Hyatt Regency Taba Heights

We went with Libra Holidays although it appeared that Longwood Holidays had better representation in Taba and were helpful when we wanted to do a trip. The flight was about 5 hours with Excel Airways which we were pleasantly suprised with as they provided leather seats,good food,films and Cabin Crew with personality. On arrival at Taba everyone purchased an Egyptian Visa on recommendation from Libra rep which in our minds prevented aggravation at checkpoints etc so was worth buying even if you did not need it.It seemed that when any authority checked passports it was this they were looking for. Taba airport is small and only caters for a couple of planes here and there so all opportunities to get a tip are exploited. The guys on the toilet doors are handing out hand towels to dry hands with and the guys who put the cases on the buses. Overall i dont think the Egyptians give first time visitors a first good impression of their country by employing these tactics on arrival. Anyway once your baggage is retrieved its outside and your rep directs you to your coach for transfer. By the way all the airport stuff is not too long and pretty straightforward. The transfer was in the dark about 2100 so did not see much. We crossed a checkpoint and then down below you could see the lights of the Hyatt,Sofitel and Marriot all in a line. There are more checkpoints and dropping off at hotels and then when you do get off the coach you have to go through an airport metal detector doorway. Security and checking is a way of life here and is probably correct as to what happened down the road at the Taba Hilton a while ago. The restaurant had been kept open and we all got something to eat. I was suprised at the quality and quantity of food at this hotel,my wife and i thought the standards were very good. We then went to our room which overlooked the sculptured pool and the sea and were really pleased with the cleanliness,size and overall quality. The hotel itself has a sculptured pool surrounded by sunbeds which were not difficult to get,the difficulty is probably that people liked certain areas around the pool and could not always get the same ones each day. It has to be said though that the guys who issue towels and put up the umbrellas can be bought as we were aware of sunbeds being taken by the same people everyday whether they turned up early or not. There is another large rectangular pool,a kids pool area and a large waterfall type pool which was popular and got filled up purely because you could not put a lot of sunbeds around it. By the beach was a saltwater lagoon which seemed to be more for landscaping purposes than anything else. Then there was an immaculate private beach which was never crowded and stretched for a long way. On entering the sea the rocks and coral reefs are very evident so it was not possible to go seabathing in the true sense of the word. What they had done though was built a jetty out over the rocks into the sea. Off the edge of this jetty were really beautiful corals which you could snorkel with all types of fish. I learnt to dive in the Maldives and have done a lot of snorkelling there but nowhere had i seen such beatiful corals as here which were so accessible to all. This aspect of the hotel was an absolute stunner. The hotel had extensive grounds and it could take quite a while to walk to places.The grounds were lovely and some of the fauna beautiful to see. The hotel seems confusing as buildings with rooms were all across the place but you quite quickly work out your own routes to and from places. The public areas of the hotel were clean including the toilets. The restaurants were the main buffet area which to all those that have been to the USA and used the buffets or Golden Corral etc will know what to expect. There was an Itailian,Lebanese and a Seafood restaurant which were well used at Lunchtime but not so in the evening as all were at the buffet. The service in this hotel was friendly and efficient. Drinks were not that long in coming and were not super expensive as some have said. The Sofitel next door did not look nice,it had scruffy public areas and one of the pools was just dirty green water. The Marriot next to that looked a lot better and was generally quite nice,i might stay there if the Hyatt was not available. Overall the Hyatt was a clear winner as was confirmed by many guests from the other two hotels who visited. The Hyatt also had a shop,games room,tennis courts,diving centre,pool tables,a gym and spa as well as a casino. The entertainment was poor for adults and was repeated a lot,we did not bother with it anyway. For kids this hotel had a full programme and judging by the familys there it must have been good. You could organise trips to Cairo,Jordan and Eilat as weel as other places but i can not comment as we went to relax. Those who went on the trips enjoyed them but said they were tiring and a bit expensive.There are some quite hefty border taxes to add on. All in all we enjoyed this hotel and place a lot. If you want a very nice hotel (good 4 star) in a hot place and you want to relax knowing that all you have is the hotel where you are and the possibility of a trip here and there then this is a winner. It is nice to find a quality hotel that caters for such a broad spectrum of people and manages to succeed to a respectable level. I would go back without any qualms whatsoever

Stayed in the Hyatt Regency from the 31st June - 7th July. The holiday was truly relaxing and a great getaway. We went with First choice, the flight time was about 5 hours. Luckily, we had in flight entertainment which I don't think any of the other airlines flying to Taba have. Taba airport is basically in the middle of no where and the surrounding area doesn't look finished quite yet. Try to go to the loo before getting off the plane as if you want to go in the airport, you have to pay for some tissue that someone has stolen out of the loos. The transfer to the hotel took about 35 minutes and it was quite dark when we got to the hotel. We stayed in a sea front room next to the presidential suite and we had a great view! The balcony was also huge and the walk in shower could probably fit about 4 people in it! We got lost going for dinner the first night due to various amount of ways in which you can walk throught the gardens to the main building! There are five amazing pools and a sea water lagoon however we tended to stay by the same pool everyday. We spent most of our time in the pool as I could just about manage ten minutes in the sun before getting too hot. Although the hotel is reasonably full, it remained quiet the whole time we were there and there was no problem getting a sunbed everyday. The private beach has a jetty going over the coral reef in which you can snorkel. I think you could rent snorkels for about 6 pound a day. The food in my opinion was great, a good variety. Trying the waffles at breakfast is a must, I ended up having them every morning! I tended to avoid the salad as I didn't want to have an upset stomach. Whilst we were in Taba we went on two excursions. The first was to Cairo - 5 hours there, 7 hours back. We had to leave at three in the morning so the hotel provided us with a breakfast box. Cairo is a complete dump in my opinion and I got a bit fed up, but I did enjoy seeing the pyramids. The other trip was a Longwood holiday excursion to Eilat, Israel. It ony takes half hour to get to the border however you have a long procedure at the border. They are extremely strict but the trip is well worth the hassle. Just make sure you keep an eye on your things the whole journey. Also, be prepared to show your passport about fifty million times and about 3 pages of your passport stamped. It was definately a lot hotter in Eilat although the temperature reached 51 degrees celsius in the sun in Taba one day! Not sure how hot it was in Eilat but it was very hot! We went to the underwater observatory which was quite enjoyable and then to the Dolphin Reef. Swimming with the dolphins is optional and costs an extra $50 but I did it and loved it! This was then followed by about an hour and a half shopping in Eilat. The shopping centre is tax free and has both designer shops and slightly cheaper ones. Was a great day out. The staff in the hotel were absolutely lovely! Everytime you would walk past someone they would go out of their way to say hello. They all bend over backwards to help you without annoying you. There was always someone hovering, gardening, cleaning and they all seem quite happy considering their wage. The average wage in Egypt is twenty pounds a month so they really appreciaite a tip although they don't expect it. Tipping is customary in Egypt. We tipped our housekeeper a dollar a day and he started coming to clean twice a day! A few tips- .Bring lots of one dollar bills for tipping. .Drink a lot of water- not only is it boiling in the day, it's also about 30 degrees or more in the night! .Wear insect reppellent at night. We didn't get bitten, but the bugs are big! .Bring some trot tablets, I personally didn't have an upset stomach but my boyfriend and a few other people we spoke to did. don't think its just the food but also the heat. .Get a Gold passport. You can get these on the Hyatt website. With this we recieved the room upgrade. My father rung to ask for a room upgrade whilst I was on the way there and they told him we were already in a VIP room! You can also have a late checkout and a complimentary breakfast in bed(which was huge!We were still eating the croissants days after). .Bring snacks- biscuits etc, the hotel shop is a rip off! DO go here if you want a relaxing, quiet holiday. DON'T go here if you want the nightlife as there is NOTHING outside the hotel. Loved the holiday so much, we're hoping to back next year.

If your used to 5 star then you would be disappointed, rooms not spotless bedding and towels clean but stained, staff friendly and if required will go out of their way to provide for your needs(excluding front desk) we stayed HB and found the food provided of a reasonable standard, considering the time of year and the temperatures in the resort, the rooms themselves (yes we had to move) were a little tired and parts of the resort are still undergoing final build (north side) A/ block is in need of refurbishment particularly the stairwell (cracked and broken steps, 5 flights no lift) best of the 3 resort hotels for location and grounds. we suffered food poisoning but put it down to the boat trips (snorkeling/diving). Tours: avoid petra this time of year you'd be better off staying in Jordan and visiting over a longer period, Peltours don't provide refreshment of any kind on the tour (they will tell you otherwise)you have to take your own, getting through Isreal is an unpleasant experience if you are not white and extremely protracted. you will have a very limited time at petra my advise ignore the tour guide and make your way straight down to the main attractions or you will not have time to take anything in.

We have been twice now and enjoyed both visits. It's true that it's not quite 5* but if you get a good deal you're not typically paying 5* prices for it. In it's favour is the fact that the grounds are nice, there's a lot of space around the pools and beach, and that it's overally a very relaxing place to be. It's true that the food is often not that wonderful, but it's usually really quite acceptable and I found that it paled into insignificance in comparison to the enjoyment I had with both my room and the general surroundings. I'd recommend going on the Petra trip which is available from the Hyatt (and just about every other hotel in that area), as it's somewhere you're unlikely to be able to get to go to again unless you holiday in Jordan a lot. One thing to be wary of, don't go thinking you're going to get to see anything of local Eyptian life, you won't see anything of it as it's only the hotels in that area for miles (no local markets or anything like that). Conclusion: If you'd like a relaxing 7 day holiday in the sun where you can relax and enjoy a book you'll love Hyatt. If you're up that relaxing holiday but want to mix it in with a few day trips again you're going to be in the right place. However, if you're up for a real energetic sightseeing holiday seeing local life you've picked the wrong place. Final note...If you don't take one other thing away from the review realise that the Hyatt's grounds are infinitely nicer than the Marriotts and Sofitels (the other hotels in the area), so if you have the choice go the Hyatt (and pay the little bit extra money if you need to, it's worth it).

I was a little worried about visiting this hotel as we had got such a good deal. Once there all my worries vanished. The hotel is lovely although I would grade it as a good 4 star. It is definitely the best place to stay in Taba. We have travelled a lot and usually stay at only 5 star properties and never usually on a package deal, but I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. We found the food to be fantastic, there was lots of choice at both dinner and breakfast. The staff apart from the reception staff were extremely nice and friendly. we did not experience the slow service other travellers have mentioned. A word of warning though, check out when the Israeli holidays are, as we overlapped with one and the hotel became really noisy and busy. There is plently of space and we never had a problem getting a sun lounger. I would love to go back for a week in the sun again, I would advise avoiding the school holidays as the staff mentioned it was too busy at that time. There are loads of days trips, we went to Cairo which was a long haul (5 hours on a bus there and back) but well worth it - I wouldn't go for any longer. Visit Taba now as it will not stay unspoilt for very long.

I stayed here 27th June to 11 July and am quite amazed at an earlier report about the 'appalling conditions'. Our rooms were spotless, yes we ran out of loo paper but that was because we had the trots! The food was fine in my opinion, but then we werent expecting haute cuisine. The staff bent over backwards to assist us. My son has severe allergies to egg and nut, and the chefs suggested they make him his own meals! I was ill for a few days and consulted the doctor. I received fruit and a get well card from the management! The sunbeds and brollies were excellent, our towels were clean, the beaches were immaculate and the gardens fantastic considering the 70mm of rainfall per year. Staff were always cleaning and buffing up. The gardeners cut the lawns daily, gathered falling leaves. One day one of the palm fronds was hanging over a pathway, they are rather sharp, I pushed it back a bit and a gardener came straight over and harnassed the whole plant back behind a hedge. As for the marmalade, we had five kinds of conserve to choose from. The room service was efficient and the majority of the staff fell over themselves to help us. I am so sorry that the other guest had such a bad experience. I can only praise this hotel, but then, I have not stayed in any other 5 star hotels!

This hotel is really disappointing. I would not return here either for business or pleasure. I would not recommend it - irrespective of how little you may have paid - and there really are some cheap offers available for this hotel! I conclude the cheap deals are in part because of the terrorist incident at the Hilton Taba last year, and in part because the Hyatt Regency Taba Heights is truly appalling! The 'Hyatt' brand, highly regarded the world over, is seriously let down by this poor quality and inferior service at this hotel. The hotel claims to be 5 star. Having personally travelled extensively on business and pleasure I am well versed with the variations that exist in ratings from one country to another. Having stayed at both the Hyatt Regency in Sharm and the Ritz Carlton in Sharm within the last 12 months I feel adequately qualified to say that the 5 star rating for the Hyatt Regency Taba Heights is a mistake. It should not be rated above 3 stars! The food was so poor that we and several other guests, during our stay this last week (June 2005), choose to eat at the nearby Marriott! The hotel management at the Hyatt Regency Taba Heights - especially the front desk manager tended towards 'hostile' and 'unhelpful'. Certainly not what one would expect. If you have not yet booked to stay at the Hyatt Regency Taba Heights please consider the following and then make an informed choice: The rooms, whilst large(ish) are not clean. The furniture is so inferior that grade school children can manufacture better quality fittings. There were streams of ants, in part because room-service trays sat deposited outside the rooms - sometimes for days, before being cleared. The beds are so soft that within three days we resorted to putting th mattress on the floor for a better night's sleep. The food in the restaurant is so poor (if you like canteen style and quality food - you will be fine). If your expectations are more than pizza or salad - I am afraid that like ourselves you will come away hungry and having lost weight! You simply cannot get a gina nd tonic delivered to your room - you are the guest remember are told to walk upi to the bar!!! There towels (for the truly dreadful sunbeds) do not look like they have ever been washed. Grey is not a particularly attractive colour for towels or bedding! Some staff were truly grumpy. It is difficult to keep motivated, I would imagine, when you are working in such hot conditions and for such low wages - but when you find one (or two) staff who are smiling, cheerful and who genuinely want to help, you realise that the communication skills and customer care skills of the vast majority at this hotel are truly POOR - especially so the management! Twice we ran out of toilert paper - an oversight maybe - but in a five star hotel? And let's just hope that you do not want marmalade with your breakfast - the hotel had 'none' - apparently - until we said that we would buy some from the Marriott or the Sofitel - then miracles occured - we had marmalade the next morning! As I believe is appropriate - if you are unhappy about something (and for that matter if you are happy about something) you should make the management aware. I did make the management aware of my concerns and disappointment - as did a significant number of others (apparently). Nothing changed - and in fact the front desk manager was so particularly hostile when I checked out (to both me and other guests) that I will be letting the Gold Passport scheme managers know of this issue too! On the plus side: there are numerous pools - and lots of space for laying out in a different spot everyday - if you wish. And the air conditioning was effective in the rooms. And that is all I could find to say on a positive side. I am a Hyatt Gold Passport member (frequent user scheme) and will NOT recommend this hotel to friends, colleagues or clients. Do heed my advice and AVOID THIS ONE!!!

I stayed at this hotel on the recommendation of my parents and was not at all disappointed whatsoever. I was going away with a friend but her passport had expired which was only discovered one stop from the airport and I went on my own. I was incredibly well looked after and I cannot rave about the Hyatt enough. I am very fussy and have stayed in some of the nicest hotels across the world and some of the worst and I cannot fault this place. The bad reports in one of the recent reviews astounds me the rooms were spotless and the staff were very friendly and on the contrary the decor was really lovely. It does not look like a hotel as such everything is not more than two storeys high and looks like a small sprawling system in the desert!! Do not hesitate to book here.

It’s surprising when some people have the exact opposite experience at a resort or hotel. We have stayed at the Hyatt at Taba Heights for three years in a row and never encountered a dirty room nor poor service. Our experience has been marvelous ever time we’ve gone. The rooms (seafront) have been large and well appointed, the food has improved over the years we’ve gone – probably the result of the competition opening up next door - and the snorkeling is over one of the prettiest reefs in the Northern Sinai. That being said this is definitely a special kind of vacation and not for everyone. First this is not an activity vacation unless you book the additional tours either to the rest of Sinai or to the Dead Sea and Jerusalem. We are less interested in “going out in the midday sun” because we live in the area and the highlight of our day is the snorkeling. The evenings “entertainment” is quite mediocre except for a “whirling dervish” who shouldn’t be missed. There are a few drawbacks which can easily be remedied. Definitely bring your own liquor. Not only is it expensive but most of the rooms have beautiful balconies and that’s the best place to have a drink. In addition we bring coffee and tea etc. with us and then ask the concierge to send us a kettle. Once again this isn’t only because of the expense. The resort is spread out over very lush (hard to believe in the desert) area and sometimes you just don’t want to go out to have a drink. All in all we’ll keep going back.

My partner and I spent a lovely week at the Hyatt (6th till 11th of June 05). Since there seems to be no summer in Britain so far, it was wonderful to get up every morning to be greeted by sunshine and heat. Anyway, we thought the architecture of the Hyatt was fun and colourful and the gardens were amazing (nice to get lost in them). True the lobby is rather small and not very exiting but I wonder if the architect had security in mind when designing it. As Hyatt Gold Card members we had a lovely room facing one of the pool and oblique view of the sea. Our cleaner Kady was very cheerful and did a good job. The bathroom was very clean and for once the hotel provides quite good quality toiletries. The food at breakfast was very good and I should mention once more the yummy waffles and the very good egg station. However, diner was more of a disappointment. Adequate but not great especially the lack of imagination with the starters. As mentioned before food and drink is very expensive at lunchtime. May be once the resort gets established with shops and restaurants there will be more choice and good prices. As we stayed just the week we only did the St Katherine trip and it was worth it. The scenery of the Sinai is very dramatic and the monastery and its history is very interesting. We loved snorkeling at the base of the pier, no need to go out very far to see so many wonderful fish and corals. Unfortunately by the end of the week the arrival of new short time guests (I will not mention their nationality) meant that after a very quiet and relaxing first few days we felt slightly invaded by very noisy and rude guests. Also, although it is forbidden to dive from the pier this contingent just did that, which of course did disrupt snorkelers and fish. The hotel should try to police the swimming and snorkeling otherwise I fear that this wonderful reef will be dead soon. We had a very good price with Magic Breaks so for us this holiday was very good value. For a relaxing holiday and guaranted sunshine this hotel could be for you. PS. On the way we had a five hour delay from Gatwick. Did get a ten pound food voucher each. To our surprise Astreus did provide us with two films. Thank God for that. And true the airport at Taba is awful.