Stayed in so loudly advertised Luna downtown Cairo and would not recommend this place to anyone, and would not stay there again. We reseved the upgraded rooms on=line back in July only to find out that our reservation and the muchly requested re-confirmation meant nothing upon arrival. We got put in the old, noisy, street facing. without the hot water room. The 'street life everyday party continues until the we we hours of the morning, so we had only three hours of sleep every night we stayed there. There was no hot water in the room. so we had to use the communal bathrooms to have a hot shower every day, so much for the private room facility. This was reported to the hotel staff several times during our three night stay only to be advised that 'the plummer is coming' he never showed up so the room will probably be given to the next travellers with no hot water. The beds are sinking badly, the mattresses are in need to be replaced with something more decent, there was no toilet paper in our private room, small detail, but important. Don't reserve the airport taxi through the hotel as they overcharge badly 60 pounds and you can take a taxi for 30 right in front of the hotel - this is actually what the staff of this place did, they charged us 60 and flagged down a taxi downstairs - and we had to pay for this 30 extra pounds - big rip off. The staff is really cold and not responsive to anyone who is not interested to organize any kinds of tours through the hotel, so please check other hotels nearby, and there are lots of choices around. Don't go by the lonelyplanet book and their recommendation, because it is not accurate. Oh, I forgot about the erratic working elevator - very important if you have to log your luggage up to the 5th floor, or even worse, if you have to climb up after beeing on your feet sightseeing all day.
Happy traveling to everyone.
That sucks...but I am sure at some point, we all have similar stories...I stayed at the Lialy on arrival, similar story. I wrote down my review twice in the lonely planet hostel board, for some reason they are not posting it. The place is a dump, despite the lonely planet recommendation. Ended up going to Dahab hostel, which I really liked. That is what a hostel is supposed to be like.
Safe travel
; )
I am agree with you in some points and disagree in otheres, hope any one stayed at that place write down the exprince that he got.
good day from egypt
im tourism manager in egypt and I am agree with you and its real nice of you to tell us about your experince that i will asking about that hotel and if so i will recommend my frinds work in touism stop deal with it ..
thank you
mohamed
Oh no. The Luna and Lialy were two of my choices based on LP. What a shame. It's a shame the guides only come out every two years.
Also, doesn't the Luna pick up from the airport for free if you stay 4 nights or more. Anyway keep the reports coming and I'm sure they'll be axed for the next edition.
From my experience, and I have done a lot of travel with LP in hand, the best places I've stayed have been from word of mouth on TT. LP often gets it wrong but it also often leaves me with a funny story to tell.
Would love to hear of any great places to stay in Egypt preferably under 50 Egy. pounds.
Nccity. Do you have a website or something for the Dahab Hostel.
I agree with your statement about the poor accuracy of the LP books, Egypt including. Luna does pick up after staying with them for 4 nights, but we stayed only 3. If not for the demanded payment for 3 nights upon our arrival, we would have left after the first night. There are more than enough of places to stay nearby and they all want your business. We did not cross over to the Sinai so can't help you with places to stay in Dahab. I can recommend some places in the oasis if you are going that direction, especially in Mut, where we were shocked by the generosity and hospitality of the owner of the Beduin Oasis village, amazing place. We still have to send the owner a thank you for looking after us so so well. In Aswan we stayed in the Hathor Hotel, page 312 of the LP and the place was alright, double room with private bathroom 65 LE with simple breakfast. The place is kind of aged up but with hot water, working elevator, extremely clean, crisp sheets, can not beat the price, plus it has a swimming pool and a sitting area on the roof with some amazing views of the Nile, you can watch a sunset with felucas on the horizon without leaving the hotel. The other places we stayed in are probably above your budget, but if you are still interested, drop me a word.
r13
If you're looking cheap try the New Palace Hotel... it's certainly not flash, but it's clean, and the staff are super friendly and really helpful, and you do need to ask for toilet paper but there's plenty of it. Only paid 60LE with private bathroom, been there 3 times and was going to try Luna next time, but, maybe not.
Luxor in March
I had no problem with the rooms at Luna (actually i found them nice for the price) but wasn't quite satisfied with them because:
1) They said they would pick us up for free at the airport (we stayed 5 nights), but in reality they only "charged us half".
2) They asked for the full payment in advance (which in 6 months of travel I have done only once, in Mexico, with bad results) and when we refused, they said, no problem, we could pay at the end, but we will have to pay the full transfer price. So we paid the room in advance, and luckily, we didn't want to leave early.
3) We were inquiring about train tickets and they immediately offered to buy them for us - for an extra 60 pounds. I have no problem paying someone for their time but still... it cost me 30 minutes and 2 pounds for the subway.
I do not agree with the reviewers who say the hotels are horrible because of the noise - it is LP's fault if they didn't mention that - doh! - Talat Harb street is party central, and egyptian drivers suffer of compulsive honking - because nobody respects the traffic signs. Earplugs are essential!
Cheers,
Fritz
I did not say that the hotel was horrible because of the noise in particular. The central location and the guaranteed noise was considered by us when we picked this hotel. What we were not happy about is the disregard of our request and then confirmed reservation by Luna of the 3 nights in the upgrated room at the back and not facing the busy street. When we arrived the back rooms were not available, they gave us no explanation...we reserved back in July !!!???
We also had to pay for the 3 night in advance, which is a cheap, cheap way of doing business. Had we not prepaid, we would have left after the first night. All in all, yet another proof not to go by the book only. Once again disapointed with the LP guide.
Thanks for sharing your opinion with everyone.
trusted partner
