Sunrise Aqua Joy Resort in Hurghada

This is a long story.

We arrived at the hotel at 2:30 PM, and the front desk said we could grab a light meal at the pool bar before checking in. (Lunch hour was already over, so it was just snack sandwiches and burgers, which were terrible.) By the time we came back, it was already 3 PM. The front desk lady dawdled for a while, then told me that because my child was over 12, they were considered an adult, and I needed to pay a surcharge of $353 for four nights. I had booked four nights early for $6159, which is $880. Now they wanted almost half of that extra?!

Luckily, I booked through Ctrip, and it clearly stated my child was 12, specifically 12 years and 2 months old. The hotel's policy was one price for under 12, and adult rates for over 12. I contacted Ctrip, and their customer service immediately helped me and contacted the hotel. The hotel completely ignored calls and didn't respond. So, Ctrip customer service told me to pay first to check in, even apologizing to me and assuring me they would refund the money. Seriously! I truly felt Ctrip was incredibly reliable and responsible here. And afterwards, when I sent the payment proof to customer service, Ctrip immediately transferred the cash back to me, even sending a bit extra as compensation!

I thought that would be the end of it, but then the hotel front desk told me they had two rooms to choose from. The room type I booked only had one left, and it was not good. She offered me another room by the pool, which was very convenient and had a good view. She said I could choose. As a result, one of their staff members, a man, took us to see the first room, the one by the pool, on the 2nd floor. It was a huge building with only one elevator, so we had to wait forever. Then, when he opened the door, I was stunned. It was a standard hotel room, 32㎡, with a king-size bed, but they had also put a bunk bed in this standard room, making it incredibly cramped. I had booked a Super Family Room, 52㎡, a two-bedroom unit. These two room types differ by double the price! I didn't even go inside to look closely; I just said at the door that I didn't want this, I wanted what I booked. The staff member mumbled to me that this one was closer to the pool and a good room. I fiercely said, "What the hell is this?! I want to see the next room, I want to see the room I booked." Then he got really upset and just left. He walked off quickly, not waiting for us at all! We had no idea where to go! And we had kids with us! We had just traveled four hours from Luxor to get here!

So we had to go back to the lobby and found him there. Then he took us directly from the lobby up to the fourth floor by elevator. Sisters, it was on the fourth floor of the main lobby building, and he had just dragged us around 200 meters away for a tour earlier! Then I saw the room we had booked; it was being cleaned. I told him we wanted this one, but he still stubbornly refused to give me the room card, saying, "You all need to come out, this room isn't ready yet, you need to go downstairs to get your luggage." My husband and kids were exhausted, so I told him to let them stay in the room and wait for it to be cleaned, and I would go downstairs with him to get the luggage. He rudely said everyone had to come out. At this point, my husband got angry (he's usually a very gentle person) and said, "We're staying right here, this is our room." Just then, the housekeeping manager for that floor arrived and also agreed with our approach. It seemed they saw we were genuinely angry and came to de-escalate, realizing they couldn't trick us anymore. When I went downstairs, that staff member walked away muttering. I very seriously told the front desk lady that she showed me a substandard room and the staff member had a terrible attitude. She said she wanted to give me options, and maybe I would like it. And that room wasn't ready yet. I wanted to say a lot of things, but I held back. I told her very loudly in the hotel lobby that all hotels in the world have a 3 PM check-in, and it was their responsibility that they weren't ready; we had waited a full two hours! It was past 4 PM by then, and we were super tired! She said, "Oh, I'm sorry, in that case, I'll give you a late checkout, 2 PM checkout, giving you an extra two hours!"

Next, I have to tell everyone that their food is really bad, all cheap stuff. All the drinks are cheap sodas; there aren't even brand-name Coke or Fanta, just the machine-dispensed kind. Freshly squeezed juice, which is everywhere in Egypt, isn't available here either. Several restaurants in the hotel require reservations, and except for the Italian restaurant, which was decent, the others were all terrible, especially the Asian restaurant. And the room was very dirty! Especially dirty! I don't know if it was just our room that was like this. There was a layer of dust on the bathroom amenities. And the bedroom window couldn't close properly; outside was a construction site, very noisy. This is the worst hotel I've ever encountered!

I will give them feedback on all platforms!

Oh, by the way! Look at the details, when she initially overcharged me the difference, she had already written down the room number, which was the cheaper room by the pool. This indicates that they had planned to trick us all along and never intended to give me the room I was supposed to have!