We stayed one night at the Le Meridian on our recent tour of Egypt. The hotel was clean and comfortable. The room was a little small but tidy. Staff was friendly and helpful. The only negative was the street noise,we heard alot of honking and commotion. It might have just been our room location in the hotel. Otherwise it was fine. We would stay here again.

This hotel, over the course of our stay, turned out to be very worthwhile and we would go there again if we travel to cairo. We arrived late, so we were in a hurry to get to the hotel, there was a shuttle bus service proivded from the hotel, the guy who worked there charged us 20 egyption pounds and told us that this was for the quick drop-off otherwise we would have had to wait 40 minutes. The other down point was the deposit we had to put down, fortunetly I was carrying cash at the time. The final bumer was the reception desk, which seemed so arrgogant. I read some reviews before I left so I cancelled my minibar before I even got to my room, as some people had problems with this when they wanted their deposit back! Apart from that the servce of the hotel was superb, they had many food places, the staff were fantastic and very helpful- apart from reception. The rooms were spacious and clean, the views were good and the local markets-Korba,Roxy sqaure and Hourria shopping mall were 10-15 minutes walk or 5 minutes by taxi. We had to take the taxi because the traffic in the roads was very dangerous. The normal taxis take very little money. We had a vareity of cuisines to choose from in the market areas ( Mcdonalds, KFC, Pizza hut, Mixed grills, shwarams etc). Would love to stay there again. The hotel has a lot of security and people going in were scanned and baggage was checked upon every entry. The day tours were arrnaged by AVIS and here we were ok with the rates bu a bit peeved off with the tactics often used by the drivers. When we wanted to go shopping after some tours the drivers would take us to some shops where they communicated in arabic, we felt we were often being charged too much- accordingly we saw the drivers getting some money from the shop owners once we had purchased goods /service from the shop! After that we just didnt take the drivers to shopping we did eveything ourself and haggled using a calculator!!! This was nothing to do with the hotel though, and we would love to stay there again due to several reasons already mentioned- also because it was 10 minutes from the airport and the traffic is like hell!....

The hotel needs to be completely refurbished. when you walk into the hotel, the bar, you room, and you feel that you are walking into the 70's. The staff never smiles and you think that your are doing a favor for the staff by staying in the hotel.

In addition to havin little water pressure in the shower, the cold water nozzle was broken and the tub was chipped and cracked. I came to the hotel with one small roll bag and the staff absolutely refused to let me take it up to my room myself.

I wouldn't stay at this hotel again.

Le Meridian Heliopolis wants to be better than it actually is, but compared to the Baron Heliopolis we stayed at later in our trip, it was paradise. Though the room was somewhat dated, it was reasonably large and fairly comfortable. The bathroom was average and did supply a good loofah. However, the breakfast was very mediocre, especially since we were staying on the club floor and for $44 per day each (a complete rip-off) we were supposedly entitled to breakfast, cold beverages and coffee at any time (in the bar only) and cocktails once each evening. The biggest problem -- which is a problem throughout Egypt is that the room and the common areas reeked of cigarette smoke. Egyptians ignore no smoking signs, and the staff colludes by simply moving the sign when someone lights up! However, the hotel did send someone to meet us at the airport, which was much appreciated and certainly simplified our arrival. This is by no means a 5 star hotel, but it was a reasonable choice in the area. One warning about taxis: if the bellman calls one for you, the price is about double what you would pay by going out to the street and hailing one yourself. However, we are speaking of very small amounts of money: say $3.50 vs. 2.75 or so, and then you don't tip. Also, they will always try to hail a "limousine" for you, which is simply a car that's not a rattletrap and has air-conditioning! Your trip might then cost about $5.00.