Comfort Sphinx Inn

For what we paid, two nights here were totally worth it. The rooftop view was amazing, and the location is a must. Our room was clean and nice, with a pyramid view too. Breakfast was okay for the price, and the reception guys were all kind. They even gave us gifts after checkout.

This was the one nightmare of our Egypt trip. Everywhere else was nice. We arrived at 11pm with our 10-year-old throwing up after the hotel’s driver drove terribly. Every other driver we had in Egypt was fine. They made us pay before checkout, which no other hotel did, then added $20 as a “government tax.” When we challenged it, they called it a “booking fee,” even though we’d booked through booking.com and taxes were included. It felt like they’d stolen $20 from us. They’d already made us unload all our luggage from the shuttle. After we paid in the lobby, they announced, “congrats we upgraded you,” and said the driver would take us to another location 5 minutes away. Our 10-year-old was crying and didn’t want to get back in that driver’s car. I said we didn’t want an upgrade and needed to put the kids to bed, since it was already 11:30pm. They said our original rooms were at the other location too, so we had no choice. We arrived there and said we’d take our bags ourselves because we needed to sleep and didn’t want to wait. They sent us up to the new hotel’s reception on the top floor without helping with the luggage, then 15 minutes later sent us back down to the room. It was midnight. We’d booked two rooms, but they gave us one room with one shower for 7 of us. We were exhausted, so we stayed. The bathroom was dirty, with pee on the toilet seat and in the hole, mold everywhere, and old trash still there. I included a photo of the dark hallway outside our room, which looks like something from a horror film. There weren’t even towels to wash our hands. My husband spent 30 minutes trying to get some at midnight, then received two wet towels for 7 people. Other guests were also looking for towels, and they had no clean ones for anyone. We gave up and tried to sleep through the heavy street and road noise. At 11pm I’d told them we hadn’t eaten all day and needed food. They said food was available on the new location’s rooftop until midnight, but when we arrived they had none, so I had to find food in the streets. They also promised to pack breakfast for our 8am departure, when breakfast started. In the morning my husband went upstairs to collect it, but they said they didn’t do packed breakfasts and their policy didn’t let guests take food out. We barely slept and couldn’t shower or eat. Stay away!

The pyramids are easy to get to from this great location, though the rooms are basic, a bit dated, and comfortable enough. As soon as we arrived, staff tried to sell us tours. Getting around without a driver would be extremely difficult, I admit, but the hotel’s prices are high. On our first day we found a driver for less than half what they wanted to charge. Just be aware, everyone has their hustle. EVERYONE.

The pyramid view isn’t worth the trouble, even though you’ll see it plenty once you visit. When we arrived around 3:30am, receptionist Adbulah said he needed to check my Booking reservation on my phone. Without telling me, he used the app chat to cancel the reservation himself. He said he had to switch our double room to a family room for that night, then have us check out of it and into the double room the next day. Taking my phone and pretending to be me to cancel was completely absurd. The next morning, while I was leaving our luggage at reception, he said his manager had booked the whole hotel for an agency for the rest of our stay and “kicked us out,” without saying anything else. Booking still showed vacancies. He said they’d refund us in dollars, though we’d paid in euros, and that was all. After a lot of arguing, we eventually got our money back from another guy on the evening shift, who acted as if nobody knew anything. Nobody at reception took responsibility, and they wouldn’t tell us the manager’s name. That second guy also tried to charge us for the second day even though we’d checked out at 9am, following the room switch they’d first told us about.