Sonesta Beach Resort

We were impressed by how lovely and quiet it was, the beautiful gardens and mountains, how helpful the staff were (never knew you could do so much with towels) and the glorious cakes.
On the downside, the bath had mould around it, the heated pool was freezing, and constant loud music around the pool and the food was luke warm unless you were having something made by the chef in the middle of the buffet.

The staff's English is pretty basic especially so on reception which surprised me.
I got trapped in a lift on the third day of my holiday and went to report it to reception who hadn't even heard the bell ringing in the lift and it was very difficult to make myself understood.
In fact it was like a bad case of pictionary and "Give us a clue" to explain what had happened and even then, they didn't seem too concerned.
We reported it to the rep who assured us she would raise the issue.
Our rep from First Choice was friendly and didn't push the trips but talked about the enthusiastically. Realistically if you want to do the pyramids or any other trips you are best not going to Taba unless you want a 5am start.
All in all a nice resort and worth the money but wouldn't go again to Sonesta but would visit Taba as excellent weather and humidity and very friendly people.

Take no notice of the bad reveiws. We have just returned from a weeks stay at the Sonesta Beach Resort and loved it.
From the start. Cleared Taba airport in approx 15 minutes. I think that’s better than Gatwick. Was met by our rep Helen from First choice and a chilled bottle of water. Very needed. About 1 hour and 15 mins to the resort via an air conditioned comfortable coach. Arrived at resort about 11pm. Met by friendly staff and another drink. They served us food while sorting luggage and rooms out. We didn’t like the room we were offered and was quickly shown another which we preferred. The staff couldn’t do enough to please us.
The rooms are massive and very tastefully decorated with sea facing private balconies. They have all you will need, a fridge, TV (which does show English movies and sport 24 hrs), a sofa, table and chairs, lots of storage and lighting. There is a electronic safe which you pick the code so there is no chance of anything going missing. The bathroom is just right and has a shower and bath, they provide towels so you can save space in your suitcase for the other bikinis that you want to pack. There is toiletries provided and tissues. There are plenty of mirrors. Last but not least there is air-conditioning which we needed desperately. (The temperature reached over 45 degrees while we were there).
There are 2 pools, the main one has a pool bar and seems to be the hub of the resort. There are plenty of sun beds to choose from and free pool towels (which are changed daily). The other pool is smaller but a lot quieter. Some days we were the only ones there. The beach is private and cleaned daily with lots of sun beds. There are security men at both ends of the beach and other points around the resort so we felt very safe and wondered around the complex even in the dark. They have a dive shop that is very well equipped so check it out, as well as water sports.
Restaurants are clean and serve a wide range of different tastes. Theres an Italian (excellent pizzas), a Seafood restaurant, a Lebanese and the main Palmira restaurant. You can also get 24hr room service if your starving. We ate everything including the salad and had ice in our drinks and didn’t get food poisoning. The bottled water is available throughout the hotel except in the bathroom of course.
If you lie on the sun bed for up to 10 hours and drink lots of alcohol you deserve to be ill.
You can drink at many places in the resort and they have an excellent Piano bar, bistro and there’s a disco to burn of those extra pounds from all that lovely food. failing that you could go to the Health club or play tennis. Or do as we did (nothing but sunbathe and read) bliss. The staff really made this holiday for us, from the moment we arrived until we departed they made us feel special.
Our Rep Helen, from first choice, was on hand if we needed her. There was also Katie who went out of her way to see to all our needs. Also Michel the porter who was so friendly and went beyond his duties to ensure our happiness. The cleaner who made creations out of our towels and the restaurant staff were so much fun.
In fact we think this hotel is a 4 star, but deserves a 5 star for the people who try to please everyone. Even the difficult ones.

Very clean hotel. Staff extremely friendly and helpful.
Would recommend sunbathing on the beach rather than round the pool if you don't care for loud music all day!
If you want nightlife this is not the hotel to go to (we didn't and it was just right) but it does state this in all the brochures.
The reef is practically on the beach, very easy to swim to - not necessarily teeming with thousands of fish but plenty of varieties to keep you occupied and the coral is amazing.
Overall a great hotel for just chilling out and being very lazy!

This was our first time at al AI hotel, and if not for the comments of the other unhappy guests, it would be our last. On arrival we went to our room to find 2 beds rather than the 3 we asked for, they then said our 27 year old daughter had to sleep on a camp bed, we complained and had to pay for an upgrade, which First Choice are unwilling to pay anything towards.
The food was luke warm and very similar for both lunch and dinner. The hotel is on its own, so unless you pay to go on the trips, these are very expensive or take a taxi costing £25.00 a time to the next resort which has 4 hotels on it, then you were stuck. We have been to the Red Sea 3 times previous and this has been the worst. Guests were going down with stomach complaints on a daily basis, tablets were being distributed from guest to guest, apparently the First Choice rep thought it might be the water in the pool, she looked after one other hotel, ours was the only was who had stomach problems.
If you want a lovely holiday at the Red Sea do not go to the Sonesta Beach, the Hilton at Taba is brilliant as it the Hiltons at Sharm El Sheik.
To all the other guests we met at the Sonesta, I bet you are as glad to be back in England as my family were.

What can I say? I traveled with my partner and we had the best time. We went for a quite stress free 2 weeks and we definitely got that.
The hotel reception is lovely and clean & cool what you need when it’s so hot outside. Are bedroom was a suite and it was huge. It was cleaned every day and we were given fresh towels. We even had swans and hearts made from extra towels with rose petals. Which was lovely.
The pool is fantastic very, very cleans as we watched them clean it for 3 hours. The food is fantastic lots to choose from. The staff were very friendly and extremely helpful will do anything for you. We did venture out to do quad biking and I would recommend that to everybody.
Go to this hotel its fantastic!

Lovely location for a quiet relaxing beach holiday, but absolutely nothing to do outside hotel complex without travelling. Hotel grounds and rooms lovely. Generally staff very nice and friendly, some staff too friendly with female guests.
Food good. The only thing that really spoiled holiday was going all inclusive because guests who ordered drinks this way were treated and second class-tiny measures and small plastic, often chipped, glasses. However after 10.30 pm when all inclusive ended and you paid for drinks suddenly the measures became normal and the glass wear was brought out.