Hyatt Regency Reviews

Having read a number of reviews about both this hotel and Taba Heights, we were perhaps slightly wary when we set off.

The Monarch flight was uncomfortable. Given the length of flight i would of thought a plane with Monarch Premium seating would be justified to enable upgrade.

Taba Airport, well ok its not the best. Arrival was fairly quick and efficient, but the departure!! The only consolation is that when you realise how depressing the departure lounge is spending over an hour in the queue isnt so bad!

The resort, given our expectations, we couldnt really fault it. Rooms / public areas / pools and snorkelling were all excellent. For a large hotel its very spread out with most of the blocks surrounded by lovely gardens and most of the balconies seemed very private.

The only downside is perhaps the restaurant for breakfast and evening meal. Service was sometimes quite slow, and a number of people lost there tables when going to the buffet. Werent sure what the girls at the desk actually did as they showed people to tables without telling the waiters. If on half board you can eat at one of the other restaurants on site with a credit of 40 Egyptian Pounds, which wouldnt even get you a starter on the lunch menu!

The snorkelling, for less confident swimmers the small jetty is very good as you can stand on sand after going into the water. Although watch out for the Lion Fish who seemed to live near the steps. The coral and the amount of fish were exceptional, and apparently better than that available on some of the dives from Waterworld. We used both jetties most days, but the long jetty does get quite busy so you have to be patient getting into and out of the water (especially if there are uncertain people on the steps). The small jetty seemed to remain quiet. It is like swimming in a fish tank!

Ive read complaints about the beach and the sea on some reviews, which makes me think - what do people expect this is a resort in Eygpt with a man made beach. If people want a sandy beach and to be able to run into the sea go somewhere else!

Most of the comments seem to think this hotel is expensive. Ok it may be expensive in comparison to a shed in Taba Town, but its not expensive in comparison to the UK. In our 7 days, we always had lunch, plus drinks during the day and with dinner and spent approx £200 (given the fact that we discovered the shop sold cadburys chocolate this was some achievement!).

All in all this a lovely hotel, with fantastic snorkelling and we are planning on going for two weeks next year!

We had a wonderful time at this Hotel and would also like to say how good we thought Longwood Travel were. Would definitely recommend them if travelling to Egypt. The Hotel itself was clean and smart and the staff were really friendly - couldn't do enough for you.

The Beach was amazing. Some days we felt like we had the beach to ourselves it was so quiet.
The snorkelling was excellent and I'd heard so many good things about the Red Sea that I wasn't going to miss out on this experience. I am quite nervous of the sea as well but it's just so calm it was ideal for me.
Went camel riding which was good fun and then had a Bedouin dinner under the stars which was lovely. Also hired out Quad bikes early morning which was fun.
The food was excellent. We thought a good variety during the week that we stayed there.
Weather was lovely. Comfortably warm in the daytime (mid-late 20's approx) but a bit chilly at night so i would recommend taking something warmer for the evenings.
I thought Taba airport was great just because it was so small so there was nothing hectic about it. Lovely!

I just couldn't fault this Hotel and I look forward to my next holiday there - the sooner the better. I would recommend it if you are looking for something really relaxing and quiet but if you are prepared to pay extra for excursions then there is plenty to keep your daytime active too.

We have just returned from a relaxing week at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Taba Heights. The hotel was excellent - very clean, great food and very friendly staff. The snorkelling at the hotel reef was fantastic and easy to access via the hotel jetty. We will definately go back to this hotel. Highly recommended.

This was our second visit to the Hyatt Regency at Taba Heights, the first being at Easter 2004. We arrived at 22:15 hrs and to our disappointment there was no 3rd bed in the room for our daughter. This was quickly rectified by the hotel staff. Hotel was much as we remembered it, very clean, and comfortable with friendly staff. However what did suprise us was the extent to which prices for drinks and food purchased in the hotel had been increased since our last visit.

A can of lager (500mls)now being almost 4.00 and snacks also seemed expensive. Beware when buying ice cream, it is shown as 15 pounds Egyptian (1.60) but what is not made clear is that this is per scoop. The waiter asks if you want 2 or 3 scoops, thus 3 x 3 scoop ice creams cost us almost and#8356;15.
A 12% service charge is automatically added to all food and drink purchased and this makes one disinclined to tip the waiter as this 12% quickly adds up over the week .
Water is only sold in 1.5 ltr bottles and is approx 1.50 per bottle so if you heed the recommendations and drink 3ltrs per day this works out at 3 per day per person.
The waiters in the dining room work extremely hard but there appeared to be less of them than on our previous visit and we often had to clear our own plates from one course of a meal before we could eat the second course.
As a consequence of fewer waiters there was often a long wait to get a drink with a meal.
The water sports centre is very good but again prices had been increased substantially since last year, this appears to have been achieved by the simple act of substituting charges which were in US Dollars to Euros, the numbers staying the same.
There are 3 large swimming pools. one being the lap pool which is a 50 mtr pool for those people who like to swim without lots of less able swimmers playing in the water.The other two pools are ideal for keeping cool and for children to play in.
An 80 mtr pier goes out over the coral reef and snorkelling from this is great.
There is also a smaller pier closer inshore

Would we return to this hotel again?
No, the prices for food and drink are much too high, better value at the Coral Hilton at Nuweiba which is all inclusive.

Stayed in the Hyatt Regency from the 31st June - 7th July. The holiday was truly relaxing and a great getaway.
We went with First choice, the flight time was about 5 hours. Luckily, we had in flight entertainment which I don't think any of the other airlines flying to Taba have. Taba airport is basically in the middle of no where and the surrounding area doesn't look finished quite yet. Try to go to the loo before getting off the plane as if you want to go in the airport, you have to pay for some tissue that someone has stolen out of the loos.
The transfer to the hotel took about 35 minutes and it was quite dark when we got to the hotel. We stayed in a sea front room next to the presidential suite and we had a great view! The balcony was also huge and the walk in shower could probably fit about 4 people in it!
We got lost going for dinner the first night due to various amount of ways in which you can walk throught the gardens to the main building!

There are five amazing pools and a sea water lagoon however we tended to stay by the same pool everyday. We spent most of our time in the pool as I could just about manage ten minutes in the sun before getting too hot. Although the hotel is reasonably full, it remained quiet the whole time we were there and there was no problem getting a sunbed everyday. The private beach has a jetty going over the coral reef in which you can snorkel. I think you could rent snorkels for about 6 pound a day.

The food in my opinion was great, a good variety. Trying the waffles at breakfast is a must, I ended up having them every morning! I tended to avoid the salad as I didn't want to have an upset stomach.
Whilst we were in Taba we went on two excursions. The first was to Cairo - 5 hours there, 7 hours back. We had to leave at three in the morning so the hotel provided us with a breakfast box. Cairo is a complete dump in my opinion and I got a bit fed up, but I did enjoy seeing the pyramids.

The other trip was a Longwood holiday excursion to Eilat, Israel. It ony takes half hour to get to the border however you have a long procedure at the border. They are extremely strict but the trip is well worth the hassle. Just make sure you keep an eye on your things the whole journey. Also, be prepared to show your passport about fifty million times and about 3 pages of your passport stamped.

It was definately a lot hotter in Eilat although the temperature reached 51 degrees celsius in the sun in Taba one day! Not sure how hot it was in Eilat but it was very hot! We went to the underwater observatory which was quite enjoyable and then to the Dolphin Reef. Swimming with the dolphins is optional and costs an extra $50 but I did it and loved it! This was then followed by about an hour and a half shopping in Eilat. The shopping centre is tax free and has both designer shops and slightly cheaper ones. Was a great day out.
The staff in the hotel were absolutely lovely! Everytime you would walk past someone they would go out of their way to say hello. They all bend over backwards to help you without annoying you. There was always someone hovering, gardening, cleaning and they all seem quite happy considering their wage. The average wage in Egypt is twenty pounds a month so they really appreciaite a tip although they don't expect it. Tipping is customary in Egypt. We tipped our housekeeper a dollar a day and he started coming to clean twice a day!

A few tips-
.Bring lots of one dollar bills for tipping.
.Drink a lot of water- not only is it boiling in the day, it's also about 30 degrees or more in the night!
.Wear insect reppellent at night. We didn't get bitten, but the bugs are big!
.Bring some trot tablets, I personally didn't have an upset stomach but my boyfriend and a few other people we spoke to did. don't think its just the food but also the heat.
.Get a Gold passport. You can get these on the Hyatt website. With this we recieved the room upgrade. My father rung to ask for a room upgrade whilst I was on the way there and they told him we were already in a VIP room! You can also have a late checkout and a complimentary breakfast in bed(which was huge!We were still eating the croissants days after).
.Bring snacks- biscuits etc, the hotel shop is a rip off!

DO go here if you want a relaxing, quiet holiday.
DON'T go here if you want the nightlife as there is NOTHING outside the hotel.
Loved the holiday so much, we're hoping to back next year.