The Sonesta has now become the Resta Hotel and I must say I was expecting something special for the price - however as explained to me by one of the reception staff - the lack of competition in Port Said lets the management charge what they like! The same principle must also apply to the use of the internet at this hotel where one hour costs LE 44.00 approx. (€6.00). The only other hotel of similar standard seems to be the Helnan and it is even more expensive - I traveled on to Ismailia from Port Said and stayed in a 4 star rated hotel right on the Suez Canal for half the price.

The Sonesta is in a very good location. On the Canal, from your window you can look at the tankers go past, and you can just walk out and walk along the canal on the walkway that gets quite busy (in a good way) at night.

For me that goes a long way to be a reasonable place to stay --and I was fine with being there -- but my family in the end convinced me that the negatives outweighed the advantages. The beds were not too comfortable, the rooms (at least those that we were in) reasonably basic and tired, and in one, the window did not shut properly letting a few mosquitoes in. They ran out of towels one day, forgot to put them in when they did get them whever they did come, and it took some time to get them the next morning as (polite) requests were taken but somehow lost. We had a couple of requests in our stay that were understood by the (excellent) operator but had got jumbled by the time they got to the relevant staff.

The front desk were pleasant and attentive and tried to assist eg when it took ages for the right hire car and driver, ordered from the car desk in the hotel, to turn up. (That mightn't be the hotel's issue.) Breakfast was on the basic side. I can't say whether noise would be a problem at a busy time as it was pretty short of guests when we were there I think.

So none of these were earth shattering issues and they didn't particularly upset us. But the family overall thought this was the least good of quite a few hotels we stayed at in our Egypt trip, so in the end I think it is fair to suggest that if you do go here, you keep your expectations on the medium side.

I've stayed at the Sonesta Port Said a number of times over the last year or so, and I now dread the thought of having to return. The hotel really sums up Port Said - tired, dusty, drab and dated, on the way downhill. The staff are frequently dis-interested, for example refusing to help when the wireless internet they claim exists fails to work . . . again (I've only ever got it working once, and the computers in the 'cyber-cafe' are so dated they don't even have the scripts to run Hotmail etc, so forget about getting on to do any work or check emails).

The rooms are small and worn out. The electrical fittings stuffed behind the bed were hanging out of the wall and didn't look safe. The bathrooms are bare and dirty, with the air conditioing seemingly linked to the kitchens, and a constant smell of deep-fat fryers permeating some rooms. Moving on to the kicthens, every time I've stayed here I've got some form of mild food poisoning, and the food served in the restaurant (they claim there are several different ones but its all one large room with different signs) is bland. The breakfast buffet is not great - they have cereals and pastries etc, but can't ever rustle up any orange juice, instead serving orange cordial with ice made from local water that makes you ill . . . oh dear.

To top it off, you probably won't even get any decent sleep, as the Sonesta seems to be used by locals as the prime venue for weddings/graduation ceremonies/general celebrations, so even on mid-week nights there is often something noisy going on, which usually starts just as you're going to bed, and outside noise isn't exactly kept at bay by the rattling single-glazed windows. Sadly, there aren't really many other alternatives in Port Said, something which the Sonesta is well aware of and makes no effort to improve. However, I did spend one night at the nearby Helnan, which seemed to be (marginally) better.

Date: Mid April 2007
Author: tcliapis , Stationed in Helioupolis Cairo - Egypt

Well Port said is a nice looking and Interesting Cosmopolitan harbor with a great market and bazaar area BUT unfortunately also a TOTALY Dirty (as city) place!!!

This luck of “tidiness” limited my overall impression from there.

Spend my time there in Port Said Sonesta Hotel a just above average 4 Stars with the basics (secured with a pool efficient room service good restaurant).

Only minus in the hotel was the absolute lack of a POOL BAR.

Generally 3 memorable days there because of friends in the area!