This isn't a hotel review reallly. I'm not good at reviewing them anyway. It's more to tell you the story of my stay there and how a mis-informative online review on my part led to much embarrassment,
Sharm El Sheik is on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, I flew there from Cairo and stayed at the Hyatt Regency.
The hotel was actually quite nice, a step above most Hyatt Regency hotels I've stayed. Being a Hyatt loyalist with top tier Globalist benefits I mostly stay at Hyatt hotels when available. This loyalty status offers me free breakfast and club lounge privileges, which play into this story.
View of the Hyatt property
Each morning I would go to the club lounge to eat my breakfast. There was indoor and outdoor seating. I preferred the view from the balcony offered by the outdoor tables:
The first morning there I noticed an Arabic man seated at a table near me. There were few in the lounge so he stood out. He was a distinguished looking man probably in his 40's and he was seated with two western women who appeared to be 20 years his junior. I tell you this so you get the picture of the scene. Personally, his being with two women half his age is nothing I judge. But I think the detail is important to the story,
The breakfast that first day was without incident.
However, the second day of my stay I noticed a nice bread basket on that same table the trio sat prior, with no one sitting there. This table had the best view so, seeing no one else in the club lounge, I began to sit there,
Immediately the waiter ran to me telling me there was a person seated there but he had got up to leave for a moment. I took another nearby table, of course.
After about 30 minutes, as I was near the end of my breakfast, the same man showed up as the prior day, and was seated at this table again. In a few minutes the two ladies joined him again. Really, I thought. He had left his table for 30 minutes?
Anyway, on to day three. I arrive early once again. I'm the only one in the lounge and I go outside to take a table. The same table has a bread basket on it. This time I ask the waiter if I can have this table. He tells me I cannot as it is already taken. I asked him where was the person, and he responds he must have gone to the bathroom. I move on.
Sitting at the same table as the prior day I eat my breakfast. After finishing I noticed no one was seated there the entire time. I get up and go to the bathroom. No one there but me. I go back to my table and this time I call over the waiter and told him I knew no one had taken that table. I further informed him I knew the club policy and no one can reserve a table. Every member has equal access.
I could tell he was quite embarrassed at his earlier lies to me. It was then he relayed to me the man seated with the girls each morning was actually the hotel owner. He felt obligated to reserve the best table and offer a special basket for him each day.
I told him I totally understood. I thought it strange the owner eats in the club lounge, but, this is Egypt and maybe they do things differently.
Later I was at the beach area:
There I noticed the hotel owner I had seen at breakfast with the two young girls. Above is a picture of the beach, but I did not think it appropriate to photo the man and girls together, especially since the whole time the owner was rubbing his hands on the girls' butts in a public place!
I was quite shocked to see this, especially from the owner of his hotel. But, I guess it's his hotel?
When I checked out at the club lounge from my stay the girl behind the desk asked how was my stay. I told her I loved the place but I was shocked at the owner's behavior. She told me she was not sure if it was the owner or his brother.
When I arrived back home I wrote a hotel review on TripAdvisor telling of my experience. I did not leave out the information regarding the owner's behavior.
A week goes by and I receive a phone call at 3 am. It was the hotel manager. I told him the local time here and he apologized he didn't realize the time change. Really?
He called back at a better hour the next day and told me the owner read my review and was quite upset. The manager stated the owner was never at the hotel that day and I had greatly embarrassed his entire family with my public review. The owner wanted to know why I identified him in the review.
I told the manager what the waiter told me and was partially confirmed by the check out lady. He asked if I could hold while he called in the waiter to his office. I agreed.
After a few minutes the waiter is confronted with his lies. He admits to me and the manager he lied because he was embarrassed and didn't know what to say when I asked him about the reserved table. He actually held the table because the guy tipped him to reserve each morning. Now things made sense! But I don't know why the girl covered for him.
Anyway, after clearing it up I agreed to immediately delete the TripAdvisor review. In fact, I didn't know I could do it but the manager walked me through it. The manager thanked me and told me if I ever return to let him know and he would make sure I was well taken care of.
A huge embarrassment for everyone involved, including me! But at least it ended well for everyone except the lying waiter ..... and perhaps the owner if his family didn't believe him!
Maybe I jumped the gun on that review on TripAdvisor? I thought I had confirmation he was the owner so I felt justified. But in hindsight, with so much at stake regarding the man's reputation, I probably should have confirmed with a manager. I personally have no problem exposing such things if true, but for something this important, I think more due diligence was required on my part.
As you know from reading my posts, I'm not a stranger to confrontation and controversy. If I feel something needs to be called to light, this hall monitor will do it. Even if it gets me in trouble at times. I'm just glad I was back in the USA when they discovered the review. I've read stories of some in foreign lands who have done this and got into trouble with the government regulations on faulty reviews, if the hotel presses charges.
Oh well, it gave me another story to tell and that's what this blog is all about.
Such a great story and had no difficulty in visualizing the sequence of events. Obviously the waiter was not aware of who he was dealing with.
I can only imagine the embarrassing time this was. You as a traveler expect to be treated the same as everyone one else. This time you weren't getting scammed but felt you were not being treated correctly.