Tia Heights Makadi Bay Hotel

“ More low 4 star than 5 star. Biggest minus is the food. Limited choice, especially in meat compared to 5 star hotels in Sharm. If you have children, don't expect chips/french fries. If you are staying on the upper floor in one of the villas you may experience low shower pressure at peak times.
Good bits. Great beach, shallow & sandy. No problem getting a lounger/shader.
Friendly staff. The odd pound/Euro works wonders but not compulsory. Aqua park next door. If AI, you get one free meal in one of the a la carte rests, and then 50% off after that. Which given the limited choice in the main, was a good & cheap alternative. (Beer/wine/spitit is free in A la carte but water isn't). Entertainment was at least professional, & varied. Biggest plus was the price. Very good value.One return airfare by budget airline was more than AI for 1 week at easter. So if the hotel keeps the price this competetive, I would certainly recommend it, as this outways the minus's mentioned. Lastly, there did appear to be a lot more english people around than mentioned in earlier blogs, although vastly still in the minority.

“ Tia Heights is good value for money and we had a lovely holiday. We stayed in a Dune Room which was spacious and clean. All the staff at the hotel are lovely and go out of their way to ensure you have a good time. There's plenty to do and the facilities are good, including a lovely indoor pool for an early morning swim and a gym. The food is fairly average but I have no complaints due to the price we paid.

“ Top Tip: Banana boats and other water sports at the hotel next door are very good value. A trip to Luxor is a must - a fascinating day out and only about three-and-a-half hours away.

“ This was our 3rd visit to this hotel over the past 6 years and it gets better each time. The design and ambiance always makes us feel that we are really on holiday.
The staff are exceptional. Always very attentive, smartly dressed and will help in any way possible, not just managers but general staff from towel attendants to the cleaners.
Food is always an issue in Egypt but from numerous trips to different hotels in the region, for taste, variety and value for money, this hotels supplies all you need.
If we were honest, the rooms and decor are a bit tired and you can see where many patch-up jobs have been done. However, saying this they are perfectly adequate and the staff will always do what they can to fix any problems. Face it, you don't go to Egypt to spend all your time in a hotel room!

“ Top Tip: An excellent sandy beach where you can walk straight into the sea and snorkel around some small but very pretty reefs. This is a very rare treat in Egypt.
You can walk very freely along the coast line and view the other hotels and jetty's which can be lovely early evening as the sun sets.
The hotel has it's own jetty which organise some very good trips to Paradise island and deep water snorkelling. Highly recommended but the sea can be very cold in the winter months. We always take our shorty wetsuits so you can stay in the water longer.
In front of the hotel, a new water park has opened at an additinal cost of 10EUR for children and 20EUR for adults. Didn't go in but looked through the fence and it looked very good.

“ A full detailed complaint is being prepared for this trip. Hotel is advertised as 5* - it most certainly is not, more in line with a very low 3* with facilities to match. Also it is advertised as All Inclusive - it is NOT and the rep confirms this. Website states fruit juice and room safe, no, there was not a room safe. Fresh fruit juices you have to PAY for or drink the watered down orange juice or concentrated mango, apple juice that was on every single morning, lunch and evening meal!! You PAY for water from the bar and PAY to use pool/snooker tables and to play mini golf ! Ice cream you have to PAY for or you can go upstairs and get really cheap and nasty supermakret coloured ice with no flavour for free !!These are basic facilities and should not be charged for. A la carte voucher provided for one restaurant per stay - you have to PAY for that also or eat for the very simple basic set menu for it to be free. The whole experience is cheap and nasty and we found most english people complaining to each other about these costs and felt cheated. We certainly felt cheated and misled by the agent and we are a very well travelled staying in 5* hotels around the world and believe me, this is the worst ever.

Arrived 24 Dec and could not get a bath as there was no hot water but as it was late, just washed and went to bed. Xmas morning, still no hot water, it was luke-warm, similar to what you would bath a new born baby in! Called the reception and a plumber arrived. After breakfast went back to room and water still no better so called them again, plumber arrived and said it was hot ! His manager came with supervisor and he insisted the water was hot - still no hot water, we were shivering under the shower. In the end, General Manager, Mike was called and he and his wife came along to our room with housekeeping manager and confirmed this water was not hot at all. Bathroom was filthy beyond belief, it was full of grime on the overflow in the bath, the tiles were broken all over and there were things growing out of the mould. This was DISGUSTING, we were cringing and this was our xmas day ! Promised on Boxing day we would be moved to another room and as we were on a trip could not do this until afternoon. So now it is 27th December and we had to call the GM again down to reception as we had not been moved yet. We had packed ready for this. So all of the above people and cleaning team start to walk around the site looking for a room that was passably clean to the GM's wife, Trisha, who is a very nice lady. 2nd room was not as mouldy or as bad but it was deemed not clean by Trisha. 3rd room we had hot water and it was HOT, as one would expect it to be. Great stuff. So we stook on the patio for best part of 2 hours whilst they cleaned the room, changed single beds around to double and cleaned the bathroom. On bathing that night we noticed when you let the water out of the bath, it backs up from the drain under the sink on the floor and floods the bathroom with dirty water. This was reported to GM yet again when plumber was sent out again. he confirmed that was a problem with waste and overflow and we never saw him again - we left on 2 January - so all that time our floor was flooding - this is a health hazard.

We had an army of ants coming out of the new room from under the fridge and after killing about 60 of them, reinforcement legions appeared on a daily basis - they even made it into the bed ! It got so bad that we became so friendly with the GM and his wife as we seemed to have major problems with almost every aspect of this holiday. And all the problems should not have happened, all are part of their cost cutting exercise and projecting a false economy.

Hotel was predominately Russian - whom appear on a whole to be rude, ignorant and pile their food up on the plates as if they were never going to eat again - most of the food was left on the plates and this was noticeable on the tables were Russians were sitting. Disgusting site to see.

Heating in the room did not work at all but we got to the point that we dare not complain again. Speaking to people at the airport were all saying the same, that there room had only warm water and they shivered when it came to showering.

Sign clearly said that the pool was heated - it was not, it was ice cold - even the hardy Russians could not go in it.

Only one cocktail choice per day, you could not have any other cocktails. You could however have as many of that one cocktail that you liked but they were unable to offer a different one until the next day- absolutely shocking.

Manhole covers outside our room were broken and upturned, no lighting so had to walk the long route at night or we would have ended up with broken bones - again this is beyond words. I have taken pictures of all of these.

The beach bar opens at 1.00pm daily - we were first in the queue on 2 days and each time, the food was cold. Roast potatoes, macaroni/pasta, liver &oniond, Zuccini, all straight out of the kitchens and all cold - it was inedible. After that we ate in the restaurant.

Tea making facilities in the room was apparently a special thing to have (GM allowed us to have some because of the problems). We only drink tea but they gave you more coffee every day on the tray and never once refilled the tea bags even though that was the only thing that ever went - why on earth replenish coffee when no-one is drinking it. We had to pinch them from the restaurant.

We could go on but I am actually getting bored re-living it all - overall, it is a nightmare hotel, never in all my years have we come across this low level facility that is advertised as 5*. It is by the far the worst hotel we have ever staying in. There is nothing nice to say about anything to be honest except, Gabba, Mohammed and the young lady on the bar, they were really nice people but other than that, it has nothing going for it but oh so much potential.

You would be mad to consider this hotel, false advertising and most certainly not ALL INCLUSIVE - the GM blames the owner but I wonder, it could be just a ploy to not accept responsibility. DISGUSTING, FILTHY, CHEAP, 3*, BROKEN TILES, UPTURNED MAN HOLE COVERS AND LOTS OF THEM, HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES IN THE BATHROOMS, NO HEATING - IT IS A DIABOLICAL SITE. the agent should fly out there as a matter of urgency under cover to go through what we have and see for himself - surely the reputation of Travel Republic is at stake here?

Never again.

“ Top Tip: Stay somewhere else, really, it is a shambles !!