El Karma Aqua Beach Resort 

Strap in and get yourself a coffee because this an in-depth, fair review. Let’s start at the start, get your visa online and change money in Egypt, there is a green machine under the stairs in reception, really easy to use and much better exchange rate than the UK. This hotel is not perfect. There are marks on the walls, there is parts of the footpath missing, but you aren’t paying 5* prices, so why would you expect it? The rooms were massive, nice views of the pool from the balconies. Everything worked as it should, including the air con, we have had much worse in much more expensive hotels!! Our tap fell off our bathroom sink, we reported it to the housekeeper who was on the landing and within an hour it was fixed. We didn’t have to go to reception or chase it up being fixed, it was also fixed properly and we had no further issues with it. There is also a safe in the room, very easy to use. The gardeners are constantly working on the grounds and the staff are very on top of clearing tables, ashtrays, empty cups, bins etc. There is a lot of staff here. One of the pools was closed as they were re-tiling it, was not an issue as plenty of others and the water park. Great that they’re spending money on the hotel. There was also entire blocks of hotels rooms being refitted, so the place is only going to get better. The staffs English is not very good, but much better than my Arabic! They try very hard to communicate despite the language barrier and we could not fault their efforts in this. DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU’RE EXPECTING TO WALK OUT OF THE HOTEL AND WALK SOMEWHERE. An easy check of Google maps shows this before you book. This said my advice would be to avoid the shops directly outside of the hotel, unless you are very good and confident at haggling. We found the best supermarket was a short walk down the road. When we were there it was the one with a canoe outside of, ask for Ali. He was super friendly, a really good laugh and had the best prices. Various animals to look at which the kids loved and his dance moves were very impressive, my wife and kids enjoyed dancing with him. There is a taxi guy in reception who will book you a taxi. Or download Indrive and use that. There is also 24hr security at the front door with an airport scanner. Very hot on not letting people in without wristbands, perfect! We went to the Marina one night for dinner. We ate at Waves, had amazing steaks (including Camel) choose your weight of meat and how you want it cooked, came out on hot stones so you could carry on cooking it if you wanted, very friendly staff and for 7 of us including drinks it was 126GBP. This included 4 of us having the largest camel, fillet and sirloin steaks!! Amazing. Al a carte restaurant, we only ate in the Chinese. We gather it’s the best one from reading other peoples reviews. We throughly enjoyed it. The service was friendly (thanks Amr) the food was fast, hot, fresh and very tasty. Portion sizes a little small, so you may end up in the main buffet afterwards (only my opinion, I eat a lot, everyone else in my party were more than happy)
We then saw Amr around the resort on multiple occasions and Amr would RUN to say hello to us and the kids. He genuinely loves his job and wants the best for every guest. Special mentioned to: -Moumen (the lifeguard at the last pool before the slides start), this guy does not stop. Constantly watching the pool and walking around checking on guests. Emptying the bins, high fiving the kids, throwing the odd ball back and forward with them. Every morning we came down he would help move beds, lay towels out and ensure we had the sun or shade or both. We also watched him rescue a little one. He was in the pool very quickly, so quick in fact he dived in with his phone in his pocket. -Ali Saad (Lifeguard at the aqua park) My daughter lost her solid Gold belly bar during the foam party. After helping us look for over 30mins through foam and water, we gave up. The next day Ali came and found us, he had gone through the filters and FOUND the belly bar. No keeping it for himself, no weighing it in. He found us and gave it back. My daughter burst into tears. He was so friendly, happy and a very good laugh. He would help my daughters out of the rings after they had been on the slides, his help extended to us by tipping us over backwards, something the kids throughly enjoyed watching and found hilarious! Unfortunately he went on his vacation halfway through our stay and was very much missed when he went. However after working 100days in a row, his time off was well deserved. -Dikko (lifeguard at the aqua park) Took a shine to my eldest daughter in the most welcoming way. She absolutely loved the banter with him and his energy is amazing. He has literal Cocker Spaniel energy, it was infectious! He did a TikTok with her. It wasn’t just us, we watched him with other guests who received exactly the same attention and experience. -Mohammed Hassan (Barman at the last pool before the slides. What a lovely man, always smiling despite 18hr days. He learnt all 7 of our drinks and would occasionally bring them over to us without being asked. Was amazing with the kids, more high fives and fist bumps. They could not wait for him to appear each morning so they could say good morning, even before the bar to opening at 10am! -Haitham (in the main buffet) looked after us very well. SO well in fact that if he noticed that the kids hadn’t gone up for food he would bring them food that he had previously seen them eating. He would always seat us and move tables so we could all sit together. He bought two of our girls necklaces which they ensured were on every time we went to eat. He was always happy, attentive and checking we were ok. Even when he was clearly very busy at peak times. Another member of staff who works 100days in a row with the same smile and enthusiasm throughout! These are a few that we had regular interactions with, every single member of every team would always smile, say hello, high five the kids etc. Chefs, managers, buffet staff, lifeguards, gardeners, cleaners, security guard, bar staff. We can’t thank them enough for making our first time in Egypt an incredible one. We will absolutely be back to El Karma. The animation team unfortunately were probably the worst we have experienced at any resort. The evening entertainment was not very good, even for a budget hotel. We opted mostly to be in bed by 11pm and up early to make the most of the amazing weather. However don’t miss the fire show or the foam party. We watched managers provide solutions to guest problems in realtime, guests were not fobbed off and the managers did not hide in their offices. They want to help and deal with issues as soon as they arise. Great to see. All in all if you’re looking for a budget friendly hotel, with caring, attentive staff who genuinely care about guest experience, then I would recommend El Karma to you. Don’t be the person who has champagne taste and lemonade money and then rinse them online. Yes any money is a lot of money right now, but be fair in your expectations.