Golden Tulip Flamenco Hotel

Although I have written before that while being in Cairo for business I will always come back, I have to start to review this message. My last visit learned me that the manager changed again, and apparently not for the best. Where the breakfast before used to be one of the highlights of the day, now the choice was very limited. I first thought maybe due to some curcomstances that day, but no it was crap every day. Even staff to clezn up was budgetted and the staff present was not able to serve the guests properly. Also cleaning of rooms became bad. No we don't need a clean towel every day, but taking away a used towel and not replacing it, with the message at making remark, you still have towel there is not the correct attitude. Sovyes probably it was, after more then 30 visits, my last time there, this time.

This is a well placed hotel. Near shops and restaurants, overlooking the Nile etc, I stayed tehre 3 times as my client booked me in. It would not be the hotel I would choose to return to The rooms are old and not set up to be able to work in. There is poor lighting. The first room I had the fridge did not work and it leaked.The next 2 trips teh fridge didn't leak but the fridges barely worked. You have to chase reception to get more than one device to access the hotel wi-fi. This on one occasion took regular chasing and 2 days before this happened. It seems impossible to get more than one small bottle of water, the reception desk tells you to contact room service and room service insist I should contact teh receptionist And it goes on.... I felt that they really could not be bothered to look after their guests The breakfast offer a reasonable choice, though again I felt compared to other hotels they were not trying too hard The bar on teh ground floor is the redeeming feature, pleasnt service, snacks served with the beer, comfortable.

Small rooms in the hotel, not bad as cleaning but my bad experience that I will never forget it is how one of the ladies working in the Restaurant... I came to have my breakfast, I booked my hotel with breakfast, I was shocked when she said you can't go inside the restaurant, and even I didn't get an apology from her...

I have been coming here on business once a year for several years. In 2020 nothing has changed. I’m sure by Egyptian standards this is a good hotel. The executive rooms are comfortable and clean and the showers have good pressure and are hot. The air conditioner puts out a lot of noise and no cool air so I had to sleep with the window open and put up with all the noise in the street (honking, shouting, police sirens, calling to prayer and so on). On my arrival at 04.00 the man told me I had to wait 45 minutes for the wifi to connect but it didn’t and I had to wait until I got up in the morning for that elusive connection. I tried to connect my PC as well as my phone but got a message “simultaneous session limit reached”. So I disconnected the phone…. entered the log in and “passwor” and couldn’t connect the PC. All very useful when one has to contact clients for meetings. Breakfast is the same as it has always been. Pallid faced waiters with the weight of the world’s problems on their shoulders roam erratically around the breakfast rooms doing their best to avoid eye contact with clients If you need coffee or tea you can either wait until kingdom come or go fetch it yourself, at which point a waiter will come rushing and scolding you. I narrowly avoided being run over by a grossly overweight member of the kitchen staff who was waddling backwards, and ordered an omelette which was reasonably good. The bread rolls have a taste and texture of…. well they don’t actually have ANY taste or texture, which is probably just as well as one is therefore free to appreciate the taste of the warm rancid butter. I asked for a “freshly squeezed orange juice at £ EGY 25” and was greeted with a stunned “But… that is EXTRA !”. I persevered, reflecting that I was perhaps the first ever client to order one of these “extra” items. When it arrived I almost had to spit it out. It was orange syrup with water. I guess they’d tried to pull a fast one so as to pocket the £ EG 25 but I sent it back and miraculously a real one arrived with a “Sorry Sorry”. I asked why I’d been given a syrup and the waiter explained “Yes please”. So that was clear. The bed is comfortable but the duvet is tucked in so that the top end arrived half way up my chest. I admit I’m 6 feet tall but even so, it’s not exactly what one might call comfortable. I held onto the top end and stretched with all my might with my feet but it refused to budge – presumably the bottom half of the duvet was securely folded under the mattress (makes bed making easier). I didn’t have the strength at 04.00 to get out of bed and remake it. One of the two lifts was out of order. They are extremely slow and it is actually quicker to use the stairs to get to the 10th floor. Despite all the problems the hotel is centrally located in Zamalek and it’s safe to walk alone in the streets as there are policemen or soldiers at every street corner. It’s a good alternative if you don’t want to pay the high prices of international hotels such as the Marriott Omar Kayyam. I guess that’s why I keep coming here !

We stayed there for three nights and enjoyed the time. Our comparison is a five star superior hotel elsewhere in Cairo. Flamenco's staff is very friendly and the hotel has a better breakfast buffet and a pretty cosy smokers lounge where non-smokers also feel comfortable. Our travel agency booked this hotel. They helped me in as much as reasonably possible in the few times I needed help. When short on EGP, I was very happy to learn that they accepted Euros. When traveling to Cairo again, we would not mind to book this hotel again but in Cairo's lack of a tourist friendly public transportation system in Zalamek. However, we would prefer something more in the historic areas that we could experience more on foot and maybe without a guide.