Firstly, the hospitality was pretty awful on first impressions. But this seemed to be a general trend with both staff and locals. The taxi to the hotel costs a max £10 (100Le) After a tiring 6 hour delay and night time flight, we faced a taxi war! Demands began at £65! Finally we got it down to £20. So just a warning, stand your ground and pay max £10 even if they shout 'You are british you can afford it!..'
Due to late check in, I missed out on our first nights accomadation and arrived at 8am. The check in clerks were terrible, very rude telling us to go away and wait for 2hrs, then 1 hour, until our room was ready (despite us paying for the previous night!) This was finally cleared up with the manager and we were allocated a room, which was spacious and clean with a pool view.

The hotel itself is very clean but dated with minimal facilities; small surrounding pool area, no entertainment, and awful food. The pool shape/size and fountains are nice, but the surroundings beds were tightly packed together and very limited by the time we left. We booked All inclusive, but hardly ate. We are not fussy eaters, aged 22 & 25, we didnt expect 5* but this was max. 3*. With chicken sausgaes and mash for breakfast, you can imagine the other choices, which were all repetative and tasteless. Our first breakfast was a bit of a shock. We were also told to pay £3 per glass of ''fresh juice'' which we refused, since a) we were not told it would be an additional cost, and b) it was warm.

As a culture, pushy selling is big in Egypt, Naama Bay is full of insistent and sometimes aggresive shop owners, selling random things and making comments at female tourists. This mentality continues around the pool too! Extremely annoying when trying to relax. You will be approached on average 3 times a day, selling tattoos, perfumes, glass bottles, massages, haircuts! etc etc.

We were extremely ill too, but I think this was down to the water/ice, as a friend at a different hotel got sick too. So take some tablets and avoid their water at all costs! I do not belive this was down to Solymar hygiene but the food was not great quality...

There are some good staff; very funny guy at the pool bar (sorry I forget his name) and the cleaners are helpful and creative with the towels! It was a rough experience, and I wouldn't recommend staying here. Dreams Resort down the road is impressive with great entertainment. (where friend stopped) and there are so many other choices. The location is just outside of Naama Bay (hence the £65 taxi, apparently....)but a limited shuttle bus is free to use, up untill 23.30. Finally, there are no outside eating or drinking areas to enjoy at night except the pool bar which sits about 15 people. Dont bother.

worse holiday experience we ever had,rude personnel and old,dirty rooms. They serve wine from plasticks botels,they lie and ignore customer,they demand tips,they obust kids....Bus to the beach is very litlle and run very some times,so you have to bee quck to get place.Shower in the beach works only some times,so is good to keep some spare water. Ther is no lift so you must be strong lifting pushchair with your baby up the stairs.We wish to back home next day after we arrive.We will never go there again!!!

Myself and my girlfriend have just returned from the sol y mar sharming inn after booking it only a couple of weeks before....
first of all the good points:-
(1) The pool at the hotel was great, it was large, well maintained and plenty of room to both mess around and swim. There was always plenty of sun loungers available even after half past ten in the morning which is unlike some hotels i have previously stayed in.
(2) The staff where really friendly and where always willing to help out and chat.
(3) The rooms where cleaned daily and the cleaners seemed to enjoy making unusual things from the towels, once you attend you will understand.

Now the bad points:-

(1) The all inclusive menu is probaly the worse i have ever had, there are no snacks throughout the day only the breakfast, lunch and dinner options. The actual meals are the same everyday and although it was ok at the beginning of the week you soon grow bored of rice and beef???? Drinks are available but there is an extra charge for some so make sure it is free before you order it. extra priced drinks include fresh juice, cocktails and bottled water.
(2) The evening entertainment consists of somebody attempting to play a keyboard in the reception area whist guests attempt to sing along.
(3) The appearence of the room was ok but the bathroom was abysmal, our sink was hanging of the wall and the bath looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a long time.

Im a firm believer of you make your own holiday and think that this hotel was just ok, ive no major groans but i wont return back. My advice is a week is long enough for a cheap no frills break.

The Sharming Inn was anything but a sharming experience. This is my fifth trip to Egypt and by far the worst.

The sharming is well past its sell by date and needs either a total revamp or knocking down and starting again.

When I was there I(I returned this morning) a guest had £300 stolen from his room, even though the room was locked and the money was in the safe. Management attitude was it was his own fault, so if you have money or other valuables leave them in the large safe in reception.

If you are a single woman expect to be hassled for sexual favours by members of the staff, again i know of two women who had this happen to them, again management attitdue was it was their own fault

The rooms need to be cleaned much more thoroughly, every evening there was I film of dust on the florr nad rust stains in the shower cubicle and toilet (I hope they were rust stains).

The food is mediocre to poor, i ate out most nights (I can highly recommend Onions in Naama). Just ask the taxi guy and he will arrange for you to be taken there and collected when you have eaten. This should cost about LE 50 (£5.00). Meals at onions for 3 courses are about LE 100 (£10.00), on our second visit we were given complimentary melon as they remembered us from the previous night and we had left a generous tip, 10-15 % is about right.

On the positive side most of the staff are friendly and like to chat for a while, although their English sometimes makes this hard work but do persevere for their sakes as they really do try and they only way they can improve is with practice. Another good tip is to learn a couple of Arabic expressions if you can a "please" and "thank you" in Arabic really suprises them and they put in a little more effort for you.

Do try the Shisa before yoy go to bed, this is smoking through a "hubbly bubbly", it's only LE 25 and does relax you at the end of the day. Do remember to take of you shoes as you enter the Shisa area, to my shame I kept forgetting. This is not smoking Has or anything like that but just a very mild relaxant. It never had any effect on me but it is a very relaxing thing to do anyway.

Overall there a re a lot of negatives for the sharming and a bit more effort and more positive attitude by managemnt could correct these and the sharming a cheap but relaxing holiday.