The Oasis Hotel Review | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 0 (Part 3)
/At The Oasis Hotel, Alexandria Desert Road, Giza, Cairo, Egypt
Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea
Upon arriving at the hotel, the driver handed me to another tour guide who was to brief me about my 10-day tour in Egypt and a few other things I needed to know about travelling in Egypt.
The first thing I noticed was the high-security protocol the hotel has in place. Every vehicle has to go through bomb-squad police dogs when entering the hotel boundary. The dogs inspect and sniff the full vehicle before visitors are allowed to go through the main gate. Later, I noticed that those dogs work in shifts and there are different dogs working throughout a 24-hour period.
Visitors and their luggage then have to go through scanning machines when entering the hotel lobby. My guess was that these security measures were placed by the government to safeguard tourists.
The resort-style hotel sits on 9 acres of landscaped garden full of palm trees and other elements. The location is in Giza, far from the city centre, in the middle of nowhere. You cannot walk anywhere to eat or buy anything, so guests are forced to pay overpriced and often poor-quality foods from hotel restaurants.
The hotel felt like a relic from the ‘80s. It seemed like The Oasis Hotel caters to various tour groups and most of the guests are from tour companies. The tour guides even permanently live and eat at the hotel.
I had the opportunity to experience three different types of rooms. I reached the hotel around 9-10 in the morning and my room was pretty bad: far from the lobby and doing anything involved a lot of walking. Also, I noticed that there was a door connecting my room to the next door, but there was no way to lock it. Needless to say, I requested a better room close to the main lobby. I also felt a little unsafe to spend my first night far away from the lobby, although the hotel had tight security in and out.
The room they switched me to was not bad and much better than the first one. However, at the end of my trip, the room they gave me for my last night was far superior.
The facility had no free Wi-Fi. The only place to get free Wi-Fi was by the pool and the connection was so poor that it would take half an hour to send an email. Later I heard from those who paid to for Internet access that even the paid Wi-Fi was terrible and a waste of money.
I saw lots of cats all over and took pictures. They don’t come too close, but came close enough for some good pictures.
Overall, The Oasis Hotel is not an upscale luxurious hotel, but not bad either. If you get one of the better rooms, don’t mind having no Wi-Fi, and are OK with their food, staying here can be a pleasant experience.