Not very nice at all. Sheets on the bed were not clean, bathrooms were pretty gross. Only upside is the location and cheap price. I think there are better options in the area.

I stayed here with my partner for two nights. We got a sea-view room, and in fact the location was the only nice thing about it. It was $27/night but you get what you pay for : a not-so clean place, no pillow cases on sweat-stained pillows (ech), no wi-fi in the rooms, and a rude manager.

To top it off, I forgot something in my room and when I called, I was given the run-around: Call back tomorrow at before 11am when the manager is here. I did. But the manager wasn't there. Call back tomorrow after 11am. I did. The manager had just left. Call back tomorrow before 11am. I did. No one could help. The manager wasn't there again. Also, no one spoke English and my Arabic was too basic, but they told me the manager spoke English so not to worry. I finally called again. I got the manager but he didn't speak English. He put a woman on the phone who started to yell at me. I would never stay at the Union Hotel again.

I spent a week here while attending a conference at the Library of Alexandria. The conference organizers pointed us towards many of the higher priced hotels in Alex (Sofitel, Metropole, Windsor Palace, etc) but I'm thrilled to have found the Union instead. First, and foremost, the room was $25 a night (during peak season!). and right on the Corniche. That includes breakfast, and wifi in the hotel lobby. An absolutely unbeatable deal, especially with neighboring hotels running $100-$150 a night (and charging extra for breakfast and wifi). My room was clean, contained an ensuite bathroom, was of a comfortable size, and if I leaned way out my window, I could see the Mediterranean Sea. In the lobby, there's a cooler where you can buy reasonably priced pop, beer and water. The staff speaks some English, but I'd recommend taking an Arabic phrasebook with you just to help cover your bases. Behind the hotel there's a major shopping district with proper stores, smaller vendor stalls, restaurants and just about anything you might need.

Of course, no place is all sunshine and roses, and there were a few minor issues I had with my stay. The beds aren't overly comfortable, and the air conditioners are a joke. You can hold your hand up to it and barely feel anything coming out. As a result (during the Summer), you'll want to open your windows to catch a room-cooling breeze. However, this lets in a ton of noise from the nearby waterfront. When I was there, folks in the apartment building across the street also stayed up past midnight most nights, adding to the noise. If you're a light sleeper, earplugs will be your friend. The water in the shower was always cold, but that actually felt kind of nice in the summer heat. Finally, as recommended here, I called about a month in advance to make my reservation. However, when I arrived at the hotel, they had no record of my reservation, and were booked completely full. This is not what you want to hear at 3 in the morning after flying halfway around the world! Fortunately, I was able to get a room for that night at a nearby hotel, and the Union was able to accommodate me from the next night onward. They even agreed to the price I had been originally quoted.

So, in summation, I would definitely stay here again, but I'd call a day or two before my arrival to verify.

In central Alexandria. You don't often get such a great sea view at such an affordable price! The rooms were clean and nice. Only bad thing was that there was no hot water at the time of our visit.