Fort Arabesque Resort Spa and Villas

We stayed at Fort Arabesque in Hurghada for seven days and, unfortunately, our experience was extremely disappointing. The biggest issue was that all three adults in our party became seriously unwell during the holiday, suffering severe stomach cramps, persistent diarrhoea and nausea. We lost approximately five days of our seven-day holiday because of illness and had to obtain medication from a pharmacy in Hurghada. My husband and daughter have now recovered, but I am still unwell 11 days later and am currently awaiting the results of stool samples. I have IBD, so the ongoing symptoms are particularly concerning and I am now being medically investigated. We cannot say definitively what caused the illness, but we were concerned by a number of hygiene and food-related issues we personally witnessed, including lukewarm buffet food and dirty cups being used at the pool bars. We also found the response from hotel reception when we raised our concerns very disappointing, with little apparent urgency or concern. The hotel itself is in a beautiful location and there are some lovely aspects to the resort, but for us, those positives were completely overshadowed by becoming seriously ill and losing the majority of our holiday. I would strongly encourage anyone considering staying here to research recent guest experiences carefully and consider the food hygiene and illness concerns before booking. This was supposed to be a relaxing seven-day holiday. Instead, we spent most of it extremely unwell, and I have returned home still suffering symptoms.

Fantastic 2 week stay as a newly retired couple. Staff made a great holiday GREAT. Whole hotel, pool, eateries were spotlessly clean. Room cleaned well every day. Food in main buffet restaurant was fresh, varied and piping hot. The Thai live station was a real treat. Indian, pizza and bbq stations daily too. Mr Whippy type ice cream on tap at every meal, even breakfast! The Greek restaurant is authentic and was a lovely change from the main restaurant. Drinks at every bar were decent sometimes had to ask for smaller measures of alcohol. The Club 159 bar has a chilled relaxed vibe with outstanding night time views across the bay. Sunset pool is lovely and gets bathtub warm by late afternoon, only issue here is not enough umbrellas to provide day-long shade for all beds. On that note beds are plentiful and pool guys happy to help by moving them around and raising umbrellas. Some folk were down early to bag a prefered bed (including us early risers) but beds were easy enough to find throughout the day if you didn't fuss which pool or exact palm tree you wanted to be at. The Adult Jungle pool was amazing and once we found it (after not getting enough shade at the Sunset pool on day 2) we never left. Mohammed the pool guy there was so friendly and helpful we looked forward to seeing his cheery smile each day. Ali on the bar at the adult jungle pool was top notch and absolutely does make the best iced coffees (as he proudly claims) Final stsff shout out to Aymam and especially Ali in the lobby bar who were also unfailingly cheerful and friendly. So many positives to this adults only section of this hotel that we will likely return at some point. Wandered through the family sections and thought they looked great - massive, clean pool and surrounds with plenty beds and shades. So negatives - very few - lack of umbrellas at Sunset pool, beach towel exchange system is overly complicated, adults only bar in East Bay not enforced (this last didn't bother us too much as we were West Bay and just over for a few drinks) adults only pool areas not well signed so lots of kids and wee families mistakenly wander in and have the disappointment/embarrassment of being guided (politely) away. Finally more care needs to be taken of the coral at the hotel beach, we as careful and experienced snorklers found ourselves walking on it before we realised as we made our way into the water because again it is not well.signed nor roped off and lots of floating (and sunken) litter around it. On the whole this is a 9.75 out of 10 hotel and we would recommend it to couples and families, something and someplace for everyone.

Nice place and friendly staff, most of all the Shisha man very available. Everyone can find their space thanks to all activieties available from the gym to massages snorkling or diving.