Steigenberger al Dau Beach Hotel

The hotel was right by the beach, and the town center of Hurghada was only a 5 min taxi drive away. The airport was 15 min away, but we heard hardly any fly-over noise. Just the older planes from Russia could be heard from time to time. But that didn't bother us as we're used to regular air traffic from home where it's louder!
However, we had to take a city tour when we arrived before we were finally brought to the hotel. That way, we could "admire" several hotels and look forward to our excellent hotel! Shopping and entertainment possibilities were available on the main roads in both directions in front of the hotel. The offered goods were mostly souvenirs, and the vendors could be very pushy and approached everyone. If you didn't like that, you could move on without a word. For the rest, bargaining was the order of the day.
Excursions could be booked directly in the hotel with independent agents or with the tourist guide.

That can be summarized with one word: perfect, with 5 stars.
Thanks to Steigenberger for this great holiday.
The staff was always friendly and motivated. Service on the beach and by the pool: cold drinks, even lunch was served to the pool or beach chairs on request, cold towels, fruit on skewers, ice tea, service for cleaning glasses.
Many employees spoke German, otherwise we could get along with English very well.
The room cleaning staff was super friendly and tried to please us: flowers in the room, draped pillows, etc.
Moreover, the service of Petra and Romy who kept asking the guests how they felt was great. Wishes and requests were written down and handled or rather fulfilled.
It's not exaggerated to say that the Steigenberger team asked whether everything was okay at least 30 times a day. Well, that's how it should be on a dream holiday - many thanks again.
We had no complaints, just a problem with our room safe which couldn't be opened anymore. The beloved technology was on strike. But after 10 minutes, the safe was opened. Great!

There were various restaurants and bars in the hotel, so every guest could eat and/or drink for 24 hours if they wanted. Cleanliness and hygiene played a very important role in all the restaurants and bars. When food fell on the floor, for example, everything was removed and damp wiped right away. That's how it should be!
Drinks were served in glasses and came from bottles/cans which were opened in the presence of the guest.
Breakfast in the Tamarind restaurant was very varying. Many sorts of bread and rolls (even dark bread and wholemeal), various sweets, different sorts of cheese and cold meat (no pork, of course), fresh fruit, various sorts of cereal, different jams and real Nutella! Egg dishes were prepared freshly, and there were also the inevitable breakfast dishes such as tomatoes au gratin, French toast, baked beans,...
Everything was very delicious, but we still had a craving for liverwurst after two weeks.
The pool and beach restaurants offered snacks and various dishes for lunch which were then freshly prepared. Also at reasonable prices for the half board guests.
Dinner in the Tamarind restaurant had different theme buffets every day. What was offered? BBQ, French, German and Swiss, Asian, Steigenberger, Italian and Oriental buffets. Every time with very delicious meat and fish dishes, very tasty side dishes which fit the theme of the night, soups, a salad buffet, a dessert buffet with fresh fruit, ice cream, cake and other sweet things.
If you didn't find something here, you were beyond help and probably used to eat in restaurants which were praised in the usual restaurant guides.
Our thanks to the German chef!
Twice a week, we could reserve and eat in the "Alexander" specialty restaurant. The food had a Mediterranean and French influence here.
The 4 course meal could be chosen from a menu. You should definitely choose the main course from the menu requiring extra charges! We chose the fillet of beef and were very satisfied. The meat was perfectly prepared and cheaper than in the Argentinian place around the corner.

Light entertainment was available, and the employees weren't pushy. If you wanted, you could take part, if you didn't want, you didn't take part. Various sports offers were available for all inclusive guests, but we didn't make use of them.
There was a big spa area which we used for hammam and body massages.
A kids' club was available, and it was even possible for the kids to learn how to swim on holiday. A disco bar and little stores for fashion, souvenirs and stuff for the daily needs were available in the hotel.
Internet stations were available for a fee in the hotel's Business Center.
The pool area was big and ample with Lazy River and enough pool chairs and umbrellas. Every hotel guest could always get a pool chair here - so it wasn't necessary to reserve pool chairs.
The pool service brought fresh towels to the pool chairs in the morning and helped to set up the umbrellas.
Moreover, there were beach chairs and umbrellas on the hotel's private beach section.

The Deluxe room with sea view had about 55sqm, the furniture was of dark wood (Kenyan style), the sofa was of rattan. Everything was in good condition and very clean.
The bed was king-size and had a great mattress, and you could even get additional pillows on request. We had rarely slept that well.
The balcony came with two chairs and a table, but there was unfortunately no possibility to dry our swimming things.
The safe was included, and bathrobes and hotel slippers were available. The bathroom had a separate tub, a big sink and a rain shower head. Fantastic! Convenience products (shampoo, shower gel, etc.) were available and always replenished after they had been used.
We were just a bit bothered by the air conditioning: A light to moderate smell of sewage/toilet came from the ventilation shaft. However, our nice room boy made an effort and put cloths with air freshener in the ventilation. After that, we had an oasis of apple scent in the room.
As we had been here before, we got an upgrade to the Elite room with a fruit basket and sweet pastries when we arrived, a mini bar and internet in the room (Who needs to work on holiday? But still a good idea.), as well as a water kettle to make tea and coffee.

The cell phone reception was ideal. No background noises while talking, no acoustic feedback - nothing. Almost like around the corner at home. The costs were low due to our Vodafone travel package as we could also use free anytime minutes abroad, with an extra charge for the call setup (0.75 EUR). The price-performance ratio was good, but when shopping, you should always check what currency the products are tagged in. We bought perfume which cost 124 USD, and when we aksed for the price in EUR, we were supposed to pay almost 100 EUR. It was no problem to pay with our credit card in USD, so we finally paid 86.50 EUR...
The temperatures in September were always around 38°C, but there was always a nice breeze, so that the 38°C could even feel "cool" sometimes. Against our expectations, it didn't get very cool in the evening, so it wasn't necessary to wear a light jersey.
Conclusion: We'll come back in 2010!