We stayed at Pyramisa first for one night and some days later for 4 more nights.
Rooms:
The first night we had a room on the 10th floor, with a view on the Nile.
Good points: huge room, nice view.
Bad points: No safe; despite being so high up, we could hear the honking etc. from the street - very bad sound insulation. There was only little water coming from the shower, and it was not warm. We complained, but nothing happened.
Second time, we were in another hotel-wing, 5th floor. The room faced other rooms, was quite small, and there was a lot of noise coming from the space between rooms, where the pool is located. Possibly from air-cons. Furthermore, sound-insulation again very bad, we woke up on 3 mornings because of phone-calls in the next room.
Rooms generally clean - though the carpet on the ground is not very convincing, esp. in a city such as Cairo where carpets are unnecessary and simply carriers of bacteria.
Beds uncomfortable, mattress needs changing ASAP.
Bathroom this time was slightly smaller, the shower was fixed to wall.
In both cases, toiletries included: body lotion, shampoo/conditioner; shower gel available in dispenser.
No hand towels, no complimentary water bottles, no water heater, no complimentary tea or coffee.
Outside our room, we found coffee and sugar bags on the floor. They were not removed for 1 day; then, someone took the coffee, and left the sugar for another day.
Swimming pool:
There are two, both are small; the one located in a sort of atrium is depressive - surrounded by rooms, not even some plants to lighten up the atmosphere.
Reception:
1. Impolite female staff (they misplaced our key and insisted they did not have it, that we should check to find it. Then, without checking our ID, had someone unlock the door so we could check ourselves whether the key was inside the room (which of course it was not). That someone left us alone in the room - we could in other words have not been the residents and have taken everything. They found the key when we returned in the evening, but never apologized for the inconvenience caused.
2. Despite knowing that we had arrived with a class of 15- and 16-year old youngsters and having been asked to arrange for rooms in one floor, the hotel did not do so. Not only were the students given rooms in floors 3,4,5,7 but also in another wing. This meant endless patrolling at night, to check if everyone was all right.
Breakfast:
1. Assortment of breads, sweets, some cheeses, some ham, omelette, scrambled eggs, baked potatoes etc. - but everything quite tasteless. Esp. the foul were incredibly badly cooked.
2. Staff rarely smiles; one waiter spilled coffee on me and my plate while refilling my cup, but only apologized very briefly, without taking the trouble to exchange my cup-plate or food-plate (both were flooded) or to propose cleaning my stained trousers.
Restaurant (Chinese-Indian-Italian):
The restaurant offers three different cuisines, which is practical, since one table can choose diff. tastes. The dish I tried (Indian, vegetarian) was very tasty/
Location: the hotel is on the ‘other’ side of the Nile, so it takes quite some time by car to reach the museum, Khan Khalili etc. It is, however, very close to El Tahir Road and the Metro station Dokki (5 min. on foot to station – the metro is quite clean and it takes you to the Arch. Museum)); from El Tahir Road you can catch a cab. A bakery on El Tahir road. There is also a super market close to hotel (turn left at main entrance and again left - then go straight - market is on left hand side). There is a Drinkies- a shop that sells alcohol on El Tahrir road as well (alcohol not sold in supermarket).
Concierge: Excellent and extremely helpful
Security guard: Did not let us in after we had been at the super market; he first stopped us and told us ‘No pictures’ (???), and then refused to listen when we told him that we were hotel-guests; he just kept saying ‘no’. He also did not call anyone who could communicate with us. It took about 5 min. till we got him to understand.
Taxi: Taking a taxi from the hotel will cost you 10-20 Egyptian pounds more than if you take it from the street. Ask the concierge how much you should expect to be charged in any case. Taking taxi from hotel is practical if you want to get to a spec. location (e.g. a restaurant) and neither now where it is exactly nor how to communicate in Arabic.
Do not take a taxi that offers to take you wherever you want, no matter the distance, for 10 Egypt. pounds. Do also not trust the taxi-driver who drops you off at a restaurant and insists he should wait for you because you will never find another taxi in that area. Check the area as you arrive to determine frequency of taxis, or ask the driver for his business card to call him in case you can't find one after all. Taxis in Cairo are, however, plentiful, so it should not be a problem to find one ....
Overall impression: The hotel is not bad, but it is certainly not a 5-star hotel. I’d say it’s mid-range 4-star. What would surely improve it would be on the one hand more attention to the little things in rooms as well as overall staff behavior.