Sonesta

Honeymoon Ruined by Shockingly Unprofessional Management, Sonesta Star Goddess

Im writing this review so no other couple makes the same mistake we did. My wife and I stayed on the Sonesta Star Goddess from November 1922 for our honeymoon.

While the frontline staff were polite and hardworking, the overall experience was nothing short of disastrous due to shockingly unprofessional management.

The problems began even before we arrived. Their Director of Sales, Morad, took 34 days to respond to emails, ignored calls, and only contacted me after I filed a complaint. He even claimed that such delays are normal. As someone with 20+ years in hospitality, I can confidently say that this is not normal, especially for a brand positioning itself as luxury.

We were reassured by the Director of Operations, Khaled, that everything onboard would be perfect for our honeymoon.

Unfortunately, this was far from true.

On our final evening in Luxor, we returned to find a fuel boat parked directly in front of our suite, full of workers, completely compromising privacy. When I raised concerns with the Boat Manager, Ahmed Ameen, his responses were dismissive and unprofessional:Housekeeping trolley left outside our door?

Yes, we need to clean rooms.Fuel boat blocking our suite view?

We have to fuel the boat.

There was no apology, no empathy, no solutions offered.

What made things even worse, and actually unsafe, was that Ahmed went to the workers and told them I complained they were looking at my wife, which I never said. This reckless action created an incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere and ultimately led us to check out one night early from a cruise we paid 112,000 EGP for.

When we checked out, Ahmed didnt even ask why we were leaving early.

No concern, no accountability, nothing.

We chose Sonesta thinking it would be a safe, reputable choice among the 100+ Nile cruises. Instead, we experienced poor communication, negligent management, and an overall lack of professionalism.

We will not be booking with Sonesta again and strongly recommend choosing another cruise line

Shaken and absolutely appalled at this hotel right now. If you value your safety DO NOT COME HERE.
It's 3AM and I woke up from my sleep to hear someone trying to open our door.

Figured surely it had to be a mistake and went back to sleep. I was woken up again a short time later to hearing the door rattling again except this time it clicked open. I get up to look and I can see a little tool being used from the other side to try and push open our manual lock. No one tried using their voice to see if anyone was in the room first, no one knocked, just immediately tried quietly accessing the room (if i woke up to the door rattling, I could have easily woken up to a voice or a knock)..Turns out they gave someone else a room key to our room while we were asleep and when that didn't work (thank God we double locked it) the hotel manager then tried to come up and open it himself WITHOUT EVEN TRYING TO KNOCK OR SAY ANYTHING.

As a younger female I am FLOORED and shaken that this is the way this hotel conducts business.
The fact that you gave a STRANGER access to a room that was already occupied (at 3 in the morning!!!) is not only a terrible reflection of how disorganized this hotel must be, but so dangerous and infuriating I'm having trouble forming respectful sentences right now.
I called down to the same manager a few minutes later and we got confirmation that this is indeed our room and that should not have happened.

I'm now wide awake 30 minutes later and still rattled from the experience.
This was absolutely unacceptable, unsafe, and a huge HUGE red flag. Dropping a ball like this, and by a manager no less, is so extremely unprofessional and scary.

The room I checked was filthy. The carpet was so soiled, the kitchen wasn't stocked; no pots, no dish towels, the microwave was filthy with dust in the vents, the entry door was filthy, the walls and baseboards were filthy with dust, the bathroom fans were dirty with dust.

There was a spider and a small roach in the room, the shower head sprayer fell apart when using it, a throw pillow was used as a bed pillow, I called for more towels, they said they didn't have any more. The washcloths were paper thin. I had to buy towels. The tub handle was broken.

The outside entry was filthy. When I booked the room, it said breakfast was included, but no breakfast was offered. I need to be compensated for what my family and I experienced. It rained that day and standing water was still there the next day.

The AC vent was caked with dust.

This hotel was a nightmare. It's the worst Sonesta I've ever checked into, the North Perimeter in Sandy Springs, GA.

I had a reservation for 3 nights which I did not get to keep due to the sonesta es front desk agent canceled my reservation. He was very rude from the beginning.

He kept implying that I could just get my deposit back and go else where. So I took a breather and left out for about an hour and then returned when I returned he said that my reservation was canceled and he could no longer give me the room that I had already checked into and got the key for. He printed me out a paper saying he canceled my room and that sonesta customer service would be happy to accommodate me. Still I have yet to be accommodated .

No refunds no other reservations . Just nothing! I had to stay in my car that night until I found somewhere to go.

It was the worse experience with a hotel I've ever had in my life. I will never return to that location again.

Sleep in a park,NOT here! We had to get a place urgently.

I booked a 2 bed-room my family. Walking to the room a worker was in a nearby room painting & installing a TV at 5:30pm. Once at the room the key card wouldn't work, I went to the desk to get the card reactivated, back to the room and the card still didn't work, back to the desk again, another card & still it didn't work.Back to the desk, the clerk asked a man in a cowboy hat (no name tag/logo to ID him as an employee) a key to manually unlock the door. Back in the room the man unlocked the door & said the batteries need to be changed, believing her was notifying someone to do so immediately.

We changed & left for our game. While trying to leave we were gated in, there was no key pad to get out or motion sensor. I later saw the front desk clerk in the lobby watching the cameras & pressing a garage door opener when a car pulled up to let them in/out, if staff are busy you wait until they see you waiting at the gate to leave. Upon our return at 11:30pm the key still didn't work, I go to the desk & tell them we need a room w/a working lock.I asked for another 2 bed- room, I was told I couldn't get a new room until our belongings were out of the old room.

I CANT get my stuff out b/c the key doesn't work. Security walked up w/me to get our belongings, meanwhile my child had an accident while waiting for access to the room (I waited for 2 other people to check in before I was able to be addressed, this was approx. 20+ min). The worker was still working at midnight.

We get our stuff, go back to the desk to get our next room, its a king bed for four and no other rooms are available. The new room had rat droppings on the floor, dirty sheets on the bed, bodily fluid stains and fecal matter on the pull-out sleeper sheets, more fluid stains on the mattress and what I later found to be bed bugs ( the kids were bitten all over despite sleeping in clothes. I returned to the front desk and asked for clean bedding, towels & pillows, I was told they couldn't get me any until housekeeping came on Monday. The adults slept sitting on the floor & kids slept on bath towels ( we had to remove all of the clearly unwashed bedding, leaving towels and other clothing as the only barrier between the stained mattress).We left 6hrs later, having noted homeless people loitering outside our room much of the night.

Additionally, the worker was entertaining friends or working late (after 1am)the floor above us. Fecal mater, dried blood and pubic hair were in numerous spots throughout the room we were given, a hypodermic needle was observed in the courtyard as well. As we checked out, I asked to speak with the manager. I was told I would have to call Monday, I have called 6+ times asking for the Manager, Joann.

Each time front end staff gate-keep the manager, state they will give her the message and no return calls.

I only got somewhat of a response after filing a complaint with Arizona Attorney General (https://www.azag.gov/complaints/consumer). I received a response, Via the Azag, from the mysterious Manager Joann Pedro. Joann disputed my numerous attempts to contact her or have received any messages from the gatekeeping front desk staff. I called for Joann Pedro again, when I again refused to rehash all of the issues with our very brief stay I knew it was a pointless battle.

I stated Joann Pedro responded to a complaint and reports she has reached out to me but also stated she hadn't received any of my messages, but inaccurate. I again asked for a call back to discuss the numerous issues to which I was told Angelica would try to get a hold of Joann and get a call back to me within the hour. Angelica, not Joann Pedro, called me back to offer 15% discount. I stated that was not acceptable given the numerous hazards we had to navigate during our brief stay.

I received another call back from Angelica stating Joann would only allow 20% discount applied to our bill despite the unbelievable treatment of myself and my family, let alone the multiple health hazards. Completely unacceptable.

Yes, I rented a room there. I stayed there 2 nights the first night the remote would not work.

I had to get 3 remotes and I was told I was being difficult just because I asked him to come up to the room. Because you please program the remote to the t. V. Because after the third time of it, not working.

Obviously. Maybe I thought I might be doing something wrong. But that was too much to ask for and I got yelled at yoda and yelled at so then the 2nd day, the toilet stops up at night. They tell me that there's nothing that they do.

They don't do service after night after dark.

And so basically I'm supposed to sit there with the toilet overflowing and just deal with that all night. So then they finally are not giving the puncture.After I kept complaining, then I asked for more toilet paper because of the situation.And they called the cops on me because they said I was being difficult.And I never want to yell at him.Or once cut at him.I kept a calm voice and that's how I was treated

We stayed at the Sonesta es west cincinnati Sharonville. Room 414 in the which was no phone to contact the front desk.

And we had to listen load shouting and cussing outside our room until 3:30 am cars driving thru revving there engines with loud exaust. We are older and did not want to walk to the front desk to let them know what was going on. And there was no phone to call the front desk. Basically trapped in our room unable to get any sleep.

Worst experience we've ever had at any other place we have ever stayed. We told the front desk and it was like oh well better luck next time. So we are done with your franchise of hotels.

First time we tried one of yours and it was terrible. Thank You!

am filing a formal complaint regarding the wrongful eviction and unprofessional treatment my family and I experienced at Sonesta ES Suites Cincinnati - Sharonville West. After staying for months and paying daily, we booked through a third-party service for a lower rate.

On February 21, we checked in, received pre-made keys without issue, and were not informed of any problems. The next morning (February 22), we repeated the process, again receiving pre-made keys with no concerns raised. Two hours later, staff pounded on our door, falsely claiming we had not paid for two days. Despite showing confirmation emails as proof of payment, they insisted we leave.

Initially, we were given three hours to vacate, but less than 30 minutes later, another employee yelled at us for 20 minutes, falsely accused us of taking advantage of the hotel, and threatened to call the police if we didnt leave in 40 minuteseven though we remained calm and compliant.

Key Questions & Concerns:

Why did the hotel provide pre-made keys if we had not paid?

Why were no concerns raised at check-in or the morning of our second booking?

Why did staff ignore our proof of payment and instead escalate harassment?

Why were we treated with hostility and false accusations after months of being paying customers with no issues?

Desired Resolution:

Formal apology for wrongful eviction and harassment.

Full refund for the prepaid nights we were forced to leave.

Policy review to prevent future mistreatment of guests.

We were long-term, paying customers with no history of issues.

This treatment was unjust, unprofessional, and distressing. I expect Sonesta ES Suites to take this complaint seriously and address these concerns appropriately.