The last time Dr. Abu inspected the New Radwan Hotel he must have been loosing his eyesight. I suggest he goes again and amends his list of amenities.

As regular traveller to Luxor, with an avid interest in the tombs and temples, and a person who just books a flight and goes, I found the New Radwan 6 years ago on arrival with my partner. Since our split, I have not let my interest in Luxors ancient history stop me from visiting , but I have realized that it has definately changed my experiences to a depressing level. Initially I was enchanted with the hotel and its position next door to a lovely mosque, and it was very handy for the station, my room was also satisfactory, initially I was impressed with the staff, over the years I have since stayed on 3 more occasions and I have formed a very different impression of the hotel. After November 06 I will not stay at this hotel again, or recommend it to any of my friends.
The description of the hotel is totally innacurate for the following reasons, some minor, some quite alarming - I will leave it to you to decide which catergory these reasons fall into :

1. There is no indoor pool, a small cold outdoor one.

2. Sometimes the live entertainment /belly dancing goes on until 4.30 am in the morning. No soundproofing, so expect to be awake most of the night. I was very annoyed at 3 consecutive nights of this noise, and exhausted when it was time to get up in the morning to go on my trips.

3. When I asked for a safety deposit box I was told that they did not have any, The only safety deposit boxes the hotel has is the one in the managers office, who will kindly offer to keep your money for you, which is arkward as it means you have to socialize with him to get your money. I would not recommend this unproffessional way, that no other hotel in my experience has ever suggested. I felt totally uncomfortable with this arrangement and it did not help when I realized that the balcony door to my room had a broken lock, when I informed the manager I was told not to be concerned as no one wwould steal from me.

4. There is no official currency exchange, or the proffessional approach that other hotels offer with this service. On my arrival I did not have enough egyptian money to pay for my room in full, so I said I would pay for a few days initially ,and when I had exchanged my money I would pay the outstanding. The manager was insistant on collecting my money for me to be helpful, feeling under pressure I gave him 200 pounds, three hours later I was told he was back with my money, he shrugged my request for a receipt of exchange off, so I assumme I did not receive the official exchange rate.

5. To my shock and dissapointment this last november 2006, my brother and a friend stayed at the hotel, and when I visited them, I realized that 'Two actual ladies of the night' were actually working on site, one dressed in jeans and a baseball cap who also spoke no english and waited on during the daytime around the pool. I could not believe it.

I have come to the conclusion that this hotel is definately not acceptable for lady travellers. If I had not allready payed for my trip up front during my last visit I would have left the premises. When I sit and reflect on the unbelievable things that occurred during my last visit to the hotel I am astounded.

On my return to the hotel in the afternoons, i would like to relax for a while and have a coffee near the pool, obviously out of politeness I would have a basic general chat with the staff member who served me, who informed me he also had a government job of accountancy as well as this postion , he appeared to be quite an intellegent man, he said he would like to invite me for a meal, and he would cook me chicken tagin, he explained what this meal consisted of, then to my amazement he said 'yes, we can have a meal, and a drink , and have sex, EXCUSE ME! ! !, I thought I had just imagined that he said that, so I asked him to repeat himself to be sure I had heard correctly. Then I informed him that I did not drink , and most certainly did not go around having sex with men that I had only just met. I never spoke to him again and unplugged the phone to my room so that I did not have to keep giving excuses on my return to the hotel. What a nightmare situation. And one I could not afford to get out of as I had allready paid upfront for my room. I decided it was necessary to avoid contact . I realized that they could not comprehend I was not interested in unsavoury affairs, and I was actually returning to Luxor because of my interest in the tombs and temples. Obviously I had a small budget , which is why I had chosen to stay at this hotel and not one of the higher ranking hotels bokked through travel agents.Travelling alone, I assummed I would feel more comfortable if I stayed at the same hotel. On hindsight I realized this was a mistake.

The last night of my visit the hotel manager asked if he could speak with me as it was very important, I felt abit concerned as he had also insisted that I join him one evening on my return to the hotel for a welcome drink. He was quite insistant to talk with me, so I agreed to have a drink with him at the side of the pool, he wanted to know when I would return to egypt again, I said I did not no, he said he wanted to know so that he could arrange a contract with me, I was confused, I asked if I had understood him correctly and was he infact asking me to marry him? yes he said, this is correct, I was most alarmed and realized that I had to be assertive, I informed him I was aware that he was allready married with a wife and five children, this is not a problem he informed me, he could have a contract with me also, I informed him that he was on a highway to nowhere and our conversation was over, I went straight up to my room , packed my suitcase and departed immediately without breakfast, only returning to collect my suitcase the following afternoon.

It is a shame and extremely dissapointing how this lovely hotel has now deteriorated due to the appalling management decisions and standard s of behaviour.