Xmas 2010
Arrived Dec 13th at 7.30pm. We walked to the desk, handed them our paperwork and suddenly the manager appeared and demanded £40 for the Xmas dinner. I refused to pay him and he again demanded it and wouldn't give us the room key. Told us we would have to wait till the rep came at about 8.30. after about 15 mins we took out our mobiles and threatened to call the agent in the UK. He finally gave us the key.
The following day he phoned the room and told me to come downsatairs and give him the 40 quid. I did go downstairs and was ready to have a go at him. Having told him I hadn't even seen the menu he took me in his office to find the menu. I have never seen such a messy room before and after 5 mins he couldn't find it so I left.
We made the HUGE mistake of booking half board. The food was, at best, disgusting.
Day 1 dinner was... Soup, Egyptian beans, potatoes, rice and meat in a gravy. Dessert was orange, banana or swiss roll. Day 2 was the same but swap meat for battered fish. Day 3, same again but swap fish for chicken. Day 4...... Repeat Day 1 and so on. The food at its hottest was warm and the veg looked and tasted tinned or frozen. We only had 5 meals before we decided to eat out every night even though we had paid HB.
Reception staff were rude and never smiled. When I asked them to phone the rep for me all of a sudden they couldn't speak english, didn't know who he was and didn't have a phone number for him. I gave them the number and they wanted 5LE to make the call then said no answer. Same happened next day. When I rang him on my mobile he answered within 2 rings. Strange eh?
Rooms are small and we had to pull the bed into the middle of the room so we could open the drawers and get into the wardrobe. Balcony doors didn't lock. Shower curtain was old but was changed after a week for a new one but the hooks weren't changed so the curtain kept falling off.
Because of the location of the hotel its very loud with the traffic and horns honking. The whole hotel could do with a good clean.
They hung up a board outside which read 'Happy New Year 2009' When they were told by my neighbour what year it was they took off the 9, so for the rest of my stay it read ' Happy New Year 200' :-)
For about 4 days the G button in the lift didn't work so we had to get out on the 1st floor and walk down.
The good points are the pool on the roof and our maids, who seemed to be the only nice smiley people in the hotel.
Shocking hotel with awful food and wouldn't even want to walk past it again.

The trouble started already on arrival - the manager wanted us to pay also for an "obligatory" x-mas dinner, which was originally not included in the booking. We had later another issue and in both cases the problem was only solved by involving our booking agent. The hotel itself could be standing anywhere - do you expect to find paintings from Tuscany in a hotel in Luxor? The bathroom was good - besides the fact of a cheap dreadful shower curtain that kept falling, broken waste basket and toilet brush. The remote of the TV was broken as well. The air conditioning was from stone age and loud as a diesel engine. Besides the manager also all other personal was rather unfriendly and not helpful. They did not even help in arranging a trip with a public bus. In total the worst hotel experience in 25 years of self-organized travel.

I booked in August 2010 via Teletext Holidays for a holiday for my friend and me for nine days half-board at the Emilio over Christmas. Unfortunately the heavy snow prevented my friend from travelling from North England down to Gatwick Airport so I had to travel on holiday ALONE to Luxor. It was my first trip to Egypt and I would not have chosen to travel by myself but I took a deep breath and went to Gatwick to see if indeed I would get to take off. So travelling to Luxor and staying at the Emilio turned out fine. The hotel staff were friendly and helpful. The first room I was given was a Nile view but unfortunately the sliding glass door on the balcony didn't lock so I had to try a couple more rooms to find one with a balcony door that locked. Hopefully they have fixed those sliding glass doors now. I ended up with one on the fifth floor, still a Nile view which was great. The room was so clean, comfortable, the air conditioning worked and the housekeeping staff cleaned every day, and amusingly they shaped the clean towels into clever designs on the bed each day - swan, boat, cowgirl using my straw hat and scarf. I can also recommend eating dinner at the hotel because the food was so fresh and tasty, so I am so glad we did half board, especially since I ended up going alone. Otherwise I would have been anxious having to go out alone for dinner each night. It was such good value and good food and I felt completely safe in the hotel. I ate everything, including salads and I didn't get ill. The swimming pool and cafe on the roof is worth a visit too. Spa treatments were available and I treated myself to a pedicure which I can recommend too. The waiters in the restaurant were friendly except one was too friendly, or smarmy, but I guess he had other ideas about a woman travelling alone but I think some middle-aged women go to Luxor for other reasons than the history! The hotel is in walking distance to the Luxor Temple, Luxor Museum, Mummification Museum and the ferry across the Nile, and oh yes, close to the bazaar for shopping. I found an internet cafe next to the Nefertiti Hotel nearby which was cheaper than internet at the hotel, but that was a small thing overall.

Having read the reports on tripadvisor I book the Emilio for the view of the temple and its city centre location. On reflection the state of the hotel is not worth the view. You will be overlooking Luxor temple if you get the right room and the tourist and local markets are right on your door step. You will also overlook one of the busiest crossroads in luxor. The traffic noise is relentless.

The Hotel Itself is to say the least drab dull and very much uncared for, general up keep and cleanliness is poor and the plumbing is ill maintained, my bathroom made loud noise constantly for the full week. The so called Disco in the basement is filthy.

The food is poor don't eat dinner here there's much better to be found further afield. The breakfast is also poor.

The staff in the common areas are at best disinterested and can be almost rude at times having said that the cleaning staff were pleasant and helpful.