Day 240 – Cairo

Today was a strange day. The first half of the day we were looking for tours of the Pyramids for tomorrow. We ended up talking to several agencies to find a good tour. We could not decide at the time, as we needed to go to the airport to pick up the in-laws, who were arriving in Egypt for a short holiday.

To enter the airport to pick up guests, there is a entrance fee of 20 EGP / $1.73 AUD per person, which can only be bought at Terminal 2 Gate 8, which has a massive sign that says “Staff Only”.

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From here, we caught another Uber to our booked hotel in Giza called Egypt Pyramids Inn. It was meant to be the best stay in Egypt, but turned out to be a horrible experience. If you wish to skip my complaining below click HERE … otherwise read on.

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Happy Trusting Stage

1. We booked a 2 night stay at Egypt Pyramids Inn from Booking.com and recieved confirmation email from Booking.com yesterday.
2. Three hours later, Egypt Pyramids Inn sent a message via Booking.com “please sent your flight number”.
3. We let the hotel know, that we would arrange our own way to the hotel from the airport (transfers area actually included with the stay which is great).
4. Egypt Pyramids Inn sent a message via Booking.com to confirm they will not pick us up from the airport.

Still Happy Trusting Stage

1. We arrive at Egypt Pyramids Inn.
2. We are kept in the lobby for a while (parents are struggling to stay awake after their flight)
3. We are taken up stairs to a common area, and provided tea / soft drinks
4. The manager comes and talks to us and goes through the different tours available (we declined all tours).
5. The manager tells us, there is a minor issue with the room, but it will be available after a complimentary dinner at 7pm
6. We are taken to the roof top terrace to see the view of the Pyramids. WOW AMAZING VIEWS
7. We are told we will get “temporary rooms” until dinner so we can get some sleep and refresh ourselves.
8. We wait in a large room with heaps of sofas, while the staff talk with other staff in Arabic.
9. Leaving the parents behind, we caught an Uber to downtown Cairo, paid for tomorrows Pyramid Tour, picked up our bags from City Hostel and came back to Egypt Pyramids View.

Still Trusting but not happy stage

1. Parent’s were still waiting in the large room with the sofas!
2. We were taken to two “temporary rooms” and allowed to us them. The rooms were small and didn’t have windows. But were clean. Paperwork in the room, stated, it was rooms in the Guardian Hotel.
3. We discovered we were actually in a different hotel!
4. We got ready and went to rooftop terrace for complimentary dinner.
5. Manager asks us to move to a different table so he can cater to other guests after we had finished eating

The Over it stage!

1. Manager informs us that the room will not be available tonight, but will be available either tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon!?!?!
2. We lose all faith in the Hotel, as they were clearly over booked, but instead of straight out telling us, they decided to dangle a proverbial carrot in front of us. We don’t want to stay there, especially as they cant even guarantee a time for tomorrow.
3. We tell the manager that we will not stay here tomorrow.
4. He tells us we must pay for the 1 night in the windowless room at a total of $100 USD.
5. We refuse, as its a crappy room for such a ridiculous price.
6. The manager has a tantrum and walks off.
7. We refuse to cancel the booking on booking.com (as we would not be able to review the hotel) despite the staff insisting that we do (the manager has disappeared now).
8. We go direct to the staff at Guardian Hotel and talk to the manager over the phone.
9. The manager tells us that the rooms are used for emergency bookings only, and each room is $40USD a night (total of $80 USD), which means the Egypt Pyramids Inn’s manager once again lied as he asked for $100 USD!!!
10. Since we are over it, we agree to pay the $80 USD and go to sleep

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A few days later

1. Egypt Pyramids Inn hotel, notifies Booking.com that we were no shows and the booking is cancelled (so we can’t give them a review)
2. We complain to Booking.com, asking them to let us review the Hotel.
3. They refuse, but offer to refund us $15 USD for our troubles.
4. We say, we would rather give the hotel a bad review than have the money.
5. They refuse.
6. We take the $15 USD.

Now I promise, no more complaining about the Hotel.

We didn’t have much luck today, as even during the dinner, the Sound and Light show wasn’t running. We believe this was due to another event closeby. Two days in a row, and we still couldn’t see the show! The views from Egypt Pyramid Inn are slightly better than the views from Elhadaba Restaurant Cafe (Day 239).

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I also had a funny conversation when I called the tour guide for tomorrow, to try explain what had happened. In the end I was happy that he understood, that he had to pick us up from a completely different hotel than what we had booked.