We have just returned from an excellent week at the Baron Resort. When I booked in April the hotel was ranked 7th on Trip-advisor, but I watched in dismay as review after review knocked the hotel, so much that by time of departure it had slipped to 24th. I needn't have worried, as all doubts disappeared the moment we checked in.
Our party was myself, my wife, our 18 yr old daughter and 14 yr old son. We were allocated an inter-connecting room with a fantastic view of the pool and beach out onto Tiran Island. We were immediately struck by the cleanliness and quality of the rooms. The hotel is cleaned 24/7 by an army of friendly staff, and everywhere gleams, particularly the impressive lobby.

We booked on a B&B basis, and can happily report that none of us suffered with any form of upset stomach. We all had ice in the drinks and ate salads and fruit, so the standard of food hygiene here is clearly not an issue. We had a lovely meal in the Egyptian restaurant, and really enjoyed the fresh omelettes, waffles and crepes at breakfast. As we had teenagers we went to Naama Bay most evenings to eat and for the nightlife, and would recommend using the hotels limousine service who drop you off and collect at a time to suit you. With a bit of haggling you should be able to get a deal for 120-140 LE, and always ask for Haram.......the funniest and most informative taxi driver in Egypt (say hello to him from Mr Tim!)

Contrary to some reports, we had no problems with getting a sun-bed, although we preferred the beach to the pool, purely for the snorkelling. With regards to this, this is one of the hotels biggest draws!! The reef off the hotels' jetty is unbelievable, the best time of day being just before sunset when the water is as calm as a bath. I took my son for an introductory scuba dive with Camel Dive (I will write a separate review on this), where we dived off a boat on Ras Bob and White Knight. We saw a far greater variety of fish and a reef rich in colour (as opposed to what the dive did, or rather didn't, give us!) when we returned to the House Reef (Ras Nasrani) and snorkelled to make up for a disappointing excursion.
One thing the boat trip did do was make us realise what a great location the Baron has with it's own long stretch of sandy beach (I'm glad we weren't at any hotel in Sharks Bay or any other along the coast leading up the Baron!!)
With regards to other guests from eastern europe, we didn't have any problems with them, both they and the Italians happily included my son in the twice daily volleyball games on the beach.

I need to give a special mention to our maid Mohammed, who made a fantastic towel sculpture of a swan for our room, and an amazing crocodile for the kids. This was on top of cleaning our room meticulously every day!

To sum up, we had a brilliant stay and will definitely be returning to the Baron Resort. We rate this hotel very highly, actually preferring it to a 5 star hotel on Dubai's Jumeirah Beach we stayed in 2 years ago. Do not let the negative reviews put you off, we nearly did and are so glad we didn't switch hotels. I will be recommending the Baron to our friends and family.

We stayed at the Baron Resort in July for 2 weeks. We had booked the Baron Palms but were bumped over to the resort.
We were 'upgraded' to a seaview room but as we had booked a delux poolview at the palms we did not feel this was an upgrade.

The hotel location was fabulous. Right on the beach. The rooms were not as impressive, good size but very old fashioned. Only a shower, no bath. We had booked a double at the palms and were given a twin at the resort. The room did have a mini bar but had to pay for all drinks taken from it. The chap who cleaned our room was excellent, it was always spotless.

The beach is lovely & the snorkling a short walk along the jetty is amazing. You will see all kinds of fish & lots of them. Take your own mask & snorkel or buy one in the boulevard. I hired one from the hotel and the snorkel was broken. I ended a whole mouthful of saltwater. Took it back and didnt even get a refund so i bought one from the shop in the boulevard for £26 (mask, snorkel & flippers). Well worth it.

The beach is beautiful, plenty of sunloungers & parasols. Lots of hassle on the beach from locals trying to sell you trips or get you to have a massage. This is staff from the hotel & i feel that it is inappropriate. It is constant & even if you say no thank you they will be back to you within the hour to see if you have changed your mind. Sometimes even waking you up so there is no point pretending you are asleep. Sand does get very hot in the day so make sure you wear sandals if going for a walk.

The pool at the resort is large, lovely & cool water. Not enough sunloungers. We managed to get loungers at the pool twice but were not prepared to get up at the crack of dawn to get one. The loungers were all gone by about 8am and sometimes lay empty all day. Go to the beach and then go to the pool abot 4pm & you will get a lounger. You will get a clean towel everyday by using the towel card given to you at check in.

There are three bars at the Baron Resort, a pool bar, beach bar and a bar in the foyer. There are not enough seats at any of these bars for the number of guests. Only ever one barman serving but lots of other staff milling around. Drinks are not cold enough, we were given orange juice one day that was about as hot as a cup of tea. Fizzy drinks were always flat. We took ice if they had it but they often ran out. They also were prone to giving you half a glass of juice, I found the staff at the bars very rude despite giving tips.

The selection of food in the restaurant was good. I am vegetarian but could always find something to eat. The only problem was that the food wasnt kept hot enough. Staff in the restaurant were not very attentive and you could wait up to 20 mins before they offered you a drink. Also we were not allowed to choose our own seats, and were often forced to sit in the smoking area whilst seats were free in non smoking. We did eat in the itallian once and the food was ok. You have to pay for the Indian but it wasnt busy enough and we were worried about how fresh the food was so we didnt eat there. We dont drink much alcohol on holiday (dont know why as we do at home), the wine was ok & the beer was actually quite nice. Only tried a few cocktails and they were nice when cold but not when warm.

We both got the dreaded bug. I vomited for 10 hours one night & then had diarrohea for about a week, boyfriend had diarrohea but not sick. Our stomach are still not back to normal. Didnt ruin our holiday.

Definately go to nama bay as there isnt much to do at night in the hotel. We knew this and just wanted a quiet relaxing holiday but as there wasnt many seats to sit and have a drink at night we tended to be back in the room watchin tv by ten.
Nama Bay is very busy but they dont hassle you too much, i was suprised. We took the hotel bus one night & took a taxi the other. Taxi is better as you dont have to stick to a timescale. Only ten egyptian pounds each way. Get the hotel taxis as they seem safer, the blue taxis drive like maniacs. We got one back and i was nervous the whole way. lots of food options in nama Bay, we ate at TGI Fridays as we fancied some real food (and we dont have one were we live), really cheap.

I have worked with many egyptian doctors and have always found them very pleasant & respectful. I found some of the staff at the Baron resort very rude & they would do there best to ignore you if you wanted served at the bar.

I dont think the Baron resort is a 5 star hotel, a good 3 star. Bear in mind that not all guest are on AI, some are B&B and some HB. The AI guest are treated like second class citizens, if you are paying for your drinks you will be treated better.

No problems with the Russians, we really just kept to ourselves.
Wouldnt go back to the Baron resort but did enjoy our holiday. Believe it or not. The fact that we were bumped from the Palms did take the edge of it a bit

We stayed at the Baron Resort from 17 July to 2 August and had an excellent time. Some months before starting on our holiday, we read some terrible reviews about the Baron, our holiday company (On The Beach/Hotels4U) and our airline, XL. The negative reviews very nearly caused me to cancel the holiday but after some helpful positive reviews, and helpful assistance from member Costareas, we perservered. This is what we found:

On The Beach/Hotels4U
Some errors on the ticket were very quickly corrected by email with OTB, who sorted it out with XL. No problems there then. It does seem better to use email rather than telephone, but thats often the way nowadays. The Hotel4U rep at the resort called around every day and was very helpful. Highlight of the trip was a privately arranged trip to the desert to see the stars through a telescope; thus avoiding the Bedouin dinner/dance/camel ride package. The rep Sammi arranged this for us at a very good rate.

XL Airways/Sharm Airport
Bags slightly overweight by a few kilos but no comment from the XL checkin. Queuing was pretty quick and pain free. We did seem to see some people being surcharged but their cases were quite large. Comment – 15kg limit per person is very limiting for a 2 week holiday. This is probably how airlines can increase profits whilst keeping their headlines costs low. Flight was OK, seat pitch quite shallow and we were glad it was no longer than 5 hrs. But otherwise exactly as expected. Sharm airport surprisingly was more efficient than when we were last there; more carousels than before and our luggage came off straight away. On the return trip we noticed the Egyptian check in was very strict on weight limits, and their scales seemed to be calibrated differently to European standards! However we were still allowed a few kilos over the limit.

Baron Resort
Prior to arrival I emailed the manager Ahmed Khaled. He was very helpful, as was his PA Susan Vach. Our checkin was quick and easy and our room exactly as expected.
From the balcony we could see there were still free places by the pool each morning until around 8am, sometimes later. Beach sunbeds near to the Conrad/Baron Palms end busy but still plenty free. We went down the far end where there were loads of free frontline beds all day. Plenty of Italians at the hotel, some Russians. The Russkis are a very dour lot and don't seem to enjoy themselves much; quite funny to see al the '80's fashions like mullet, sleeveless vests (at dinner time!) and loads of bling. But we found them harmless, lets face it our own Brits can be much worse.
The food is excellent and varied, though buffet style. Management is keen to help and seem to have taken some initiatives to pre-empt any complaints. Room service is excellent. The swimming pool is never crowded although you won't get a sunbed there after 8am. But the beach is better, and we think cooler.
The hotel has a strict policy that men wear trousers at dinner time. This means full length, not 3/4. Oddly, men can wear tshirts or vests with trousers which rather cancels things out, and women can wear whatever they like. I appreciate its a policy/cultural thing, but if the hotel is trying to enforce a standard, they should insist that men wear trousers and a shirt at least. Also invited to a cocktail party - a really nice gesture and again I think a way of trying to find out if guests had any problems.
We had no food poisoning and the hotel is kept spotless. Room cleaning was impeccable. Drinks and bar service is flaky – I think this is because the Egyptians have no cultural background in bar service and simply cannot make up a good drink nor play the part of a good barman. I've suggested they employ some professional Irish bar staff but I'm also inclined to think they don't want to encourage drinking.
The snorkelling of the jetties is outstanding and in fact far better then you get on the boat trips. The hotel is built on flat ground next to a large beach area and we think has the best beach frontage in Sharm.
Altogether a superb hotel and one we'd happily return to. I'd be happy to answer any queries from fellow members.

Many thanks to Ahmed Khaled and his wonderful staff for a superb 10 days. From the gardeners to security, the cleaning staff, the waiters, waiteress's, and many more, too many to mention. Every one them said 'hello' when they saw you, made you feel like you were the only guest in the complex.
I was in a wheelchair and the people in the hotel, at the pool, in the restaurants, and out and about., went out of their way to be ultra helpful. No it was not just the wheelchair, they were like this with everyone. Food good. Very hot in July. The locals tell me that April is the most comfortable month weather wise.