Sometimes when things don’t go as planned it works out even better. That was the case with our stay at the Marriott Mena House in Cairo, Egypt.
We visited Cairo for the second week of our three week adventure to celebrate Shae’s 40th birthday. The first three nights were spent at the Ramses Hilton which is on the banks of the Nile (here’s my review) and the following three nights were due to be spent at the Hyatt Regency Cairo West.
I’d picked the Hyatt Regency as it was a brand new property, rooms had direct views of the Pyramids of Giza and I have Globalist status with Hyatt which meant I was able to use a Suite Upgrade award to get a great room and we’d have access to their Club Lounge.
My plans went awry a month or so before our trip because Hyatt delayed the opening of the hotel until after our stay which meant we needed to find somewhere different to stay. When looking for alternative accommodation, there were a bunch of cheap guesthouses near the Pyramids which had decent reviews considering their price, but the photos for all the different properties didn’t make them look all that great when it came to comfort.
The only chain hotel option that seemed worthwhile was the Marriott Mena House. When checking its location on Google Maps it looked like it was close to the Pyramids and had views of them, so I booked us a stay there. What I hadn’t appreciated was quite how close it was and how amazing our stay would turn out to be.
Here’s a full review of our stay at the Marriott Mena House in Cairo, Egypt.
Arrival
As mentioned earlier, we’d been staying in downtown Cairo at the Ramses Hilton. We’d gotten a 2pm checkout from there so that we’d have time to explore Old Cairo that morning, so by the time we’d taken an Uber to the Marriott it was about 2:45pm.
It turned out that Mena House was even older than we’d expected, having been around since the 1800s. In fact, it was the first hotel in Egypt to have a swimming pool.
The hotel does a great job highlighting its history both in the guest rooms and in common areas. For example, in the lobby there are lots of historical photos taken at or of the hotel from years past.
The photo in the top-right corner particularly caught my eye. You’re no longer allowed to climb up the Pyramids, so getting to have that experience back in the day must’ve been incredible (n.b. that’s the Marriott Mena House behind her in the distance).
Check-In
Alaa checked us in and was very friendly. Seeing as I have Titanium status with Marriott, we were offered the choice of a welcome gift. That could be either a beverage and a snack or bonus points. While I’m normally all about the points, in this case a half bottle of wine and mixed nuts seemed like a good-value alternative.
It didn’t take too long before we had our keys to room 462 and were escorted up to our room.
When making our reservation, I booked the best room that was available at the time which was a room with a partial pyramid view. I could’ve booked a cheaper room and tried using Suite Night Awards (one of my Choice Benefits from having Titanium status) to try to get an upgrade ahead of time, but those are only processed something like five nights before your stay and there’s no guarantee that they’ll be approved. I therefore just went ahead and booked us straight in to a partial pyramid view room to play it safe.
Marriott Mena House does have premium pyramid view rooms, but none of those were available during our stay in August 2021 as they were renovating that part of the hotel. Renovating during that time made sense seeing as tourism was still being impacted by COVID, although it was a little bit of a shame that type of room wasn’t an upgrade opportunity.
Bedroom
When entering our room the bathroom was on the left and the bedroom and living area were straight ahead.
Our room had a king bed which was comfortable and not too firm. The room’s blackout curtains did a good job of keeping out the light too, so Shae and I both slept soundly each night.
To the right of the bed was a couch with a coffee table. Based on the fact that there was additional bedding in the closet, this was presumably a sleeper sofa.
The coffee table had a room service menu on top. For reference, 1 USD was worth ~15.75 EGP during our visit.
On the opposite side of the room was a small dining table and a couple of chairs which could also function as a work desk if needed.
On the table was a welcome amenity of several pieces of fruit and some baklava thanks to my Titanium status. This was in addition to the welcome gift we’d chosen when checking in.
There was a cart next to the dining table with tea and coffee making equipment on top. A bottle of water was also there which was in addition to the bottles of water on the bedside tables.
To the right of the dining table was the room’s TV, a dresser and luggage rack.
On top of the TV cabinet was a ‘Stay Safe’ kit containing COVID-related items.
One of the cupboards in the dresser contained a mini fridge. This was empty rather than having a mini bar inside which I appreciated as it meant we had more space where we could store water and soda.
To the right of that was a large closet containing a safe, bath robes, slippers, additional bedding, an iron and ironing board.
The best part of the room though wasn’t inside the room. It was our balcony which looked out at the Pyramids of Giza – that’s the Great Pyramid on the left and the Pyramid of Khafre on the right.
Seriously though, how amazing is that view?! I’d been disappointed when our Hyatt Regency Cairo West stay was cancelled, but being so incredibly close to the Pyramids (Mena House is actually closer than the Hyatt Regency) more than made up for that.
There’s a Sound and Light Show at the Pyramids of Giza each night which is a show where the Pyramids get lit up. Unfortunately you can’t see that from the hotel as they’re lit up on the other side, but the night time views weren’t any less spectacular.
About 15 minutes after we checked in, our other welcome gift of wine and mixed nuts arrived.
Bathroom
The bathroom contained a bathtub with shower. Although the shower screen didn’t extend the entire length of the bath, it went far enough that the floor didn’t get soaked.
There were small bottles of Acca Kappa toiletries for us to use rather than large, refillable bottles mounted to the wall.
The other side of the bathroom had the sink and a couple of stands with drawers.
On top of the one on the right were additional complimentary toiletry items.
Breakfast
Breakfast is served in 139 Restaurant which is at the front of the property. To get there, you have to walk out the front of the hotel from the lobby, stay to the right of the long water feature and then walk through the security doorway to the right. Keep going straight and you’ll come to 139 Restaurant, then head round to the right of the building.
Breakfast was included in all room rates during our stay. I don’t know if that’s always the case or if that’s being done to encourage people to book a stay there during COVID.
For as great as the view was from our balcony, it had nothing on the view available when dining outside.
Word of warning – you’ll never want to leave the breakfast table in the morning unless you’re actually going to be visiting the Pyramids that day! Again, the location of Marriott Mena House is second to none.
Breakfast was buffet-style, with a mix of self-serve and having employees serve you. There were several hot options available each day, along with an egg station where you could get eggs cooked to order.
There were several other stands with cold cuts, cheese, fruit and more.
The preserve station even included honey dripping down from fresh honeycomb.
Club Lounge
Marriott Mena House has a Club Lounge which was open during our visit and seemed to be offering regular service. Breakfast wasn’t served in there seeing as the full buffet was available for all guests at 139 Restaurant, but they still offered some pastries and snacks in the morning and during the day.
Complimentary tea, coffee and soft drinks were available throughout the day too. Unlike the Ramses Hilton which insisted that we only consume drinks in the lounge, the Marriott was fine with us taking a can of soda back to our room. It was also fine taking several bottles of water with us the day that we went to the Pyramids.
There was a mix of seating in the lounge, with dining tables, couches and a slightly private alcove.
The lounge held Happy Hour from 5:30pm until 8pm each night which provided complimentary dinner, wine and beer. Dinner wasn’t a small selection of self-serve, mediocre food items like you find in some club lounges – it was a proper sit-down meal where the meal was served at our table and had tasty food.
It started with a salad and bread from a bread basket, then sandwich-style items were brought out and then other hot items which varied each night but included food like sambousek, chicken, shrimp, etc. This was then followed by dessert which included fruit and another type of dessert each night like cheesecake bites or apple strudel.
The best part of the club lounge wasn’t the food or drink – it was the service. Every night we were served by Nagy and he was amazing. Nagy was incredibly kind, thoughtful, attentive and was one of the main reasons we had such an incredible stay.
Amenities
Marriott Mena House has a beautiful outdoor pool that’s great for doing laps and was a perfect temperature.
There’s also a separate children’s pool at the end.
There’s a decent-sized fitness room with lots of pieces of equipment and weights.
Marriott Mena House has a spa called Saray Spa, although we didn’t get any treatments there.
Breakfast is served in 139 Restaurant, as is dinner if you want to eat there. As an alternative dinner option, there’s Moghul Room which is an Indian restaurant. We didn’t end up eating at either restaurant in the evening seeing as there was tasty dinner available for free in the club lounge.
The hotel also has a coffee bar which is located between the front desk and the elevators.
There’s a gift shop on site too, although it’s not always open. This has postcards and other souvenirs for sale, but they didn’t have any stamps when Shae asked. There’s a post office just outside the hotel, but be aware that it’s closed on Fridays.
Parking
We used Ubers to get around Cairo, so we didn’t need to park a rental car at the hotel. I’m a little confused by the parking situation at the hotel based on the description on their website.
It says there’s complimentary valet parking available, but that on-site parking costs 1.50 USD per hour or 8 USD per day. I’m therefore not sure if they charge you for self-parking but not valet parking (which seems strange), or if something else is meant by this.
Service
Service was very good at the hotel. I’ve already mentioned Nagy in the club lounge who was fantastic and made our stay even better than expected. Other staff members were always kind and helpful too, such as Christy who called the lab on our behalf regarding our COVID tests and Reda who drove one of the golf carts around the property. He gave us a lift one time and also made sure we were aware of what to expect at the Pyramids when it came to people wanting to be our tour guide.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi at the Marriott Mena House was excellent. There was always a good connection in our room on our laptops, as well as on our phones all around the property. The speed was always very good too.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
Check-in is at 3pm, while check-out is at 12pm. Our flight to Jordan wasn’t until late afternoon on the day we checked out, so we got a 2pm late checkout thanks to my Titanium status.
Location
When it comes to location, Marriott Mena House can’t be beaten. I’ve already included this photo already in the review, but I’ll include it here again because how many places in the world have a better view at breakfast than this?!
If you’re wanting to spend a lot of time in downtown Cairo then its location isn’t as great as it takes 45 minutes or so to get there due to traffic. If you have enough days in Cairo though, you could do what we did and spend a few days downtown on the Nile and a few days at Mena House by the Pyramids.
Cost
I booked a paid stay rather than using points because I wanted to ensure that we’d be booked straight into a partial pyramid view room. With tax, it cost $206.34 per night which is about double what we were due to pay for the Hyatt Regency Cairo West before that property didn’t open on time.
While $200 per night is far more than we’d normally pay for a hotel stay, in this case it was worth it. The hotel’s location was perfect, it’s a beautiful property and breakfast was included. We got even more value from our stay thanks to my Titanium status as that meant we had access to the club lounge which provided complimentary soft drinks and snacks during the day and complimentary dinner, wine and beer in the evenings. The free food and drinks saved us a decent amount of money considering how much we’d have had to spend for dinner and drinks at the on-site restaurants otherwise.
The hotel is a category 4 property, so if you want to book using points it’ll cost 20,000, 25,000 or 30,000 points per night depending on if it’s off-peak, standard or peak during the dates you want to book a stay. That means you can use category 4 (25,000 point) free night certificates during off-peak or standard times, while category 5 (35,000 point) certificates can be redeemed any time.
Points Earned
We earned a total of 9,172 Marriott Bonvoy points for our stay. We should earn an additional ~6,500 bonus points for paying with a Marriott credit card which had an offer to earn 10 points per dollar on Marriott stays at the time.
Final Thoughts
If you want to book a stay near the Pyramids of Giza, the Marriott Mena House can’t be beaten for location and comfort. There are many guest houses near the Pyramids that are far cheaper, but I doubt they’d feel anywhere near as special as this hotel.
We had an incredible stay and it’s right up there in our list of favorite hotel stays ever. Shae and I will always have fond memories of our stay thanks to the views and the excellent service from Nagy.
Our Rating
Room = 4.6 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.6 / 5
Food = 4.8 / 5
Location = 5 / 5
Service = 4.9 / 5
Overall Value = 4.6 / 5
Total = 4.75
Address
Marriott Mena House, 6 Pyramids Road, Giza, Cairo 12556, Egypt
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- 1 Week In Dubai: Here’s What We Did
- Hotel Review: Ramses Hilton In Cairo, Egypt
- Exploring Babylon Fortress In Old Cairo, Egypt
- Visiting The Pyramids Of Giza In Cairo, Egypt
- Hotel Review: Marriott Mena House In Cairo, Egypt
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SALLIE TOWNSENDHUGHES says
Just WOW!
stephen says
Yep, it was pretty amazing!
GringoLoco says
Nice review!
Cairo is one of my favorite cities — the vibe, the people, the smells! Never stayed at Mena House but always make time for breakfast there. Nice to see they are still a proper hotel as opposed to the cost-cutting-Covid-blaming-greed-factories in the US!
Did Hyatt compensate you for the change in plans?
stephen says
They didn’t offer it initially – the hotel manager just offered to find rates for a couple of properties, but those were the same or worse than I could find for those same properties online.
I therefore emailed my concierge and she awarded 24k points – this was calculated based on the Hyatt Regency Cairo West being a category 2 property, so 3 nights at 8,000 points per night = 24,000. I’d booked a paid rate rather than an award stay though as a Best Rate Guarantee opportunity meant I was getting it for something like $90 per night.
I was initially disappointed that wasn’t working out as $90 for a base room upgraded to a suite was awesome, but it worked out for the best seeing as Mena House was so nice.
Craig says
Looks amazing…..think it’s a must next time I’m in Cairo
stephen says
Absolutely!
Trevor says
Hi there.
We’ve just returned from 10 days in Egypt and spent day 2 & 3 at Mena house.
It is an amazing hotel (mainly because of the location) with fabulous staff and history.
We also spoke to Reda at length.
He is a lovely, kind man & seemed genuinely touched by our appreciation.
Thank you Reda !
We stayed in one of the older non pyramid view rooms which was huge.
Would definitely go back if ever in Cairo / Giza again.
stephen says
Awesome, I’m glad you had such a fantastic experience.