Sharm el Sheikh on a budget! (Tropicana New Tiran Hotel (Sharm El Sheik, Egypt))

Member Name: Absy_Baby

Product:	Tropicana New Tiran Hotel (Sharm El Sheik, Egypt)
Date:	28/04/09 (181 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheaper than most hotels in Sharm el Sheikh

Disadvantages: Not really English 4* quality, Egyptian 4* is probably an English 2 and a half, the food.

The 4* Tropicana New Tiran Hotel in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt is located in Naama Bay, the largest of the three bays to make up the purpose built Sharm el Sheikh.

The Tropicana chain own eight hotels in the Sharm el Sheikh area, ranging from very glamour to the slightly less grand.

The New Tiran being one of the lesser, personally I don't think size matters, I am quite happy to stay in a large hotel or a small hotel, not so much family hotels as I feel like I've got to report to the owners.

Anyway, the New Tiran is a 4* hotel, personally I think of 4* hotels as being a bit grand, this hotel however isn't. We landed from London Gatwick got in our transfer, dropped off everyone else then continued with the driver and guide to proceed to our hotel, as it happens the driver was new as was the guide, neither actually knew the exact location of the hotel.

We drove and drove and drove, and about half an hour later, after driving back up the main road in Naama Bay and having stopped to ask, I flipped, well in my head I did, and then asked politely if they could contact the company and ask where the hotel was. I was starting to think there was no hotel.

The guide got his phone out and just as he was ringing the 'office' my boyfriend looked out the window and saw the sign. The New Tiran Hotel. I have never wanted something to visualise so much before. Anyway, it was located off one of the main walkways, right in the centre. It looked like a shop front as that is what it was surrounded by. I was worried I must admit.

We got our stuff out of the minibus and walked towards the hotel, we went in the last week of September, it was crowded. Very crowded, there were hundreds of people, I have never seen so many people at the end of September in any destination before.

Anyway we walked through the entrance and it opens up in to a smallish marble room with a reception desk and a few chairs and a table in the window. The safety deposit boxes were also just to the left of reception where you had a key, as did the receptionist to open your box. This was free of charge.

First impression of being inside was this looks awful. But then I noticed a big set of double doors to the right of reception and noticed they lead out to the pool area and hotel rooms.

The pool wasn't massive but clean and had a slope going in to it (later I was to find the benefit of this) and a baby pool. There were sun loungers around the pool, I'd say perhaps 20-30, so as you can imagine, not loads, and I must admit I was worried about fighting for them.

The rooms were located around the pool, in blocks. The blocks were two-storey and all rooms had a balcony and pool view. I did wonder where the sea was, but hey, I'd find that when the sun came up. Our room was in the first block and on the first floor near the stairs up to the floor. The rooms were the usual studio, queen size bed, two bedside tables, a wardrobe, draws, and a desk with a chair. The bathroom was a reasonable size and clean, the towels were also clean.

The balcony was located off the main room, which our bed faced, this was quite nice and the big patio sliding doors were great and let in loads of light, but the curtains were lined and also kept the light out in the mornings. The balcony looked out over the pool and wasn't massive but had two chairs on with a small table for drinks or books or whatever. The balcony was quite high, so when sitting down we couldn't see completely over it. It was in the sun late afternoon though so suited us.

The decor itself was a bit basic, and perhaps a bit plain, the soft furnishings (curtains, duvet cover etc) were an orange colour but it was ok. The wooden features like the wardrobe etc were a dark wood. The room was spacious, it was slightly larger than most standard hotel rooms.

The staff were really friendly, and really helpful, they would have done anything if you just asked them. We enquired about excursions (from outside the hotel) and they said although the reps guarantee everything there are other places, we had previously seen some, hence why we asked. We actually did one excursion through the rep (we felt very pressured) and one via a public outlet in the main walk way, we ended up saving money with the public outlet and getting the same service, we were gutted we didn't book them both with them.

As for waking up on our first full day, the pool was dead, I mean no-one is sight. So we sun-bathed, every day by the pool and the maximum amount of people we had for company was four. Not bad.

The beach is located behind the hotel (the opposite side from the entrance) and there is a public promenade between the hotel itself and the beach. All the beaches are private and owned by the hotels (there is a small public beach, I wouldn't recommend it). The New Tiran shares it's beach with another hotel. It is crowded, the sun loungers and literally on top of one another and you are lying right next to a stranger. There are a lot of umbrella's too that are stuck in the sand, this can make it hard to get in the sun. I am a total beach bod, but the boyfriend prefers the pool and a crowded beach or a deserted pool, no guessing who won that one.

The pool was not freezing but not heated (other than by the sun) but it was good. The slope was great I lay there every day half in and half out of the water reading. The pool has a bar (a can of coke is about £1, not too much of a rip off, but we found a little shop 30 seconds away that sold a 2 litre bottle for 40p.)

The food, as I said we stayed bed and breakfast, we did not make breakfast once, and that wasn't just because we are lazy bums who like to sleep, but it looked a bit worrying. The restaurant was situated at the back of the hotel, near the walk way to the beach and was a room, that wasn't very large but had a lot of windows. The breakfast looked to be continental but European so there were cheeses and hams available as well as bread.

The New Tiran boasts it is bed and breakfast or all inclusive, well we never saw anyone eat anything in the day, there was no lunch time as such, and although there were people around we only saw a few people at any one time in the restaurant. This was odd, the smell wasn't nice so we completely avoided it. Sorry I can't be more help about the food, we went knowing we'd eat out.

The entire package, Thomson flights, transfers, and 7 nights in the New Tiran Hotel cost us £350 each, if you work that out, it is cheap, especially as most holidays to Egypt cost well over £500.

Summary: Cheap, cheerful, clean and friendly, helpful staff