My husband and I stayed at the Brayka Bay Reef Resort end October 2011. The staff (as we have found with all the Egyptian hotels in which we have stayed) are exeptionally helpful and nothing is too much trouble for them.

The beach is very good and there are plenty of beds, but I would agree with other Reviews, in that, they are reserved by towels very early in the morning. Similar with the beds around the pool area. There is, of course, little that staff can do in this situation.

The hotel does look a little 'tired'. The bedrooms (we changed rooms to a higher level) had missing grouting, curtains loose, walls marked here and there - all minor things, but lending to a 'scruffier' impression. This is very unusual for Egypt. All the other hotels we have stayed in have been absolutely immaculate. It,obviously, would not be difficult to rectify.

The above are minor issues, but we were disappointed with the standard of food provided under the All Inclusive package. There was a large salad bar, and pasta counter, but the rest of the food available was very basic and of poor quality. We stayed for two weeks and the main courses consisted of casseroles, mainly vegetables (courgettes/tomatoes/carrotts) with odd pieces of chicken (effectively, a cheap stew!!!). .Variations on this were served each evening. On several evenings unless one wanted pasta/salad, there was nothing else on offer that was edible.

The evening entertainment was poor (we are aware that all hotels offer the warning that entertainment will be 'low key Egyptian'). It consisted of a male singer (occasionally two, one after the other), playing a guitar and using backing tapes. Although both seemed very nice, the choice of songs was archaic, to say the least!

As has been mentioned in other Reviews, a sister hotel is being built of the other side of the bay and if guests at this hotel use Brakya Bay and beach (and sunbeds etc), then it will be impossibly crowded. I would hope that they would use the bay at the other side of the hotel under construction.

Although there are negatives in this comment, we did like the Brakya Bay Reef Resort and the staff were excellent: the cosmetic changes necessary are down to poor management/housekeeping are easily rectified. However, I would suspect that most people on holiday look forward to a good standard and selection of food - this is where the Brakya Bay (in our opinion) needs to made drastic improvements.

Positive points: we have been to Egypt on five occasions and the Brayka Bay has the easiest access into the sea (i.e., straight in off the beach) and is suitable for even the most inexperienced of snorkellers. The range of fish that can be seen in even the shallowest of waters is amazing. Each time we snorkelled we saw fish we had not seen previously: the varieties are absolutely amazing. Our main reason for holidaying in Egypt is for the snorkelling and we were very pleased with this aspect of the Brakya Bay.

The Brakya Bay Reef Resort has excellent staffing, a beautiful location - its own private beach with amazing snorkelling facilities.The cosmetic improvements are simple to solve, but the one serious flaw is the very poor quality of food offered to visitors. If this were radically improved, then it would make a massive difference and encourage visitors to return and to recommend it to others.. The 'star' rating we have given overall (three star) is based primarily on the quality of the food offered.