I was a bit apprehensive about staying here because of the negative reviews, but my worries were unfounded. Yes, the hotel is older, but it was very clean and the staff was truly amazing. We had a great experience here and would definitely stay again. We started and ended our trip in Cairo and both times we were upgraded to a suite. I know this hotel has been rated a 5*, but that is definitely not the case by American standards. If that is what you are looking for then don't stay here. If you are looking for clean accomodations, with a great staff at a great price then I encourage you to give them a try.

My husband and I recently stayed at Pyramisa Hotel Cairo for 8 days in May, 2008. There were 17 other family members staying at the hotel during this time plus two in the nearby Sheraton only because the hotel had no more vacancy. We came from New York, London, Turkey, Jordan, Malaysia, Singapore, Brisbane and Sydney for a family reunion and to attend to private family matters.

Shamel, a hotel employee, was our driver for most of our daily trips. Not only was he a skilled driver and knowledgable guide, he was dependable, professional and a very charming and personable man. He is also very attentive and anticipates our needs, takes his own initiative and is sincerely interested in keeping us content. We were treated like royalty.

If that were the only feedback about Shamel, it would have been more than exemplary. But Shamel went one step further. I had lost my U.S. passport. There were three possible places -- my hotel room, the restaurant or the car I was in going to the restaurant. I have no idea what Shamel had to do to find this document but he took immediate action on his own and was successful in retrieving my passport from the restaurant staff. I know that this very valuable document must have gone through many hands before it got into his. Only someone with Shamel's integrity, compassion, honor and generosity would have been able to pull this off. Not only was this passport critical to an official business meeting I was attending as a foreigner but it was even more important as I was a first-time visitor to your country.

I have lived and worked in the United States for 27 years and been an American citizen for 20 years. I have worked for the Westchester County government for 25 years. As an Arab American and a former Singaporean with naturalized U.S. citizenship, making her first visit to an Arab country in the post Sept 11 world, my loyalty to the United States might have been under suspicion and my life back in the United States might never be the same again if my passport had never been found.
Shamel has saved me from all that.

Shamel is an outstanding representative not only of the hotel, but a shining star of all Cairo and Egypt. I have informed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, the Egyptiam Embassy in New York and the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C. of Shamel's outstanding qualities and his heroic act in this matter.

I was warned by our travel agent that hotel standards in Egypt are generally lower than in Europe. So I didn't expect too much and I was not really disappointed.

Our first impression was positive, as the Lobby is quite nice. There are few restaurants in the hotel itself. We tried the breakfast (okay, good choice) and the Egyptian specialties restaurant (very good, inexpensive by European standards).
The staff was helpful and friendly, but don't forget to tip (especially tipping the chambermaid on the first day of your stay can prove advantageous, at least it worked for us).

The room was okay, a little bit run-down, but quite clean. But the standard is rather 3*.

The hotel is in easy walking distance from the nile (about 5 min). We went there in the evenings and felt quite safe.

There is also a small casino with roulette tables, poker (seemed to be an Egyptian version) and some gaming machines.

hi ,
I dont know if anyone will ever read this but i just had the worst hotel experience i have ever had in a 5 star hotel.... i have been around the world and Iusually stay at 5 stars but i did not know the standard of 5 stars in cairo is so low .... The Hotel from the beginning was bad .... i was given a room facing some crappy alley .... to top that as soon as i tried to flush off the water in the tub all kinds of [----] started coming off the toilet seat .... i had to wait for an hour before help arrived... the staff has very limited knowledge of english except for the people at the reception inspite of being a 5 star ... the most disgusting thing was they dont serve u free water in the room .. the minibar was always empty ... on asking for water they tell u that the the water from the tap in the toilet is drinkable and thats what the egyptians drink... on asking for packaged drinking water they sell it to you for 30 E.P when the same is being sold for E.P 2.5 at the vendor across the street .... when i wanted to go to a particular place and asked for directions i was asked to buy a taxi ride from the guy at the help desk and they refused to let out the directions and instead forced me to buy the taxi ride for 30 times the real price outside.... the swimming pool was as cold as ice ... u have to pay for using the steam sauna facilities and the healthclub is in the building next door so u finish with your cardio in walking from ur room to the gym .... i would only recommend this place to enemies and if u still decide to stay here... all the best