) & a small health club/gym (small but enough to burn those calories off!) & massage. Be aware that certain treatments at the Health Club-such as massage-are chargeable locally.
There is also a useful shopping centre in the Hotel. For those feeling adventurous (& many did-I'm too lazy) the Hotel has its own diving centre & water sports centre too. Oh...& for the night owls there is a (soundproofed) disco as well.
In the evening we tried the Italian restaurant-great pizza! Next day we took a minibus (regular from this Hotel & others) to Hurrahed Town. An interesting 1/2 day out but we were so glad we stayed in Makadi Bay (about 20 miles away) as it was so quiet.in Hurghada you do get a bit of attention from the shopkeepers but it was interesting to see the town.
To summarize (as I'm getting too carried away), definitely worthy of its 5 star status (if you imagine a 4*+ Hotel in Spain/Canaries this is of that type of standard).
Best Hotel in Egypt we've been to! Great staff, an imaginative food menu-very varied with the theme nights but top notch-a good choice of restaurants & lovely sunshine!
I shall definitely be going back. Apparently some good prices for end April/May-now if I can just persuade the wife & the in-laws (to baby-sit) I might be back soon. Try & contact Co-Op travel though as no one else seems to have this Hotel.
I hope this helps you if you are looking at this Hotel.