Sofitel Taba Heights Hotel

we stayed here in august it is a beautiful hotel and nice staff,a couple of them where a bit sleazy so we gave them a wide berth,food quite good, rooms where spotless,it was 45 degrees all week,the sea was warm and there where lots of fish.

14 readers found this review helpful

I bet, you think you have found a bargain with this hotel - such good reviews and reasonable price! I thought so when I was booking it. Our room was very average ,not 5*quality . The state of the bathroom –it doesn’t know what bleach is, very out dated and they provide only one towel per person-is it 5*? The bed linen is very old and didn’t look very fresh even when they have just changed it. Old TV is hidden in the oriental box which you need to open when you wanted to turn on TV ,it was very annoying .The food –we have been joking about it after couple day .What are they mixing today- dishes after previous breakfast and lunch or previous dinner and lunch dishes. Oh perhaps it was the food shortage in hotel. All inclusive alcohol drinks- sound very good .We found only one problem with it -where is alcohol? All drinks apart of wine and beer hardly had any of it. It didn’t have the smell or taste of it.
Most important is be careful and do not leave anything valuable in your luggage if you do not have very good lock on it. And please check your bags before you sit to your taxi. That what happened to me.
I put my camera in my bag just before I left the room and left it with our suitcases for the porters to collect and bring to my taxi. We locked the room and made our way to the taxi. As we were pulling away from the hotel I wanted to use rest of the space on my camcorder so I opened a bag and I found out it wasn’t there...(I couldn’t believe my luggage was for 20-30 min without me).I have stopped taxi and asked taxi driver to return to the hotel. First we reported it to the reception who said that they will call security but after waiting 15 minutes he didn't arrive so we went to see the Duty Manager as we had a flight to get from Sharm el Sheikh and the driver was insisting that we had to leave. The duty manager listened and said that she needed to call somebody else. Another man arrived and said that they were going to check the lock to see how many people had entered the room after I had left it and after a while they returned to say that 3 people had entered the room but all together so none of those could have taken the camera. I asked the manager for a letter stating that I had reported the camera missing but he wouldn't do it because it had never happened before and nobody else had entered the room.
Keep your eyes on your valuables and don't trust the staff even when they give you lovely smiles.

9 readers found this review helpful

We read the reviews before we went to the Sofitel and were a little concerned, but we were very happy with the hotel when we arrived. Our flight was late and they had kept the restaurant open so we could all eat.
I travel a lot for work so am used to staying in hotels and I have to say I was very impressed with the rooms at the hotel, they were spacious, nice bathrooms and were cleaned every day.
There are 4 pools and plenty going on during the day, Aqua aerobics, volley ball, foot ball. We had to children in our group 7 and 10 and they found the kids club was good fun although they felt they were missing out not being by the pool with us.
The staff are all very friendly and if you give the towel guys a tip at the beginning of the week they will make sure you your towels are on your sun beds in your preferred area around the pool.
Food was lovely and the pizza and ice cream at lunch time went down brilliantly with the kids.
A few of our party did get sick at the end of the week, but i think this was down to to much sun and not drinking enough water!
There was only one criticism that the evening entertainment started to late. The all inclusive bar stops at around 11pm and then you have to pay for your drinks the evening entertainment started at approx 10:50pm. The kids were asleep by then and so they missed out as did we when we had to take them back to the room.
We will defiantly be going back and are considering it as our honeymoon destination and hotel next year.

32 readers found this review helpful

On arrival at the Sofitel we were bowled over with the grand lobby. This was only the start. Our room was huge and extremely well furnished with beautiful decor and wet room style shower.
The restuarants were spacious and waiters very pleasant and professional - not in your face at all! Unfortunately our first meal was not the best, although this may have been more to do with travelling for 12 hours. We went on to enjoy our breakfasts and dinners in the Aladin Restuarant where the "theme styled" menu provided varied and interesting meals, and snack lunches in the Lotus restuarant where pizza, kebab, fries and salad were the ideal choice for families with children or those looking for a light snack.
We loved this hotel so much we will definately go back.

11 readers found this review helpful

I visited taba heights in feb 2009 with my family, and stayed at the sofitel hotel,the hotel is excellent, the rooms, and the food are excellent, the staff are superb the most helpful and always with a big smile.
I played golf and the golf complex is better than 75% of the numurous golf courses I have played in spain and portugal
Ok it is not cheap but the green fee includes a buggy and of course it is so hot 6 months of the year it rarely get played so the cost of running the complex is understandable in the green fees charged
did I enjoy the hotel and the golf course you bet I did so much so I am going again in feb 2010 cannot wait
p.a.w

p s weather in feb lovely

19 readers found this review helpful

this was our second visit to the sofitel.the transfer from the airport took approx 45 mins,lots of form filling.arrived at hotel,had meal, our cases were taken to our rooms.very nice rooms again,overlooking the gulf of aqaba.the staff were very friendly and helpful,as before.the food was fine, but slightly repeatative after two weeks, i think that would be the same with any all inclusive.the hotel was clean and so were the pools and surrounding areas.our portland tour rep hashem was very friendly and helpful,also mohamed in the bar was great fun.mohamed and mahmoud(pool staff) were both very friendly.glass bottom boat trip was great!the only down side of the holiday was during the first week when we experienced the israeli holiday makers,who were extremely rude and inconsiderate to staff and other guests.we would not recommend going in august again, as this is their main holiday period.the entertainment could be improved as it was very much of the same, not very professional.private section of beach with plenty of sunbeds.would recommend this hotel to other families, but dont go in august.

4 readers found this review helpful

Arrived at midnight, get to room, no bed for our 5 year old, we had to wait 3 hours; not 5 star service. Hotel and Pool area filthy, food dire; only good point was the staff, when they wern't ill from the food, as were most of the guests. do not go there

16 readers found this review helpful

I am sorry to write this as I don’t like to be too negative about our holiday experience, but the truth must be posted. We have travelled extensively in Egypt on an all inclusive basis and have also enjoyed the delights of the Caribbean; this demonstrates that the Sofitel is NOT all inclusive it is PART inclusive and 3 star at best. Sofitel are part of the ACORR group, you will recognise IBIS, Mecure etc, all cheap and nasty; at least this hotel doesn’t let that reputation down.
We arrived as previous contibuters late Tuesday evening; we had to wait at Taba airport whilst the remaining 2 planes could arrive, in order that we travel in convoy? This only happens with Thomson/First Choice; the other carriers depart as soon as ready! Thomson/first Choice on departure day leave the hotel at 6pm, resulting in a three hour wait in an un-serviced airport, the other carriers depart at 7.30 pm much more civilised; I accept this is not the hotels fault, but it is an issue.
When arriving at the hotel, yes, they kindly keep the buffet restaurant open, and take your bags to your room; here’s where it starts to go wrong. We have our meal, such as it was, not much food left; where is our room? The restaurant staff speak good restaurant English, but did not understand our question about the location of our room, the reception has over 100 tired people queuing for their keys and there are no signs to block 3???? After wondering around aimlessly, we discover a couple on their second week and they direct us, it takes 20 minutes for us to find our room. At last we get in, we have a very tired 5 year old with us, but there is no bed for her, we call reception who are very busy, but will get somebody to us in 30 minutes, it is now 1am. At 1.30am I return to reception and they promise to get somebody ASAP, when I get back to the room a porter arrives and suggests our daughter sleeps on the couch; this has a camber that means she would roll off and besides it is not a bed; eventually he is persuaded we need a bed. We hear the bed leaving the lift 40 minutes later, but the porter receives a mobile phone call and spends the next 20 minutes putting the world to rights; he agrees finally at 2.30am to deliver the bed, our daughter gets to sleep at 3am Wednesday having left home at 8am on Tuesday, we are expected to attend a welcome meeting at 10am, yeh right! Our luggage now finally arrives. During the next few days we find out that this issue affected every parent, not one child got a bed on arrival, and one parent shared a bed with her two children for three days; do you think this is 5 star service? When questioned the Rep says this happened because we were 180 arriving but she was only expecting 100 also the hotel don’t know the demographics of the new guests and if pre allocated rooms are for somebody disabled or old and they are far away, they may change the allocation resulting in some mix up with beds. Total BS, this would not result in every child not having a bed; it is just poor management and planning; this is the issue throughout the hotel.
You will get ill if you use this hotel, of the guests that arrived with us we know of nobody who wasn’t ill, you will note even the good reports earlier say they were ill and are still suffering now they are home, well so are the waiters. One girl on our arrival date, ate Tuesday night spent the next 5 days in bed not having been in the sun or pool, she recovered, ate again and immediately fell ill, recovered but this time chose to eat every day in town at her expense and was fine for the balance of her holiday. Another family were on drips and received injections that finally sorted things out again 5 days later; they were also prescribed medication for a parasitical bowel infection, one of the family was a nurse and recognised the prescription, when her daughter got her tablets out at the Buffet restaurant, their waiter said “Oh I am on those tablets”; should he be handling food??? We befriended one of the waiters who couldn’t have been more helpful and in fairness this was the case with all the staff, excepting they have no management; he kept complaining of a bad stomach; I asked if he had seen the doctor to which he replied it doesn’t matter it is just the food, it makes you ill. This hotel was extended by one third recently but they haven’t increased the catering capacity, net result restaurant chaos; they can’t cope at peak times. The BBQ staff start preparing at 3pm and serve from 6.30-until 10pm, the chicken hangs in the sun on skewers un-chilled all this time, one evening I noticed a queue of Palestinians, very odd as they don’t do queuing, I asked if this was the back of the queue and was told, “no go ahead” the chef pulled out some Chicken from under the counter and offered it to me; when I sat down it was only part cooked, I returned to the BBQ only to see the Palestinians pounce once there was some freshly BBQ’d chicken, they were laughing and winking with the Chef. This BBQ services approximately 1000 guests and is the size of a large gas BBQ from B&Q, clearly it can’t cope so they pre cook food store it un- refrigerated and serve it many hours later recipe for salmonella.
As I said earlier we have stayed all inclusive in Egypt and the Caribbean, we have always been very happy with the food, service, facilities and cleanliness; this is not true of the Sofitel. When at Baron Palms last year, you couldn’t get near the pool until they had scrubbed the floor, washed down the beds and tables and had a management inspection approving the readiness of the facilities, at the Sofitel we witnessed ice cream being dropped and not cleaned for 10 days, discarded plasters on the steps to the pool not collected for the duration of our holiday, we would clean up the area we used ourselves before laying our towels etc. At Hotels Iberotel Lamaya in Marsa and Baron Palms, Sharm the toilets were spotless with no nasty odours and both hotels were immaculate. The Sofitel stank, often with no toilet paper and general cleanliness and hygiene was appalling. We were amazed at the stoicism of the guests; the common retort was “what we didn’t expect much, it is all inclusive” Well, we do expect much as we have witnessed what is possible with a bit of management.
One of the biggest gripes from European guests was the all inclusive drinks, they are awful; you can only get wine in the buffet restaurant at lunch and dinner, WHY? If you choose to eat at the poolside bar restaurant, you need to take your food into the buffet to enjoy a glass of wine, it is only 50 yards; but we Europeans change to go into a restaurant rather than through on a wrap or tea shirt over our swimming gear, don’t we? Ultimately we have paid for all inclusive and you don’t get it at the Sofitel; I hear the supporters saying but the all inclusive details are in the brochure and you get what you booked. We didn’t book this hotel, we booked the Jaz Royal Taba; this had 4 all inclusive a le cartes and wine was available in any bar. At the Sofitel you had to pay for the Asiatic restaurant hence it only had 4-10 guests per night and was often cancelled due lack of interest, this has always been inclusive at any other hotel we have been to. Also they charged for the Egyptian restaurant, all inclusive everywhere else.
Lastly, facilities; Childrens club looked good, we didn’t use it, Childrens entertainment, cinema at 7.30pm and 4 songs in a mini disco; they play at offering a service, staff are great but they can only deliver as instructed. General entertainment, Rubbish with the exception of the whirling dervish on Monday nights. The reef is dead and therefore the snorkling is not as good as Sharm or Marsa, the reef is dead because people walk all over it, either out of ignorance or because they are ignorant, this wouldn’t happen at Sharm or Marsa because the reef is policed by staff, not at the Sofitel; lack of management again.
One positive, the general staff are great, but they so need their enthusiasm being given some direction. I would not book this hotel again, however we never go back as we try to find different experiences, this does mean doing a lot of research, we did this but can’t plan for being moved to a hotel we didn’t plan for, there endeth the lesson.

12 readers found this review helpful

Having stayed at the Marriott next door last september and got ripped off for the cost of food and drink we decided this time to go all inclusive to the Sofitel. It was worth every penny! The hotel is luxurious with plenty of space and right on the beach. The whole place is kept immaculately clean and the restaurant was welcoming with an abundance of food at your disposal. Ok it became a bit samey after a few days but it was edible. The staff were amazing and much friendlier than at that marriott. Everyone was extremely helpful and would only want you satisfied with every aspect of your holiday. Unlike the Thomson reps, when our Sons case turned up at the airport literally falling apart he was told "This happens frequently" and then told to tape the case together for the return journey home! Loved the hotel and would reccommend to anyone, we will definately being going back but would like to think I could find another tour operator to go with as I was not impressed with Thomson at all! light also very cramped.
Ok Taba airport is small and smelly but don't forget this was once a military airport and is fairly new to tourism here. Lets hope in time it will improve, but don't let it put you off this wonderful "away from it all" resort with some wonderful diving experiences to be had.

4 readers found this review helpful

Returned from a weeks holiday here from the 16th dec to the 22nd. All in all had a nice time. The hotel itself is extremely clean and tidy and the staff cannnot do too musch for you.
The weather was very good for the time of year somedays even reaching highs as 34degrees celsius!
The swimming pools and beach area are great.plenty of sunbeds and space , however the beach is a little rocky into the sea and so it is best to use the jetty. but the snorkelling is fantastic!
Unfortunately however the food at this hotel is not fantastic!.There is very little choice and for less adventurous eaters there is practically nothing! I ate bread rolls and the lunch time pizzas for my stay! In the whole of the week they served chips at one lunchtime!(the queue was out of the door!!!). Also like other reviews there was some complaints of upset stomach bugs and what not, however i was fortunate enough to escape this!(perhaps because i didnt really eat the food!)
Also the entertainment is extremely poor, and in the week we saw the same show 3 times, granted the show was good, but once you have seen a spinning man , youve seen it!! the entertainment resembled Butlins ten years ago! definately could uses some improvements.
Taba airport is also a disgrace, and i would reccomend NEVER using the toilet facilities there..
All in all i had an enjoyable week at the Sofitel Taba Heights, but will i be returning ..probably not.