We stayed at the Iberotel Grand Sharm from 9-16 March. It was our 2nd trip to Sharm and we wanted a cheap week in the sun. We had a nice week but the Grand Sharm would be better named the Looking a Bit Dated Now Sharm.

We booked with Longwood and paid just over £600 each for a week's All Inclusive. Longwood use Monarch airlines who are rubbish. Not suprisingly we were delayed for 3hrs going out. Coming back there were no delays but the entertainment system didn't work so no films etc.

We paid for a Deluxe room with King size bed which according to Longwood entitled us to a sea view (a fact we later checked with the rep on site). On arrival we were given a twin room as apparently Longwood hadn't specified that we wanted a double?! We told them straight away and were moved to a double room. However this overlooked the pool. By this time it was 11pm, so the next morning, after being woken up by people in the pool before 7am, and after checking that we couldn't see the sea, we complained again and were told to return at 12pm to change rooms. We returned at 12pm to be told the room wouldnt be available until 5pm. This wasn't good enough so we were shown a room that would be available in an hour. However this was directly under the restaurant/entertainment terrace. So we waited until 5pm when we finally got to our room with a sea view. We had to wait for nearly 15 mins for the room to be 'ready' when we'd just been and viewed it and caught the cleaner watching the football on the telly! Although the hotel did move us it was a frustrating process and they tried to palm us off with a non-deluxe room after we'd paid a supplement, when they knew damn well it wasn't a deluxe room.

The rooms are a little dated from a decor point of view. Our safe didn't work properly. Also after flushing the toilet the water continued to run on unless you tapped the flush button gently for a second time. However as it had taken us 24 hrs to get in the room and unpack we couldn't be bothered to complain. We did experience evening noise from the hotel next door but this stopped at 11pm on the dot.

The food is good, quite a bit of choice i.e. meat, salad, potatoes, pasta 'how you liking' etc., but it does get a bit repetitive. The huge array of cakes looks great on the first day but these don't change - so even the most avid cake eater would get bored. You can either eat inside or out on the terrace. If you go down at the busy times you're unlikely to get a seat outside on the terrace.

The All Inclusive works ok once you get the hang of which bars to go to at certain times. We felt sure they would try to add things onto our bill at the end but when it came to it there was only one orange juice added in error and it was removed straight away. We drank beer and wine and it was fine.

The pools are nice although its a shame they only heat the smaller pool, which is where most of the children play and they do things such as aqua aerobics.

The garden/flower borders are very pretty.

We snorkelled from the end of the jetty. We took our own snorkelling gear. The sea was a bit rough some days so negoitating the jetty was not for the faint hearted!

The staff continually come round all day and ask if you want a massage, or want to dive, or want to do aerobics etc etc, especially if they can see you've only just arrived. After a while you learn to pretend to be asleep when you see them coming! Another trick is to tell them you're leaving later that day - then they just go straight away as they know they can't sell you anything. They also come round and spray water on you - not something I was keen on but luckily after a few times they knew not to bother me. A few times they came round handing out strawberries, and another time they went round cleaning sunglasses, which just seemed like another interruption and waste of time. Could they not have put the money into heating a 2nd pool instead?

The beach area is man made and isn't really a proper beach. There are lots of sunbeds on different levels and we didn't have a problem getting a bed. Most people come out early and put towels down.

We both had upset tums during the week but that was all and we didn't feel desperately ill or anything.

Overall we enjoyed our week but the Iberotel IS NOT a 5* resort. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency previously and its much better. However we wanted a cheap week in the sun and that was what we got.

Just arrived back from a weeks holiday at the Grand Sharm.
I'm pretty fussy having stayed at some amazing hotels but this one grew on me as the week passed by.

I certainly wouldn't call it a 5 * by any stretch of the imagination, more 3/4.

The room was good, big and clean with large comfy bed and we had paid for a sea view. There was no bath which I was disappointed about and the shower could have done with a good grout although it was powerful. Also, not many of the little touches you would expect in a 5*.
However, housekeeping placed a little gift on your bed each day which was sweet.

We had opted for the all inclusive which was ok, good for my partner as it was unlimited beer. However, soft drinks were disappointing and were pepsi, water, 7 Up or really cheap nasty OJ, apple juice etc. No fresh fruit juices at all and when I requested one I had to pay for it.

The food was pretty fair but after a week you got a bit tired of buffet each day. Good selection of breakfast but dinner I really would have liked to have sampled more Egyptian food rather than Greek night, Italian night etc. Best to avoid rush hour at feeding time and to avoid extremely rude Russians barging in front of you in the queue. I recommend the Italian restaurant La Seppia for a nice meal, shame no Egyptian restaurants though.

Service varied from very friendly to downright rude. Best to get friendly with a waiter, tip him a couple of quid at the start of the week and then he will look after you.

I agree with other reviews that you get hassled on the beach by the staff to go and get a massage or go on a trip and they don't like no for an answer. I found the guy in the gift shop round the corner of the hotel to be really pushy and as a result wouldn't buy from him.

Be warned that it is a man made beach and there is only a little stretch which is real beach and even then you can't swim in it as it's reef. You have to walk down the wobbly jetty and then you can swim in the sea and see some amazing fish and some nice coral.

English are definitely a minority at the hotel and it is over run with the Russians who as I mentioned before are rude, grumpy and seem very unhappy with their lot. The average age is 50 and so I wouldn't really recommend it for youngsters. There is average nightly entertainment which tried to stick to Egyptian themes which I liked but it is dead by 10.30 with only a dodgy disco downstairs to contend with.

Overall, not a bad experience but a few things needed to sharpen it up if they want a 5* rating.

To recommend things to do:
we went to Old Sharm market, a bit touristy and they all see dollar signs when they see you but a good place to get presents and souveniers,
Trip to Cairo by plane...don't book through your rep, you can get it about £50 cheaper through an excursion in Naama Bay. We paid £110 each.
Naama Bay is loud and crazy and you will get hassled to buy all sorts.
I recommend a day boat trip to Tiran Islands...amazing coral and fish.

Hope this helps!

Grand Sharm Hotel:

Spotted this one week holiday to Sharm El-Sheikh that co-incided perfectly with my week off. Usually prefer to visit greek or european destinations but as it was february thought that it wouldn't be hot enough. As it was, temperatures were constantly 22 deg C and above.

Entrance/Arrival

Got a taxi from the airport which cost 170 LE (Egyptian pounds) or approx £17. This was slightly above average for the journey (which on the way back cost us 100 LE / £10. Dropped off at the very grand looking entrance to the hotel, where I was immediately shooed away from touching our luggage at all, the porter taking care of all this. We were invited to sit down in the comfy and plushly furnished reception, and given hot towels to clean our hands with.

Check in took a very short time whilst we were sat in our comfy chairs following the long flight, and then we were shown to our room. The room was lovely, large, and well furnished with TV (limited channels) and small fridge. Definitely no S/C provision however. Unfortunately, our room was one of a few with a very poor balcony/terrace area (was more of a corridor between buildings), it looked unfinished and had very little view over a small grassy area. Other rooms however had much better views. There is the option to specify a pool or sea view and I feel that this would be well benefited from (as long as your view is not of the heated/winter pool, more on this later).

The bathroom was very large, well lit and clean looking. The shower was a seperate annex, was strong, hot and well drained.

Room service/housekeeping was excellent, with a daily sheet exchange and room cleaning. My only criticism of this was that some days the room service was as early as 0845 when we were still in bed, which could be annoying.

Hotel Facilities

A very large private complex, the staff were friendly and accommodating. There are three pools, a large unheated pool (more or less unusable in february, due to the cold, despite the ambient air temperature) a smaller winter pool, frequented by children and a diving pool (which we did not see). The winter pool was very noisy, and I felt sorry for people who's room overlooked it, as they were doubtlessly awoken by noisy children and aerobics instructors. Also, again annoyingly, whilst sunbathing by the pool you could expect to be approached about 3 times in every hours by members of the hotels outsourced companies, offering you photos, massages, day trips, watersports even bellydancing! Some of which at additional cost. This grew tiresome throughout the week.

The restaurants are excellent, and although the breakfast was not suited to my own palette, there was a wide variety of fresh bread, pastries, juices and cereals available. Omelettes could be requested, eggs cooked the way you like, regular fill ups of tea and coffee.

From 730pm onwards, a restaurant called "La Seppia" opened, with views over the red sea, and the cuisine is of the highest order. It is very reasonably priced too, a four course meal for two costing only 350 LE or £35.

Room service could be ordered at all hours, for all day breakfasts, meals, snacks and drinks, at reasonable prices.


Summary

An excellent hotel, which for me was let down by our poor terrace and hassle at the pool side. Also, it was very frustrating that the large pool, (which in turn gave access to the pool bar) was unusable (apart from the russian/ukrainians who obviously have thicker skin than I!)

I would recommend the hotel, and would return here.

Re-read reviews of this hotel just before we left for a weeks holiday there (7th February-14th February 2008), was a bit wary after reading some of the not so good reviews. Therefore what a pleasant surprise the Iberotel turned out to be. We had a lovely room with seaview and a really large balcony that was a lovely suntrap. This was the first time we have ever been Fully Inclusive (we booked this option on the advice of Tripadvisor reviewers) and were a bit apprehensive at first. But we soon found the food in the main restaurant was good, okay it's not A La Carte but we managed to find something at breakfast, lunch and dinner and I must admit we enjoyed it. Twice we ate in the Italian restaurant, (where you have to pay though fully inclusive guests do get a 25% discount) the first night our three course meal came to £13.50 per person and the next time £11 (and that included a very good fillet steak). Service in all of the restaurants was quicker than we have found in at lot of other hotels and all the staff we had dealings with were very pleasant. Often we didn't have lunch due to the fact that we were still full from breakfast therefore once we had finished on the beach (normally about 4pm) we would go and have something to eat at the pool restaurant and again this was really good quality and all included in the fully inclusive price. The scented rose water sprayed on you to cool you down was wonderful, also the glass cleaning service and the strawberries went down very well. We wanted to relax on this holiday therefore the location was perfect for us, though Naama Bay is easy to get to by taxi or hotel minibus if you want a bit more night life.

Theweek we were there the weather had improved from the previous week and temps were about 23' everyday, which was lovely sunbathing weather and we even managed to go snorkelling in the sea. The main swimming pool was a bit too cold for me but my husband did go for a swim in there a couple of times and said it was 'refreshing'! The heated pool was really nice to swim in, though it is quite small therefore does tend to get a bit busy at times.

Some reviewers have commented on the fact that the Spa Staff are always on the beach/by the swimming pool trying to sell their massages, and I must admit this is really annoying. Leaving information in your room on what massages are available and prices would have tempted me a lot more, than the constant hard sell tactics they use. Never seen anyone sign up for a massage the whole time we were there!

It would also be nice if the hotel offered room service (think members of the Pharoah Club have this option but not sure) as there were a couple of nights we would have preferred just to eat in our room. We did enquire about upgrading to the aforementioned Pharoah Club but decided that at 13 euros a day wasn't really worth it for us. We never go back to the same hotel even if we do go to the same resort but I really think if we did return to Sharm we would go back to the Iberotel.