Sultan Gardens Resort

Dear Lindylou, Thank you for choosing the Sultan Gardens Resort and for posting your review. We are very glad that you enjoyed your stay with us and we hope you will return soon. Best Regards The Management

Valued Guest, Thank you for choosing the Sultan Gardens Resort and for posting your review. We appreciate your feedback and are sorry that you felt that the Sultan Gardnes Resort was not for you. We spare no effort in trying to insure that every guest has a great holiday but appreciate that we cannot always live up to people's expectations and regret that we did not do so in your case. Having said that, we would like to take a moment to address some of the points raised in your review as we feel that they do not paint an accurate picture of the resort or its services. First, regarding star rating. While We appreciate that you grade the hotel based on your own experiences it is a fact the Sultan Gardens Resort is comfortably classed as a five star Egyptian Resort according to the classification guidelines created by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. There are five star hotels that sell for half the price and five star hotel that sell for twice the price and in both cases the selling price should reflect product eventhough all three fall into the five star category. For our part, the management and staff of the Sultan Gardens Resort feel very strongly that our product is equal or superior to any equally rated and priced product in Sharm el Sheikh and perhaps some of the higher priced ones as well. With that in mind we find your comments about the food to be very surprising particularly as you seem to have made no mention of your disatifaction with the food to any member of staff during your stay. Had you done so we would have happily listened to your comments with an open mind and done whatever was required to insure that you were enjoying your meals. This is despite the fact the Sultan Gardens Resort already boasts a buffet with a full 14 day menu rotation including theme nights such as Russian night, Italian night, Mexican night, Thai night, Chinese night and Egyptian night. We use every food stuff available on the local markets during the course of these 14 days and items served include rice, potatoes, chicken, duck, turkey, quail, lamb, veal, beef, liver, fish, calamari, burgers, hot dogs, beef bacon, radishes, aubergines, zuchinni, okra, cabbage, squash, pumpkin, carrots, cuccumbers, tomatoes, three kinds of lettuce, beets, tomatoes and so on. There are numerous salads and cheeses on offer as well as multiple kinds of soup and a loaded dessert station that includes not only a variety of homemade cakes and mousses but also fresh fruit and ice cream. Live cooking stations add to the variety with a personal pizza station located on the main terrace and a grill, a carvery and a pasta station (with fresh home made pasta made right before your eyes in our very own pasta maker). Extra restaurants include the Casa Mia Italian restauarant, the Fish Market seafood restaurant and Fleur De Leis Cajun Restaurant and Steakhouse. Regarding pools, we would like to clarify that we have four large pools with an abundance of shade and sun loungers. Two of these pools, the Kids pool with the water slide and the signature Quiet pool are heated during the winter months. The other two pools are not but having two heated pools already puts us well ahead of most of our competitors who only have one heated pool. We are sorry but we completely disagree with your statement about music around the kids pool as the music is certainly not on for 10 hours a day and is in fact only on for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon as part of the organized animation activities. The volume of the music is regulated to insure that it does not extend beyond the area of the pool and as we have a large and heated Quiet pool, which you are clearly aware of, we are not sure why you would not go there if quiet was what you were looking for. As for sellers around the pool being too pushy, this is obviously something that the resort does not condone and while these staff are not employees of the hotel proper we are nonetheless responsible for their conduct. It is regretable that you never expressed to any member of staff that you were disatisfied as we would have taken the necessary action to insure your satisfaction. Please bear in mind that sellers (and animators) are not allowed in the Quiet pool area and that most guest feedback gives the impression that the sellers are not rude or difficult and will leave you alone if you ask them to. As for rooms, we do agree that room renovations are neccesary in some places and are happy to report that they are ongoing with several rooms already done. That is not to say that the rooms are uncomfortable or unclean and the vast majority of our guests stay in unrefurbished rooms without any problem. The renovation process is simply one more thing the resort is doing so as to better serve its guests and we feel that we have begun the process at the right time rather than too late. Regarding location, we appreciate that the resort is not in the middle of the action that is the City Center and if this is where guests prefer to be we cannot argue, but we would like to make the case for our location in Shark's Bay as perhaps being more suitable for many guests because of the following: 1. It is a quiet area where you will not have music blaring from bars and night clubs all through the night. 2. The action of the city center or even Soho square are a mere 10-15 minutes away by cab or shuttle. Hardly a daunting trip. 3. Shark's bay offers far superior snorkelling and cleaner seas then the city center does. 4. We are located directly across from the only Golf Course in Sharm el Sheikh In addition to the above a new shopping promenade has now been built across from the Resort and the shops therein will open shortly. In the meantime guest are able to make use of the 24 shops that operate in the shopping arcade located in the hotel lobby. As for evening entertainment, we appreciate that is may not have been for you but it is extensive for a resort of our type in Sharm and includes a hotel singer, karaoke night, select matches on the big screen, a weekly sound and light show, a weekly bingo night, a weekly fakhir show and various shows put on by the animation team such as comedy, Michael Jackson tribute and so on. Thank you again for your feedback and for posting your review. We hope that you will take our response into consideration and consider a return visit to our resort. As always we remain at your service. Best Regards The Management

Dear Sabre, Thank you for choosing the Sultan Gardens Resort and for posting your review. We appreciate your feedback and would like to take a moment to address some of the points you raised. First regarding the hotel's rating. We would like to point out that rating systems are different in countries throughout the world and a five star in Dubai is different from a five star in Tokyo is different from a five star in the UK, which is different from a five star in Switzerland and so on. We appreciate that you grade the hotel based on your own experiences but we feel it is only fair to consider the economic and social conditions of the country the hotel is located in, as well as the price paid relative to other destinations, and the total value for money paid. Of course none of this may change your opinion and you are completely entitled to it, but this remains a matter of opinion and it is a fact the Sultan Gardens Resort is comfortably classed a five star Egyptian Resort according to the classification guidelines created by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. There are five star hotels that sell for half the price and five star hotel that sell for twice the price and in both cases the selling price should reflect product eventhough all three fall into the five star category. As for other guests and their behavior we certainly do not condone any inappropriate behavious but feel it is unfair to criticize one nationality in particular as every country produces good tourists as well as bad tourists. For its part the Sultan Gardens Resort does its best to keep a healthy mix of nationalities so that no one nationality is dominant but the statistics show that the slight majority of our guests over the course of a calender year are actually from the UK. The resort is built on an incline and this does make for some walking but it also makes for the maximum possible number of sea view rooms. We appreciate that walking up or down a hill may not be ideal for some guests which is why the resort offers guests the use of a free in house shuttle bus or Taf Taf. The Taf Taf runs from the front of the lobby to the beach and back again every 15 minutes with stops along the way. A second Taf Taf is on standby in case of any request by any guest with mobility troubles and guests are more than welcome to contact reception and have this Taf Taf sent directly to their room if need be. As for music around the pool and beach we feel that we have to disagree with this comment as we provide alternatives for guests who want to relax via a quiet pool and the quiet beach. Both of these are quiet all day long and fully serviced with their own bars. As for the beach and swimming, please note that the beach is fronted by an extensive coral reef and it is for the safety of our guests and the protection of the reef that a buoy line is extended about 3 meters into the water marking where the reef begins. Guests are welcome to walk into this area and swim as well as make use of the submerged wooden walkways that extend over the reef and the floating jetty mentioned in your review. The area which precedes the reef is deep enough for adults to immerse their entire bodies in the water but we appreciate that if you are not interested in the coral or the fish a different kind of beach may be more suitable for you. As for hygiene we would like to state that there is no need for concern as everything dilligently washed with sanitized water in keeping with our commitment food safety as defined by the international HACCP standard and audited by UK based health and safety company Cristal. As part of your AI package you do get one large bottle of mineral water delivered to your room daily but this is only to supplement the drinks you get from bars (10 bars on site) where waiters are happy to serve water or you can help yourself at any of the water dispensers around the resort. Thank you again for your feedback. We appreciate your comments and hope you will reconsider a return visit to the Sultan Gadens Resort. Best Regards The Management

Dear Vicky, Thank you for continuing to choose the Sultan Gardens Resort and for posting your review. We appreciate your feedback and look forward to your return. Best Regards The Management

Dear Sharon, Thank you for choosing the Sultan Gardens Resort and for posting your review. We appreciate your feedback and hope you will return soon. Best Regards The Management

Dear jicjacjoc, Thank you for choosing the Sultan Gardens Resort and for posting your review. We appreciate your feedback and hope you will return soon. Best Regards The Management

Dear Ladybird, Thank you for choosing the Sultan Gardens Resort and for posting your review. It was a pleasure to host you and wehope you will return soon. Best Regards The Management

Dear B Cuxton, Thank you for choosing the Sultan Gardens Resort and for posting your review. We appreciate your feedback and hope you will return soon. Best Regards The Management