The Location Hotel

We were sent here after Aura Downtown Hotel told us this was its second branch and blamed a maintenance problem. At check-in, the receptionist seemed completely unaware of our reservation until I gave him the name of the person who had arranged the transfer. Then he suddenly knew what was going on, which made it seem like this was something they did regularly. The place is a single floor in an old, run-down building, not a hotel. It smelled strongly of fresh paint, and they were painting rooms while guests were there. Our room was filthy, in poor condition, and depressing, nothing like the photos or what we thought we’d booked. They then asked us to cancel our original reservation and pay cash again. If this really was Aura Hotel’s second branch, I don’t understand why we had to cancel and pay separately. It felt like a dishonest setup involving both places: advertise decent hotels, then move guests at the last minute to a cheap, terrible building and ask them to pay the same, when they’re too tired or stressed to look elsewhere. We’d just taken an 8-hour bus trip and had an important appointment the next day. By the time we arrived at night, we didn’t have the time or energy to find somewhere else, so we felt trapped. Otherwise, we would have left right away. I knew as soon as I entered the room that I’d write a review about this. Later, we found much better hotels in Cairo for similar prices or even less, which made the whole thing feel even more ridiculous. Don’t book here or trust the story about a “second branch.” This place survives by misleading exhausted travelers.

Nothing worked in the room: the Wi-Fi, tap, door lock, wardrobe, hot water, and light were all broken or unavailable. There was no shower gel or toilet paper, and the elevator was out of order even though the hotel is on the third floor. Whenever I asked them to fix something, nobody paid attention or showed any empathy, and they were extremely rude. The manager has a bad attitude, too. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. Even animals couldn’t live there. 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻 I absolutely don’t recommend this hotel. It’s awful, nothing works, and the staff and manager are very rude. They aren’t even fit to work as cleaners.

The host was amazing and made me feel so welcome in Cairo and Egypt. The staff were friendly, helpful, and kind, and I never wanted for anything. Breakfast was excellent, especially the Egyptian food. They were happy to help with whatever I wanted to see or do, and I learned so much while I was here. I’ll stay here again.

The staff were so welcoming and went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable. The hotel’s activities were great, well priced, and made the trip memorable. It’s in a very central spot, too. I’d stay here again on my next visit to Cairo.