"Hotel review and Scam Warning
Scam Warning – Excursion Company Sempre
If you are considering booking this hotel, I would strongly recommend avoiding excursions through their excursion company, Sempre.
Although the staff initially come across as friendly and trustworthy, our experience with the excursion company was extremely disappointing and left us feeling that we had been deliberately taken advantage of.
We booked the Private Guide Cairo excursion, which cost £187 per person. Unfortunately, during the excursion, we experienced two incidents that seriously undermined our trust in the company.
1. Incorrect charge for pyramid entrance tickets
During our visit to the pyramids, our private guide told us that entrance tickets cost £10 each. He discouraged me from paying by card, claiming that doing so would incur additional fees.
He then offered to operate the self-service ticket machine for us because it was not in our language. He asked us to stand away from the machine while he did this.
When I later checked the tickets, I discovered that they had actually cost the equivalent of approximately £4 each. I had given the guide four £5 notes, meaning he had enough money to provide the correct change. Instead, he kept the difference.
When I raised this with Sempre, their response was that the guide apparently did not have the change and was intending to obtain it from the company for us. This was not consistent with what had actually happened, as I had personally given him four £5 notes.
What was particularly disappointing was that the issue was not proactively addressed. I had to repeatedly raise the matter and make a fuss before I received the £12 that was owed to me.
The situation then became even more frustrating. A member of staff, Shams, attempted to return the £12 in euros but initially gave me €12, which was only around £10. I had to point this out and request the remaining €2 needed to make up the equivalent of the £12 owed. She did not have the additional €2 available at the time, so I had to return the following day to collect it.
For me, this was never about the £12. It was about the principle. I had trusted the hotel and its excursion company, and I felt that this trust had been taken advantage of.
2. Unscheduled perfume shop stop
The second issue was with the itinerary itself.
Our private guide significantly rushed our time at the pyramids and took us to a perfume shop in Cairo called Golden Eagle, despite this not being part of the itinerary we had agreed to.
We would have preferred to spend more time at the pyramids, but instead we were taken to the perfume shop, where we were required to sit through a lengthy presentation involving more than 30 different scents.
We had absolutely no interest in purchasing perfume and found the experience uncomfortable. We felt pressured and cornered, particularly because we were a considerable distance from the hotel and were relying on the excursion company to transport us back safely.
From what we subsequently found when researching the shop online, there are numerous concerns raised by other visitors about the sales practices there, including claims that customers are shown one product as a sample and then sold a different or diluted version. We were also surprised by the prices being quoted, which appeared comparable to what we would pay for perfume back home rather than reflecting what we expected to pay locally.
We politely declined to purchase anything.
Our impression was that valuable time at the pyramids was sacrificed so that the guide could take us somewhere where he could potentially earn commission.
Lack of follow-up
The following day, I returned to the desk to collect the additional €2 that I was still owed. I also raised a complaint about the excursion and requested that the company consider a partial refund given our experience.
Shams went to obtain the €2 and then disappeared. Another member of hotel staff eventually handed me the money. Shams appeared to be hiding , to avoid discussing my complaint or request for a partial refund with her.
I have subsequently tried to follow up regarding the matter, but I have not received a response.
I genuinely did not expect this type of experience from an excursion company operating within a Hilton hotel. The conduct surrounding the ticket money and the handling of my complaint has left me extremely disappointed and has completely undermined my confidence in Hilton/ Sempre.
Hotel Review
Hotel aesthetic – 5/5
The hotel itself is beautiful and has a very appealing aesthetic.
Room – 5/5
The room was excellent. Taha in particular was brilliant and provided great service.
Cleanliness – 5/5
The hotel was clean and well maintained.
Hotel staff – 5/5
Aside from the issues described below, the majority of the hotel staff we encountered were very pleasant and helpful.
Coffee shop staff – 5/5
The coffee shop staff were excellent — friendly, pleasant and helpful.
Food – 1/5
Unfortunately, the food was one of the biggest disappointments of our stay.
There was plenty of food on display, but very little of it looked appetising, and I found myself hungry for much of the stay as a result.
One evening, pizza was being served. Rather than cooking several pizzas in the large oven, they appeared to be making them one at a time, resulting in guests having to compete to get a slice.
On most evenings, the only food I found consistently enjoyable was the pasta. However, this was prepared by one chef, one plate at a time, which resulted in very long queues. It seemed to be the one dish that everyone could agree was worth eating.
Reception staff – 0/5
Unfortunately, our experience with reception was extremely poor.
There was an issue with our booking because our travel company had accidentally sent our booking details to a different DoubleTree hotel in Egypt.
Rather than helping us resolve the problem, we felt that the reception staff largely put the responsibility on us. We were told that they had attempted to contact our travel company, but this appeared not to be the case, as staff subsequently asked us who our travel company was after previously telling us they had already contacted them.
When we contacted the travel company ourselves, they answered immediately and emailed the hotel straight away.
We then asked reception whether they had received the email and were told they had not. We waited in reception for approximately an hour before contacting the travel company again, who confirmed that the email had been sent to the hotel an hour earlier.
We eventually had to ask reception staff to check the emails in front of us, at which point the email was located. This meant we had spent an hour waiting unnecessarily.
We were also disappointed that the hotel did not appear to consider simply contacting the other DoubleTree hotel to resolve the issue.
Throughout this process, some reception staff appeared inconvenienced by our requests for assistance and, in our experience, their attitude came across as dismissive. One tall male member of staff with glasses was particularly uninterested in helping us.
Maryam and the booking manager asked us to come to reception and told us that if the booking issue was not resolved, we would potentially have to pay for the hotel again. Given that this was a problem caused by our travel company's booking error, I found the approach lacking in empathy.
We ultimately lost approximately two full days of our holiday dealing with a booking problem that we expected the hotel and travel company to resolve between themselves. This was incredibly frustrating and far from the relaxing holiday we had expected.
Following our complaint, the hotel was unwilling to offer an upgrade. Instead, we were offered a late check-out.
Overall
The hotel itself has many positives. The building is beautiful, the rooms are excellent, it is clean, and several members of staff provided fantastic service.
However, our experience was seriously let down by the handling of our booking problem, the quality of the food, and particularly our experience with the Sempre excursion company"
