More Traveller Reviews of Sonesta Beach Resort
wanted to leave
from HilaryD
we were not told by our travel agents that our short stay in Sonesta was basically a holiday camp. we were staying for two nights in between nights in Jordan. we found the hotel noisy, the staff not able to cope with paying customers as we were not all inclusive. The food was extremely poor, beach and pool aerobics too loud. The news years eve party was a battle to get the food which was very poor and they run out of potatoes and veg. we had members of the audience singing karoke style, the entertainment staff attempting dancing on a small stage, it was awful to watch. the resort is ok if you are a family who want to be entertained budget style. but the twenty of us who are more mature found the whole two days bascially a rough house. the service was poor, food poor, but the staff were doing their best although they were only trained to deal with the all inclusive holiday, not small groups. thank goodness the weather was good, the only good thing about the place.
Great Resort
from A TripAdvisor Member
I travelled to the Sonesta with my girlfriend and a couple of friends, for the New Year celebrations in 2005. The first sight you see when entering the hotel, is a fantastic beach. The food is of above standard. They have a buffet available each night, along with a salad bar and desert bar. The rooms are fine, with twin beds, balcony, shower/bath etc. We found that people were going down the the beach or pool VERY early and putting towels on the sun beds. On the whole a great hotel, with a clean private beach, good standards of service and great weather. My only negative is only go to this hotel if you have booked all inclusive as we met a couple who went half board. They were paying £4 for a coke and £6 for a half a beer! If you are taking children there is a daily kids club, but nothing except a disco for them at night. Be aware that this is a very quiet resort with in fact the hotel making up the whole resort of Taba. All in all we had a fantastic holiday and if you want a quiet beach holiday in a high quality hotel then this is the place for you. And sun in the winter always helps!!!
Meet the Manager!
from A TripAdvisor Member
I took my mum here for what I hoped would be a relaxing break in September. I'd read some of the reviews before booking and thought that the worse that could happen on this holiday would be finishing my stack of paperbacks and then have nothing left to do....I was wrong! Within a couple of days of arriving I was (unknowingly) followed to my room by a member of staff, where I was groped!, had food poisoning twice, and then came close to heatstroke after the useless air conditioning in the rooms failed to cool properly. The food was appalling - cold, unappetising and with no variety! As a "Gillian McKeith Retreat" this would be fab - only chickpeas and veg in site (I lost half a stone in that week!). The hotel's only redeeming features are a beautiful pool area and an excellent diving school but the service and general facilities are more 3-4 star than 5 star. If you want a relaxing break (where you don't spend 3 days writing up incident reports and delaing with all the hotel managers!), go to the Marriott!!!
we had a lovely time....
from Jildebeast
I am beginning to wonder where some of these people have been... We read varying reviews about this resort before we went, but were pleasantly surprised. The hotel was very clean and the grounds an oasis, the pool was spotless and beach was clean too. The staff were friendly and even though the english wasn't always good, they were very helpful. Ok, the food wasn't that exciting, but for all inclusive it wasn't bad. We avoided having ice in our drinks and only drank bottled water and neither of us came down with any tummy bugs. Plastic glasses by the pool and beach areas seemed sensible, rather than ever treading on any broken glass. We didn't do any of the trips out as we just wanted to sit on the beach and relax... it was lovely and warm and the sea was beautifully clear. I couldn't fault it for that... To be honest, we would go back.
Thoroughly recommended
from LOWESTOFT MEMBER
If you have booked this hotel then do not worry. We have just returned on 20th December 2005 after a week in this hotel. The staff are very friendly and the rooms are very nice. There is a varied choice of meals and as much drink as you like on the all inclusive up until 11pm which includes drinks with lunch and evening meal. The only time we were served drinks in plastic glasses was around the pool area for safety reasons. The waiting staff receive a monthly wage of just 250 Eygptian pounds a month (£25) so a small tip of 10-20 Eygptian pounds (£1-£2) is very much appreciated. These waiters work 12 hours a day and are constantly polite and cannot do enough for you so a small tip is like a small fortune to them. Believe me they will wait on you hand and foot and will be very attentive. The hotel has a quiet relaxing feel to it so if you want to escape from noisy kids splashing around the pool then this is the place to come and unwind. For those snorkellers amongst you there is an abundance of fish (including parrott fish) within a few feet from the shoreline. In general all the hotel staff were very efficient and helpful.
TERRIBLE
from A TripAdvisor Member
this was deffenetly a sub-standard hotel the staff were unhelpful and could not speak english the service on a whole was a joke, i would give this an overall 2* rating the only good thing about this holiday was the weather. i found the whole experience a total nightmare I would of been happier in bognariguis eating a bag of chips! the food was that bad that i was on the verge of being sick every time i walked into that disgusting canteen area. i had food poisoning and so did my partner! our advice to holiday makers, is keep as far away as possible from sonesta beach hotel! if you want a crap holiday and food poisoning and poor value for money then this is the place to go and have a fantastic time GOOD LUCK your gonna need it at sonesta!
Relaxing and quiet but 3* not 5* (7th Nov)
from carol1259
All inclusive---not really. Served in plastic glasses from designated kiosks, like being rationed. We had to play a game where we went back and forth to the kiosk (first my husband and then me) to try and get a drink that actually tasted of alcohol. They constantly ran out of "glasses" and then they were only rinsed and not washed!!The food is mediocre and usually only served warm-with not much variety. Make the most of breakfast as this is by far the best meal of the day and the TEA is vey good.If you get bored with the food!!? at lunch time in the oasis bar(by the pool) serves nice food, but you have to pay for this. We knew it was going to be quiet and this wasnt a problem, but the reception is not very sociable as they really need more settee's and comfortable chairs. The staff were friendly and tried to help, but I felt as if they hadnt been trained at all. The room was large and comfortable. The shower was excellent. But the minibar was empty!! The beds are hard but comfortable. We were told by other travellers (on the way home) that you couldnt fault the meals at the marriott-they were very nice but that the drinks cost £5 each and were uk measures !which made it very expensive as they hadnt gone all inclusive.
Great, but basic
from ClaireUK31
We had a wonderful time at sonesta. Were really worried reading the reviews before we went as they were so varied and in places very clear this wasn't somewhere to go. However, when we got there we were pleasantly surprised. Yes the Staff didn't have very good english, but it is only a recently developed area, so it's not unreasonable that every member of staff was not fluent in our language, and with time you can get anything understood well enough to get by. The all inclusive was also a new thing for the resort, and it did have some teething trouble in that all inclusive doesn't actually mean all, it just means plentiful supplies of the basics, i.e. meals, choice of a few soft drinks, and a few alcoholic, and minimal snacks, extras cost extra, but for the price of the holiday it was more than reasonable. The staff were all very friendly (if a little grumpy around sunset, though it was ramadam so entirely understandable), the facilities were immaculate, and the reef just off the beach fantastic, and snorkelling parties go out daily from the water sports place to show the new arrivals where to go. Things weren't well advertised, so it often took longer than you'd expect to find all the hotels facilities (the worst example being the second pool which we only located out the front door as we were checking out!) But generally if you're looking for a chilled out holiday either pool or beach based with amazing snorkelling, then this is for you. If you're wanting to go somewhere to party all night, be entertained all day, and eat nothing but fry ups and chips, then it's not the right place for you. As far as we're concerned the only down side to the trip was the lack of excursions within our price range, even a drive through the mountains then shopping in a local town was £40 each!
adequate
from walidhassoun
i have travelled on a subsidized trip organized by the bank of my wife, the bank paid over 50% of the cost. I have visited taba before and stayed in marriott. The fact that what we paid was extrmely low made me took the risk. the hotel is in an excellent location on the red sea although it is around 25 km from taba heights and 15 from nuwebia. you wont need to leave it. Reception staff were helpful but not superior ( adequate ). rooms were adequate if you dont have kids get a room in the second floor as ground floor lacks privacy being opened on the pool and the beach. Activities are excellent ad organized. adiving center in in house with reasonable prices, The beach is great with corals very close and the way to reach them is paved and safe. resturants food lack variety but excellent in quantity and quality ( adequate ). pool is not heated but we used it. Overall it was a very nice trip. recommended if u have family and looking for a cheap alternative.
Awesome coral
from A TripAdvisor Member
On reading some of the previous reports on this hotel my partner and I were pretty apprehensive about going to sonsesta on a week AI. However on arriving at the hotel we were very impressed at the layout and had a very warm welcome from the staff there. The main pool and activities were great and we had a full schedule of stretching, aqua aerobics and water polo - with tennis on the floodlit courts every night when the sun went down. If you made the effort to get to know any of the local staff you'd realise they were really friendly and always on hand to help. We tried to learn some common egyptian phrases and the guys in the shops, cleaners, chef's and even the DJ from the disco all had a laugh teaching us - and contrary to other reviews we were never perstered for any tips. In fact the only time we were asked for anything was when the room cleaner wanted us to complete the room evaluation - which incidently was always spotless and a nice extra touch was the towel origami. The coral reefs were fantastic and there was such a massive range of fish. There was a clearing that you could walk through in the shallow water to get to the reef which admittedly wasn't well marked, but after two minutes of seeing every person in the sea going in and out the same way doesn't take a genius to work out how you get to the reef. We met with a few other couples and families during our stay, who definitely made the holiday even better and we all enjoyed the belly dancing, Shisha, treasure hunt(bizarre!) and the 'cosy' Ramsis disco. My advice would be to enjoy the hotel for what it is - there's little surrounding it but if you enjoy snorkling, sunbathing, and eating and socialising it's great. And the local guys who work in the hotel are so friendly and appreciate any conversation...even in broken arabic!!
More hotel photos
had a wonderfull holiday. staff are very polite .and the food was brilliant entertianment by pool funny say thanks to baddoo.