Jaz Sharks Bay

We came to jaz sharks bay for a relaxing and chilled out holiday and that’s exactly what we got, no extreme noise when not needed! Buckle in for a long review as I’ve heard lots of people complaining around the hotel and I just want to give an honest and thorough review🤞🏻

CHECK IN: We checked in pretty late (around 10pm) and were told they would bring us some food to the rooms as we had been travelling - which was sandwiches, fries and yoghurt. Very appreciated after a long journey! The rooms were spacious, clean and bed was very comfortable however, I would say pretty basic which is why I would choose 4* rather than 5*.

STAFF: The staff were absolutely amazing and a huge credit to the hotel. I do think it’s the service which bumps this hotel upto a 4 star for us! A huge shout out to Abdo on the bar who completely made our holiday, he goes above and beyond always making sure you have everything you need and even remembering what you’re drinking so he can get them ready before you even have chance to ask! Very hardworking and never seems to stop🩷 Also, a special shoutout to our cleaner for room 301 - Ahmed, amazing towel creations and so so friendly and helpful, always checking out r had everything we needed! Lastly, Amir from the entertainment team is amazing - we could not believe he has only been there 2 months. He’s a natural and gets everyone involved and informative of everything going on🤩

LOCATION: This is probably the thing that lets the hotel down and it seems to be in the middle of nowhere so you’re unable to walk anywhere and need to get taxis. However, things are a close drive and the hotel are great at organising taxis for return trips. The sister hotel is a shuttle bus away (runs every hour), beach is gorgeous! Just beware there are no shops or anything around there so take snacks etc!!

VALUE: I feel for what we paid for this holiday the whole experience was great! We always have to travel in the school holidays as I’m a teacher and usually spend ALOT more than we did for this holiday

FOOD: I wasn’t keen on the breakfast options so we just waited and had the croissants around pool. Lots of reviews seem to slate the food, however if you are the type of person who likes to try new things you will not be able to complain! My partner is very fussy and struggled to eat much on evenings (however there’s always fries and some type of grilled meat/chicken that he could have). The chefs are amazing and are always checking whether you are enjoying it. If you tell them you don’t like anything they will literally go out back and make you something else - you definitely don’t get that kind of service at other 4 star hotels we have been to!! The snack bar by the pool is brilliant - burgers mozzarella sticks and pizza🫶🏼

ENTERTAINMENT: Minimal things in the day but still always something! There’s a big gap with nothing which could be fixed with just leaving music playing when entertainment team are in their break. There is entertainment on every night but sometimes it is very short and then nothing from 10-12 :( Lots were also very repetitive, every night dance show and then some type of instrument playing. The Saturday night entertainment was great and then a karaoke night where everyone got involved was also great!! There’s one member of the entertainment team who just stands behind the booth shouting “clap clap” every now and then, if she actually came around and got people more involved this would improve the nights and also encourage the other in the team more!

OVERALL: We had a great chilled out experience. If I was wanting to do more I probably would visit nearer to the centre where there’s more going on and things within walking distance. Staff are amazing and hotel staff try to fix things as soon as anything is mentioned! For example people were unhappy with entertainment for the kids missing and the next day they had activities for them straight away, some didn’t like the food and got food cooked for the separately instead of buffet and some also mentioned how the entertainment ended too early and then they made sure music was on later and karaoke etc.

Thank you jaz sharks bay🫶🏼

Honest Review – Very Disappointing Experience

First of all, I can’t say this loudly enough: in my opinion, this hotel is much more suited to couples looking to relax than families with children.

We arrived two weeks ago as a couple without children. I’m not normally someone who complains, and I always try to be fair, but unfortunately there were a number of issues during our stay.

On arrival, the staff were very friendly and took us to our room. However, the key for the electricity kept tripping, meaning we couldn’t properly use the room. We spoke to reception, who sent an employee to have a look. He tried several things to fix it, including putting tissue into the electrical fittings, which I was not comfortable with. I asked if we could move rooms, but was told there were no spare rooms available. As a result, we had to sleep in a room that was well into the 30°C range without proper air conditioning. Thankfully, the problem was eventually fixed the following day.

I went diving for three days, leaving my wife at the hotel so she could enjoy the sun. During this time, she had her hair done by the hotel salon. She felt she had been overcharged, but accepted this. Unfortunately, the situation became worse when she had a reaction to the hair extensions and asked the salon for help removing them. She wasn’t looking for a refund; she simply wanted help getting them removed. What concerned us was that the main concern seemed to be whether she would pay for the removal, and she was ultimately charged for having them taken out. This left us very disappointed with the way the situation was handled.

Once my diving was finished, we were hoping to simply relax and enjoy the rest of our holiday together. However, we quickly noticed how limited the entertainment was.

The daytime entertainment seemed particularly limited, and there were children around the pool who appeared bored and were having to find their own entertainment. When we spoke to the entertainment team, we were told that the hotel has a small budget for entertainment and that they were doing the best they could with what they had. I appreciate that this isn’t necessarily the staff’s fault, and I have to say that the lower-level staff themselves were very friendly and did everything they could to make guests feel welcome.

The evening entertainment was another disappointment. During our 14-day stay, we saw the same acts repeated several times. For example, a man spinning performed around four times and the belly dancer appeared around four times as well. Personally, I became bored with seeing the same entertainment repeatedly. The music quiz was probably the best evening entertainment during our stay.

The food was another issue. I am a fussy eater myself, but I also noticed children struggling to find food they wanted to eat. I understand that we were visiting another country and I travel a lot, so I don’t expect everything to be exactly like home. However, I have never experienced a hotel where there seemed to be so little straightforward food available for children, such as chicken nuggets and similar options.

We were told that guests could speak to the head chef a day in advance, and to be fair, he would try to help where possible. However, I have a seafood allergy, and I was particularly concerned about cross-contamination. Seafood was placed alongside other meats and foods, with people using different serving spoons and moving them between dishes. Because of my allergy, I did not feel comfortable eating much of the food because of the potential risk.

I could continue with other issues, but I think I’ve made my point.

What I found most disappointing was that several other families we met during the holiday felt similarly frustrated and were also looking forward to leaving. Interestingly, on our final day, there was a noticeable change because senior management were present, and things seemed much better. However, after we left, we stayed in contact with some of the people we had met who were still staying at the hotel, and they told us that things soon returned to how they had been before.

For me, the hotel really needs to decide what type of holiday it wants to provide. If it is intended primarily as a couples’ resort for adults looking to relax, then I think it could be much more suitable for that market. But if it is going to actively cater for families, then I believe the children’s food options and entertainment need significant improvement.

Would I return?

Honestly, no. Even if I was offered the holiday for free, I wouldn’t choose to return. I normally finish a holiday wishing I could stay longer, but on this occasion I was genuinely relieved to be heading home to the UK.

One final point: I would also advise guests to think carefully about posting negative reviews while still staying at the hotel. During our stay, we felt there was considerable pressure to remove negative feedback unless it was positive. I can’t speak for everyone, but that was certainly our experience.

The staff working at the hotel deserve credit because many of them were genuinely friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the problems appear to be much higher up and relate to the facilities, management decisions, entertainment budget and the overall direction of the hotel.

This was supposed to be a relaxing holiday, but unfortunately it turned into a holiday where we were counting down the days until we could go home.

Absolutely — I’d add it near the end so it makes clear you’re pursuing the matter formally without making the review sound like it’s only about compensation.

⭐ Extremely disappointing – would not return

Unfortunately, our experience at this hotel was awful from start to finish. We have been to Sharm El Sheikh six times and have loved every previous holiday. This was by far our worst experience.

❌ Main problems

• Cleanliness: The cleanliness throughout the hotel was questionable and nowhere near the standard we expected.
• Food: The food was extremely disappointing — very little flavour, poor quality and almost no variety that we genuinely enjoyed. I cannot remember the last time I had a good meal inside the resort. At times, it honestly reminded me of prison food.
• Pool: Some of the pool tiles were sharp and appeared misplaced. I actually cut one of my toes while using the pool.
• Health concerns: Both my partner and I experienced ear problems during the holiday, which left us concerned about the cleanliness and maintenance of the pool. I cannot say for certain that the pool caused this, but it certainly raised concerns for us.
• Entertainment: Extremely poor. The equipment consisted of an old laptop and speaker, and the entertainment itself was very limited.
• Pool atmosphere: During the busiest hours, around 12pm–3pm, there was often no music despite construction noise in the background. After 3pm, the entertainers would sometimes come out, dance for one song and then leave. The music afterwards was more like funeral music than holiday entertainment!
• Gym: Very basic, which we could accept, but the air conditioning was not working and the room was too small to comfortably train in.
• Management: The managers and supervisors came across as rude and dismissive. We felt that our complaints were not properly listened to or taken seriously.
• Customer service: We repeatedly tried to get help but felt that nobody genuinely wanted to resolve our problems.

🏖️ The beach / hotel description

One of our biggest issues was what we believed we were booking compared with what we actually received.

The pictures and description gave us the impression that the hotel had the beautiful beach and facilities shown online. In reality:

• The beach was at the sister hotel.
• We had to take a shuttle bus for around 15 minutes.
• Access was through a side gate in an area that felt more like a workers' entrance.
• The sister hotel had the facilities and atmosphere we believed we were originally booking.
• Our actual hotel felt completely different.

We reported this to Loveholidays and were advised to speak to the hotel about potentially changing hotels.

We raised this with management on our second day, explaining how unhappy we were. Unfortunately, we were simply told to go back to Loveholidays and that there was nothing the hotel could do. We felt nobody was willing to make any genuine effort to help.

👎 Customer relations

The customer relations manager, Abeer, regularly approached us asking for our honest opinions about the hotel. I was completely honest because I genuinely wanted the hotel to understand its problems.

However, afterwards other members of staff would approach us asking what our issue was. This made us feel uncomfortable and as though our private complaints had been passed around the hotel. At times, the situation felt quite confrontational.

The eventual attempt to resolve everything was a small wrapped selection of fruit. Unfortunately, even the bananas provided were mouldy. This certainly did not feel like a genuine resolution to the problems we had raised.

⭐ Staff who deserve recognition

It wasn't all of the staff. There were a handful of genuinely lovely people:

• Abdo – Bar staff: Absolutely fantastic. Friendly, hardworking and extremely good at his job.
• Mutfasa – Cleaner: Very nice and clearly tried his best with what he was provided by the hotel.
• Amir – Entertainment: The only member of the entertainment team who we found genuinely helpful and approachable.

These members of staff deserve recognition because they were a pleasure to deal with.

😔 Overall experience

There were plenty of other British guests staying at the hotel who we became friendly with, and several shared very similar concerns. Knowing we were not the only guests unhappy with the experience says a lot.

I have a very stressful and demanding job and came on this holiday needing a break, relaxation and a chance to switch off. Instead, I have come home feeling more stressed, unhappy and exhausted than when I left.

A holiday should leave you feeling refreshed. Unfortunately, ours left us feeling miserable.

I am currently in the process of pursuing a complaint and seeking a partial refund/compensation because I do not believe the holiday we received reflected what we paid for or what was advertised to us.

Overall, both my partner and I hated our experience at this hotel. The biggest issue was that problems were repeatedly raised but never seemed to be properly resolved, and we felt that the senior management simply did not care enough to make things better.

For the amount of money a holiday to Sharm El Sheikh costs, this was the worst hotel experience I have ever had.

I would strongly advise anyone considering this hotel to carefully research exactly what they are booking and not rely solely on the photographs. I would not return and cannot recommend this hotel.