We arrived at the Shedwan Garden hotel... or the 'prison cell' on 6th april 2010 and were horrified to be told by the unhelpful reception staff, that the hotel is in the process of shutting down for renovation! This meant that almost all of the facilities that had made us want to come to the Shedwan Garden were in fact shut! That includes the health club and gym, all but two of the restaurants, and the entire animation program such as beach games and nighttime shows. This meant that there was absoloutely nothing to do at night other than sit in the lobby and gawp at the atrocious clothing of the numerous russians staying at the hotel! We were initially allocated a room at the front of the hotel which overlooked the busy, unpleasant main road, the room was also dark, dingy, and smelt strongly of cigarette smoke despite a no smoking sign on the door. We then asked them if we could have a different room with a better view and possibly a balcony. After a few hours they showed us our new room... Oh dear!... Although i admit that the view was much better and we had a balcony, i have to say i have stayed in better youth hostels! there was one plug socket in the entire room which was meant for the fridge so to charge our phones or use the hairdrier we had to make the decision whether to unplug the television or the fridge! In addition to this there was a constant smell of urine/sewerage in the bathroom and when we opened our door to go onto the corridor which overlooked wasteland with corregated iron shacks! This meant that we got no sleep because the wind made the corregated iron sheets clatter and created an unbearably loud clanging sound! We felt that our room was totally insecure, even the safety deposit box was missing, which made us think that it had possibly been stolen as the door into our room didn't lock easily and even when it was locked i was fairly sure that my sixteen year old daughter could have kicked it down had she tried! The food was... well... dreadful. All the tables and cutlery were.. sticky! all the food warmers and toasters were greasy and could of done with being replaced. One lunchtime when eating around the pool I went to open a metal food warmer only to be subjected to a painful electric shock! this was the final straw for us and at the welcome meeting that follwed, i begged our holiday rep Mohab to move us to a better hotel. He initially offered to move us to the 'Grand Resort' for £50 each and we agreed but then when he came back later that evening he said that there was no longer any availability but that he could get us into the Siva Grand Beach the following day however it was going to be £100 each! by this point we were so desperate to get out of the Shedwan that we agreed. On the morning of our departure even the waiters and porters who were reasnobly friendly, cheered and seemed happy for us that we were escaping. When we asked them if they knew anything about the Siva Grand Beach they checked to make sure the managers wern't nearby but then openly admitted that it was a much better hotel than the Shedwan, and they gave us the impression that the Shedwan had a bad reputation in Hurghada. We believe that the Shedwan may have been awarded its supposed '4 star' status a VERY long time ago however it is definitely past it now and we would advise anybody who has booked to stay here in the near future to alter your accomodation before you leave the UK, as we feel we may have been ripped off by the travel company in Egypt. We would happily recommend the Siva grand beach as we found it be brilliant. Thankgod we only spent two days at the Shedwan Garden hotel, we wouldn't wish it on anybody!
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