Brassbell

The apartment itself was beautiful and clean, but when the power failed, the support was incredibly slow. It went out around 7 am. I messaged on WhatsApp at 8 and was told it would be fixed right away, so we went out for the day. I checked again while we were away and was told the electricity was back. When we returned at midnight, the apartment was still completely dark, and nobody had come by or contacted us. Security said the power would stay off until the next day, and the staff had left without updating us or arranging another place. I had to make a scene before anyone took the problem seriously. They eventually offered us a smaller apartment in another location, so we had to move our bags at 1 am. My grandmother is elderly and has asthma, and needing her medication and access to the bathroom made the situation exhausting for her. I understand there was a technical issue, but the lack of care and communication was unacceptable. I’ll be asking for compensation.

This felt more like a hostel than a hotel: the rooms are on the third floor of an office building that’s been converted. The Iconia Hotel is down a back street. Our card didn’t work at check-in, and for three days we had to ask staff for it. We also went five days without room cleaning. On the first night, we came back and found nobody at reception. We texted, and someone arrived about 20 minutes later. The stay felt very random. If I hadn’t already booked, I would have gone somewhere else.

We chose the Marriott location because we needed to be there every day for a wedding, so being moved elsewhere threw off the whole reason for booking. Just half an hour before our flight to Cairo, the host said that location was closed for maintenance and transferred us to Brassbell Zamalek, describing it as an upgrade. The apartment was actually smaller and cheaper than the one we had paid for. They gave us chocolates and discounted one night as an apology, which we appreciated. The staff were polite and tried to help, but the apartment had a strong cigarette smell even with the windows open. A column beside the bed made it awkward to move around, street noise continued past 3-4am, and our repeated requests for a hair dryer went unanswered. It was a disappointing experience that affected our trip.

For the price, the rooms get 10/10: spacious and quiet. The central location gets 9/10 and was quiet too. Staff were friendly and helpful, also 9/10.