A trip to Egypt usually begins with a travel agent, online or in person. No matter what part of the country the visitor wants to visit and no matter what kind of holiday they are looking for (Nile cruise, scuba diving, city break in Cairo, relaxing in Luxor etc), all travellers have to stay somewhere. Choosing the right accommodation often implies many factors; ie the price, the location, media advertising and personal recommendations .  Often the images and descriptions from the travel agents play a huge part in the decision, at least for the first time visitor!

Unfortunately, many travel agents don't take into consideration or are unaware that the accommodation rating system in Egypt is different from that which you find in developed countries and the Arab Gulf. Many unsuspecting visitors to Egypt arrive with the impression that they are going to stay in a luxury or deluxe resort/hotel/cruise ship because their travel-agent has promised them a "5*".

While not disputing that there are hotels, cruises and resorts in Egypt with a true 5* standard, the majority of the hotels with the 5* rating do not live up to what many travellers expect as compared with their other world travels. The true 5* places are few and far between in Egypt with the Grand Hyatt and Four Seasons chains as exceptions. Those chains do provide true 5* service but that also comes with a price.

Ratings in Egypt are based on facilities. In order to receive their rating of stars, the hotel/resort/cruise ship must be able to present a range of facilities. Among them are in room TV, minibar, pool, licensing to serve alcohol, several restaurants, and amongst others, access to the beach if it is a Red Sea destination.  Of course the hotel itself must have a certain standard, but more often than not, the traveller will find that even 5* hotels/resorts/cruise ships have gloomy rooms with stains on the carpet, cracked tiles in the bathroom, peeling paint, TV's not working or with poor reception, empty minibars and so forth. If they have the required facilities and if the premises and rooms are kept clean, there is a good chance a hotel will have a 5* rating. It must be stressed that it is not necessarily like this in ALL 5* rated hotels, but it is often the case. Maintaining or refurbishing hotels/resorts/cruise ships is usually instigated the minute before the whole structure crumbles and maintenance is usually not an ongoing issue which  if it was, would probably improve accommodation standards.

The same as written above also applies to hotels/resorts/cruise ships with a 4* or 3* rating, but often the visitor will not feel as disappointed with the gloomy room and the cracked tiles if they have paid for a 3* hotel than they will in a 5* hotel.

The average traveller will probably find that 5* hotels/resorts/cruise ships in Egypt are the equivalent of  4* or in some cases 3*, as to compared with the rating systems of other destinations around the world. If the traveller is aware of this before booking their 5* accommodation this would then avoid most of the bad press regarding the many great and unique hotels in Egypt.