Have been going to this hotel for 9 years but sadly this hotel has become very tired and run down suffering from the lack of maintenance and investment so this was my last visit. The rooms are badly in need of major refurbishment, furniture is old, beds creaky and the bathrooms are now very poor standard although they do now provide you with a kettle and ill fitting bathrobes that have been around the block a few times. I would now only give this hotel 3 stars at best, the prices being charged for food and drink is unaceptable. The fish resturant is in an excellent and romantic location but the food is very poor and very expensive, a three course dinner for two with poor wine is around £80.00 The Thi resturant is very poor and like all the others here often served the food cold. Some corporate funtions are held and take over resturants and pool areas without notice or regard for other guest. When this happens the hotel can be very noisy and depending on the numbers, sometime breakfast looks like it's been attacked by locusts. It is noticable that some of the top tour operators have now dropped this hotel from thier selection not a surprise and sad to see this once great hotel fall to this poor standard.

Good Stuff - Hotel had good choice in Buffet - unfortunately they closed the main restaurant for refurb work and moved to bar next door - wasnt ideal but OK. Service very good and in Al a Carte Restaurants - best to go B & B as cheaper and food is excellent in DownTown area. Clean sheets and towels every day in room, room was clean with tea and coffee making facilities, hair dryver - large bathrooms and bed was a bit hard.
Bad Stuff - Make sure you have drugs from the Pharmacy before starting your holiday if you holiday in the summer months - a large majority of the hotel came down with sickness and diorrhea (unfortunately I had the second option twice -was very poorly) some poor souls had to go to hospital!!! this is very common in the summer months in Egypt but the pharmacies do have the drugs to sort you out. Do not have ice in any drinks and try to avoid salads. Stick with bottled beer - Sakara was best.
Downtown - Jobo's sports bar excellent for beer and sport. There are plenty of ATMs - change your money in Egypt you get a better rate. Lots of snide shops if you want that sort of thing - go Downtown when sun sets - it is too hot in the day. There is a boat every half hour from the hotel to downtown and Marina. SPA in hotel excellent!
Marina - good restuarants and shops - best to be there when sun setting. Tuk Tuk will take you and bring you back to Marina - about Egyptian Pounds 8 - 1 pound UK. Lots of yachts and nice hotels.
Hurghada airport - beware - they will try to get what money they can from you if you are over your allowance - we fell to that one!! They charged 8 UK Pounds for 1 extra Kilo!!!
Everything is quite expensive in the airport so best to take your own rolls/sandwiches from the hotel and bottled water.
Trips - do the sand buggy ride 9pm one) excellent and not for the faint-hearted!! Also go to Mahmaya island for the day trip - take your snorkel and mask - plenty of tropical fish in the coral - absolutely wonderful!
On the hole - yes i will go back but not in the summer months - the hotel is swiss-run and the movenpick icecream is to die for!! Enjoy!!

Service
Mostly very attentive and friendly. The staff from guest relations to the pool bar and waiters very looking after us well, taking time to chat and help wherever they could.

Only downside was the staff at reception - not because they did not try, but because they were permanently understaffed. Though the hotel was relatively empty two people at reception were not enough.

Also in the main restaurant the service was relatively poor; slow service, people not taking away used dishes / bringing new drinks etc. The service in El Sayadin (speciality restaurant, quite expensive, not part of AI) was also slow, but friendly. I did not like the starter (because it was not to my taste, no flaw with the food) and I was offered a free alternative.

Internet was close to 6 EUR per hour (!) which is ridiculous for a hotel these days - and the minimum time one could use at the provided computers is one hour.

Location
Nice - I like to be closer to a "real" place, so that's why it's not 5 rating. But if you are the typical beach / watersports vacation person and like to stay in your hotel + going out to a small shopping area and marina you should be fine. Though it is all artificial, it's also all very close, tidy, clean and safe.

Rooms
The room was very large and very clean, with a large wardrobe and safe. But as others wrote before me for a 5/4 star it is a bit "tired" and would need refurbishment. The small carpet was dirty (I moved it away) and the bathroom needs to be refurbished soon, especially the shower and other appliances.
The TV is small, but has a wide selection of channels in many languages.

Food & Drink
I went half board - I did buy soft drinks in the village (very cheap - 3 EGP as compared to 15 in the hotel) and I do not like alcohol in a hot climate, so it was a fair deal for me.

Overall - good food, but not insperational, nothing special or "really" good (especially also the desserts were nothing to write home about), which I would expect from a five star.

Breakfast - huge selection, the orange juice (Squash, very sweet) was disappointing and (for a German who loves her bread) the bread was overall not very good. Arab bread, if served anywhere was not fresh. In Il Limone the bread was sometimes old.

El Sayadin - Ok, but not more and for that definitely overpriced. The fish was dry and the rice not cooked properly, also the food was cold.
Il Limone - Good Italian food, best place for me to eat. The antipasti buffet was good
Thai -Good (though some of the food was a bit to oily, esp. the spring rolls)
The Buffet - good salad buffet, overall good food with a great selection. Also the hotel is redoing it's main restaurant which will be much improved in autumn if I go by the pictures they showed.
Pool Bar - very poor, most food was really bad (don't eat the club sandwich!), the fries were at times mushy at others overcooked, but mostly to oily.

Pools & Beach - Good selection of pools, a bit noisier at the main pool (kids) but there was also the quiet spa pool or the sports pool for real swimming and another one closer to the diving center. The beach is done very nicely, lots of space between the sunbeds/umbrellas.
The water is very shallow. You have to walk about 10-15 min through knee deep water to get to a place where you cannot stand any more. Also you cannot dive directly at the hotel, you have to take a snorkeling trip with a boat. But lots of good wind for kiting.

Entertainment - I did not go to see it - mostly what we glimpsed was very poor, more like a country talent show... But I do not like animation anyway, so I am fine with this. If you are looking for a party location this is definitely not your hotel.

Overall - they could do with some redecoration of the rooms and some improvement of the food. It was good but nothing special or really good (which I would expect in a 5 star), the hotel itself is very nice and well kept.

Absolutly loved this HOTEL

From the 1st minute we arrived at the hotel we know we were onto a winner!!

the hotel is massive we were in cluster 7 and it was a 7 minute walk to the restaurant for breakfast and what a breakfast. every type of breakfast food that you could imagine (although cooking a boiled egg was nearly impossible, my wife gave it 10 minutes and it was still raw)

the pastries are delicious

even the day we went to luxor the hotel supplied us with a breakfast pack ( 2 sandwiches, 3 pastries, apple, orange and pear, water and 2 juices)

the food at the lagoon is massivly over priced £17 2 drinks tuna sandwich and a burger but we found out later that basically you could order the same food with room service and they only added 75p delivery charged also you got a large bottle of beer than just a small can.

the only other restaurant we tried was the fish restaurant and we were very disappointed. my starter was that bad they took the price off the bill. i had prawn tempura and you got to pick your own prawns picked 5 and the bill was £26!!!

The staff at the hotel are all very friendly - no pressure to give them tips at all.

The only disappointment we had with the hotel was the entertainment seemed in the 1st week that it ran from 9.30-10.15 (was informed this was because the hotel was only 1/2 full)

2nd week 2 differnet singers alternated after 10.30 but neither were that great.

the hotel even noticed that it was my wifes birthday and even supplied a surprise birthday cake to the room

TRANSPORT

to get into the resort we mostly got the tok toks 5el per person anywhere inside el gouna
the taxis cost 15el per car and the bus is 20el per week

RESTAURANTS

these are the restaurants that we ate in

ATHENA (DOWNTOWN) excellant greek meal, large portions

BLEU BLEU (MARINA) very good fish restaurant

KIKI (DOWNTOWN) stunning views but worse meal we had in 2 weeks!!

LA ROTTISERE ( STEINBERGER HOTEL) this is the restaurant that looks like a lighthouse in the golf course. absolutly wonderful expensive but what a meal £75 FOR 4 courses inc drinks.

ORIENTAL GRILL (DOWNTOWN) bbq food, wonderful free starter and delicious mixed grill

SAIGON (MARINA) wonderful vietmamese food with authentic waitresses.

BARS

OASIS BAR (behind china houseDOWNTOWN) really really good bar to pass the time of day with pleasant english couple. only bar that does a full english breakfast

SMUGGLERS ( MARINA) small english bar with very nice staff

IRISH BAR (DOWNTOWN) good bar with hexagonal pool table music at night

JOBOS (DOWNTOWN) pleasant sports bar with large screen for live sport

TIDAL 5 (MARINA) great view of the show on a friday night, does luxor wisen a wheat beer

PEANUTS (MARINA) kind of night club after 11 thursday night 80's music

we also went into Hurghada a couple of nights £10 TAXI each way (set price before you get in and stick to it as by the time you get there the driver will try to charge you more)

NEW MARINA - very stylish bars and restaurants

HARD ROCK CAFE - need i say more??