Inter Plaza Beach Hotel

13 readers found this review helpful

i stayed here from 31 aug - 14 sep and i stayed all inclusive. im 26 and my girlfriend is 24. i spent along time looking through review after review and i was getting so worked up with up and down reviews so i will leave a very honest and thorough review which i belive will give a very good insight into this hotel. i will break it down into sections for easiness and will aim it at british guests. i promise you this review will have everything you need to know so please read.
accomodation:
pretty basic to be honest. our room wasn't the biggest and the bathroom was pretty shabby. i would rate our room at a standard 3* but some other people said their's was nice but maybe it's just different standards for different people. but i would say i don't have high standards as such so bear that in mind. luke warm water to clean your teeth in. we did report this and they said they wouldnt get an engineer out never happened. we complained again beacuse of the poor language barrier in the end we couldn't bothered and we just cracked on. our balcony door didn't lock, again we complained and again got no where and again couldn't bothered. rooms are cleaned everyday with fresh towels etc. some people we met said their cleaner made pretty swan designs etc out of their towels but we didnt but thats probably just each cleaner having different ways i suppose. no ig deal really. tv in your room has loads of channels in all different languages, some good channels in english with up to date movies andf coeday channels (friends etc) and all the premiership football on the weekends!!! safe in room free of charge which is good.
food:
you must remember you are in egypt and i guess their idea of 5* food isn't the same as ours. there are a number of eating options at the interplaza. breakfast in served in two buffet restaurants; the panorama and the la duna. these are both more or less identical. the la duna closed the second week we were there because alot of the italian guests left some people said. breakfast is ok. omlettes made to order, croissants (really nice), pancakes, a wide selction of bread and one very slow toaster, sracmbled eggs (hit and miss - sometimes far too sloppy), pastires, continental, 3 choices of cereal but milk was a bit too room temperature for me and some fruit but didnt look too appertising. for lunch these two restaurants are open too with a wide variety of foods available but again sometimes hit and miss but i suppose there will always be something you can eat. there is food served by two of the pools but it was exactly the same evryday - no joke!!! cheese and tomato pizza and chips haha. there was also sometime some burgers and little hotdog sausages but it was very repetative. we joked about it holiday. however it was ok everynow and again if u vary it with the restaurants. there is apparently also food served at the beach but we only spent a few days there and didnt see anything. evening meals are sevred in the buffet restaurants again sometimes quite busy arouns 1930-2030. there is one a la carte restaurant called the all seasons restaurants where you are permitted to eat at one per week of your stay. choice of italian, seafood or oriental. standard of food was pretty mush the same as the buffet restaurant but you were getting waiter service. you need to book in this restaurant the day before at the all seasons between 1600-1700.
drinks:
you will read in other reviews about being served drinks in plastic glasses and people moaning about it. now when i read these reviews i just though people were being a bit fussy because they wanted glass and not plastic as i've stayed at all inclusive places before and was getting plastic pint glasses by the pool and thought nothing of it. however the interplaza have got it all wrong. they serve drinks by the pool and most other places in these tiny little white plastic party cups. it's ridiculous. it's like ordering a shot of diet coke ha ha. the lager at the pool isnt on draught so they pool it out of a bottle into your little shot glass and there is more head then lager. you end up ordering about 4 at once. we complained to the drinks andfood manager one day about the small glasses and he told the barman to give us and another couple big glasses from then on and most of the time we did get them however why cant they just do this for every guest at the hotel. a big glass, some ice and a slice of lemon makes a big difference i think. the sprits are a bit poor too. says gordons gin but it definately isnt! my girlfriends drinks vodka and she hated it there, she couldn't just about manage to drink it when it was in a cocktail. by the way i use the term cocktail lightly haha. my girlfriend and me aren't big drinkers so we weren't too bothered but if you're coming on an all inclusive to indulge in the drink then you might be dissappointed. in the buffet restaurants you do get glass glasses but you have to go up to the little bar there and get them yourself. the staff just clean up the tables. oh yes and there are water fountain/dipenses with cups dotted all around the hotel.
entertainment:
little to none i'm afraid. there was a couple of things on from time to time but nothing that good really. there was a sort of danger guy who walks on broken glasses and chicks fire about and that was ok but the entertainment is either by the pool bar so you drinking out of the party cups or at the ampitheatre but there bar is a long walk from this so sort of defeats the object. there is a bar in the main lobby called the belvedere which is open till 3am but it's void of any charisma whatsoever. no music, very dark inside and only a small bar which sometimes queues were quite long. lots of people were just sat round in the lobby drinking, chatting and playing cards. we didnt do this ever and would look at people and think "get yourselves to naama bay". but i suppose it just depends what your after.
location:
interplaza is located just outside of naama bay and it a 5 minutes taxi ride. the hotel offer a shuttle bus (i use the term shuttle bus lightly) to naama bay every day at various different times. when we got there the prices were advertised at 2 us$ per person each way. i was expecting an actual bus however it just some guy who works for the hotel in his car/taxi. this is still cheap to naama bay but they just bung you in the car with anyone else who has paid to at that time which is a bit of a con. after 3 days the put the prices up to 6 us$ per prson each way which annoyed. so basically that would cost £6 in and £6 pound back (120egt) which is too expensive. plus if another couple jumped in the same car with us thats the guy making £24 for a 4mile round trip. not on atall. after this i didnt book the taxi in the hotel i just walked straight up to the taxi/shuttle bus/car guys and paid one way in to naama bay and paid 30egt or 40egt one way depending on how much i could haggle him. its so easy to get a taxi back later on you might as well do it that way. again taxi back the same 30egt-40egt. going in and going out they will try and charge you anything from 50egt-80egt but just say no and that you've been paying 30-4oegt everynight. also the hotel shuttle car will always try and drop you off just past the main strip so you have to walk through all the worst areas where you will get really badly hassled and feel very intimidated so make sure you say you want dropping off right opposite the strip. its just by the big 'jolle ville' sign. this way all you have to do is cross the road and you're there. naama bay is good. very lively and colourful. when you get there you figure out you own way of handling the hasslers but its just part and parcel of being in egypt. just walk on with no eye contact. loads of restaurants, absolutely loads. we ate there 7 nights of the 14, not because the food at hotel was that poor - just for a change really. tgi fridays really cheap - 2 course meal each and we both drink bottled water, 200-250egt (£20-£25). hardrock cafe there too, might have to wait for a table if u go after 2000hrs. loads of steak houses and make sure you check out all the bars and restaurants by the beach front, absolutely loads, indian and jappenese teppanyaki etc. we only found these on the last night and we were gutted. loads of shisha bars (hubbly bubbly flavoured tabacco) that are ok with the guys dancinng around and that but a bit same old same old. there is a good one at the start of the strip just after where you get dropped off called alladin wiht good atmosphere and entertainment but make sure you check drink prices before you order. not that many nice bars really. camel club ok (roof top bar) but not that cheap. pashia night club there but we didnt go. hard rock turns into a disco type club after midnght.
overall:
i hope this review doesn't seem too negative as we had a great time. the first few days we were quite downbeat about everything with the silly cups, the room problems, the shuttle bus sham and the entertainment but things did get better and by the end of the 2 weeks we didnt want to go home. the resort has so much potential, if they just ironed out a few problems with the service (drinks etc) it would be fine. lots of the review i read said hardly brits there but iw as suprised as there was more brits then any other nationality. some russians there but i had problem with them, just let them crack on with their sour faces and bad dress sense and you'll be fine haha. there were lots of italians tere the first week but apparently the italian company sprintours who operate for that hotel lost their contract so maybe there wont be as many there now. i would rate the interplaza as an outstanding 3star or a mediocre 4star and that i feel is good and fair estimation. all the staff are great, they love the brits as we have manners. tipping is a done thing there. 5egt pound is 50p so this is a great tip for them. even 2egt. the guys round our pool (fayrouz pool) were great. the bar men mohammed and shauky (shauky always gave my girlfriend big plastic glasses - sounds crazy to be excited about that doesnt it haha - probable because he was flirting so i always sent her the pool bar haha. they have towels boy round giving you towels each day for by the pool and beach. our ones were class, ashraf and abdinab. they reserved sun loungers each days for us and even turned them towards the sun. really nice men. they work 7-7 everyday. i gave him 100egt (£10) on my last day and he was over the moon, he didnt want to take it at first. bear in mind the average annual salary in egypt is £700 a year!!!! in sharm you can use english pounds (not scottish though), egytian pound, euros and american dollars. its crazy. 1 dollar bills are handy for tipping. my advice would be to take just enough egyptian pounds for the first day or two and the rest sterling then change you money out there. in britain you will lucky if you get 8 egt to the pound whereas you get 10 to the pound everywhere out there. i lost out on alot and i could have kicked my self.
i will definately go back to egypt but will probably try anohter hotel, not because the interplaza was so poor that i wouldnt go back, because i would, just that i fancy a change. ive no doubt that the intrplaza will improve as it gets more and more feedback and it did appear to get better throughout our stay, foodwise and entertainment etc. i will stay right in naama bay next time. the only reason i didnt this time was that most of the hotel were 3-4star and i wanted a 5star. the reason they are lower stars is that the gradings in them are more realistic. plus i wanted all inclusive and the naama bay hotel are genrally bed and breakfast because there is so many cheap places to eat in the area. take suncream with you even if you are worried about theweight of your cases as it is really exspensive out there, we spent over £50 on it over the two weeks. the snorkelling is amazing, the fish are so accustommed to you, and ive not doubt the diving is even better. quad biking is really good and cheap too. we went at 0400 in the morning (souns mad i know) and watched th sunrise and dint get sunburned like other people did. egypt is absoluted redders! it didnt drop below 40c while we were there and most days it was 45c! it was 35 at midnight in sharm centre on the big digital thermometre - riculous haha but you'll get a great tan.
i hope this helps you can enjoy it you go.
thank god i didnt book with xl !!!!