JW Marriott Hotel Cairo, Cairo

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money
Quality of Rooms
Standard of Service
Quality of Facilities

Advantages:	Beautiful building and surroundings, great facilities
Disadvantages:	Service was a mirage, outside the city

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The JW Marriott, Mirage City, Cairo is something more than a mirage. As we approached, two giant sandstone pillars loom to one side, replicas of ancient Egyptian construction, and I thought, "this could either be very tacky or very impressive". Well, I was very impressed by the hotel, the facilities, the design, but unfortunately the overall experience was a bit disappointing. Atleast, it was when I stayed there late in 2003.

Sprawling around several swimming pools, a wave pool, an 18 hole golf course and half a dozen tennis courts, it is more than just a hotel. The clubhouse, a two minute walk from the hotel, offers gym and sauna facilities, a pro golf shop, gold driving range and a large bar with pool tables (put to good use during our stay!) The split level design means balconies overlook walkways overlooking the pool; the lobby overlooks a bar which overlooks a restaurant overlooking part of the golf course. Sadly, it appears that parts of the service training and thought were overlooked as well.

LOBBY AND RECEPTION
All over Egypt now, security is taken very seriously and the hotel makes it plain that this is a priority. Just outside the front door is a security point with a walk-through metal detector, like in airports. There are several security staff scattered around the lobby area, unobtrusive, so reassuring rather than alarming.

The lobby area is very grand. Mammoth chandeliers with red and blue glass "windows" hang from the ceiling. The reception desk on the left seems quite dwarfed. A round ballustrade around the centre of the lobby surrounds a lounge seating area, dropped down a few steps. At the far end a balcony overlooks "The View" piano bar one floor down, and the "Mirage Cafe" restaurant one floor below that.

Check in was slowed somewhat by their having to take photocopies of my passport and Marriott Rewards card, but overall was okay.

LAYOUT
The layout of the hotel takes a little getting used to. The lobby is on the 3rd floor, several restaurants and bar on the second, restaurant on the first. The meeting rooms are on the fifth floor. From the lobby there are four wings going off, one in each corner. Three are to rooms; rooms numbered x2xx are from the far right; rooms numbered x4xx are from the near left. By a process of elimination, the far left would be either x1xx or x3xx.

The rooms around the pool, on the first level, actually do look out onto the poolside area. It was quite odd walking past the pool and glancing into a full length, floor to ceiling window and seeing a bedroom with a guy working at a laptop on a table staring back at me!

ROOMS
The two rooms I stayed in (I moved after the first night) were both pretty similar, the standard L-shape. The x4xx room seemed slightly larger, with a longer entrance hall, but not very noticeably. The twin rooms both contained two double beds, a wooden work desk, TV cabinet with minibar underneath (soft drinks and beer, no spirits...no Vodka!!!! Ack!!!!). The beds were fairly comfortable but one of them sagged a bit at one end. The air conditioning was quiet and effective. The bathroom off to one side had a tub, seperate shower stall, toilet and bidet. It was well stocked with towels, two bottle of shampoo, several wash cloths. There were several small clay pots and bowls around, to satisfy most souvenir collectors.

FACILITIES
As I said earlier the hotel has numerous sports facilities. The main one is an 18 hole golf course, supplemented by a driving range at the club house. There are six tennis courts, several swimming pools including a wave pool and a small beach area where you can also play basketball. The Club House also holds a seperate male and female gym, sauna, steam room and jaccuzi.

There are over twenty conference rooms, some on the first and some on the fifth floor, which can be arranged for up to 2000 people.

RESTAURANTS AND BARS
There are plenty of restaurants in and around the hotel. The Mirage Cafe on the 1st floor is open 24hours and serves a breakfast buffet with a mix of western and Arabic food. They also offer a "sushi bar" in the evenings.

On the first floor there is a JW Steakhouse which is very pleasantly atmospheric; the one time we ate there, however, it was disappointing as they didn't have any fillet steak (in a Steakhouse? Bah!) and would not allow any other steak to be used for the "Surf and Turf" that I wanted; the sirloin I had instead was about 30% fat and gristle.

There is a Middle Eastern restaurant, Ahlein, on the first floor and a cigar & whiskey lounge. Off to one side, on the third floor, in a beautiful alcove resembling a village centre, is "Cucina" Italian restaurant. For those wanting a more pub type atmosphere, "The Cactus Bar" in the Club House, two minute's walk away, has pool tables, a snooker table and a TV area.

SERVICE
This was where the hotel really let itself down. The service throughout was unreliable, sometimes very frustrating. Part of it was language; some of the people barely spoke any English. I will be the first to argue that we cannot expect everyone everywhere to speak English, but when a waiter in a 5 star international hotel cannot understand "four coffees" or "butter", or asks your room number then cannot tell "four" from "seven", then something needs to improve.

It took several minutes and numerous tries to explain we wanted 4 cups of tea. It took 45 minutes for the diet pepsi to arrive. It took 55 minutes for a round of teas and coffees.

There was also a shortage of common sense. I was sitting working at the desk in the room while the guy restocked the towels and put the chocolates on the bed. He then open the drawer, inches from my arm, so I had to pause and watch as he placed the laundry price list on it, placed the bag on, and left it open. Very nice normally, but not when I am working at that very desk. In the cafe when we were signing for breakfast, he insisted on hearing everyone's room number and writing it himself, slowly and double checking each number, instead of letting us fill it in; he then asked us to sign and walked off with the pen before we could sign.

The shower in my first room flooded as the plug was blocked by a fistfull of hair. The toilet door in my second room wouldn't close.

The people are all very pleasant and friendly - sometimes it is almost too much! Everyone you pass smiles, says hello, how are you, you are welcome. The next question is "where are you from?" However, I'd rather a little less of the questions and more efficient service.

LOCATION
Mirage City is located about 20 minutes from Cairo airport, on the edge of the city, half an hour from the Pyramids and the city centre.

SUMMARY
A fantastic hotel with great facilities, ideal for families, the golfing crowd, or just an alternative to city hotels. But they need to sort the people out!