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The Longchamps Hotel, Revisited
By Jimmy Dunn
We have previously written a review of the Longchamps Hotel, a
budget facility located in Cairo, or more specifically, Zamalek.
For many more pictures, see that review,
plus their entry in our hotel database linked above. I
recently stayed again in the hotel, which we refer to as the best
budget hotel in Egypt, and I must say I had a better time then
even my previous visit, and for a number of good reasons. However,
for pictures of the hotel, I must refer readers to the previous
review, as this is but an update. I think you will all find that
it is a welcome update though.
You see, while the facility itself is as bright and clean as
ever, I noted specifically two new types of guests on this trip
that greatly excited me, as well as a few other odd visitors.
When last I stayed at the Hotel Longchamps, I referred to it as
the Jewel of Zamalek, but at that time, it was not well known. The
guests mostly consisted of a few Germans, and the occasional
diplomat, familiar with the hotel due to so many embassies being
located in this district of Cairo. While the hotel is still not a
well known entity, which is already beginning to change.
Certainly there are the Germans and the diplomats, but the
number of adventurous Tour Egypt readers coming and going
impressed me, during my stay. Truly, many more Americans,
Canadians, Australians and people from the UK were staying at the
hotel. Not only that, but we all had something in common; that
being Tour Egypt, and that made for a grand time, I believe, for
all. Most of these people began and ended their tours in Egypt
with the Hotel Longchamps, and all seemed to agree with me that
the hotel is exceptional among budget facilities.
Now it has often been said that if one wishes to find a good,
inexpensive restaurant along the roadway, simply look for the
truck drivers. I'm not sure this is so, but now I am beginning to
see real field Egyptologists staying at the Hotel Longchamps, and
recommending it to their colleagues. These are top-notch scholars,
well known for often pumping their salaries back into their
projects, who require inexpensive but comfortable lodging. They
know Egypt, and when they begin to frequent a specific hotel such
as the Longchamps, it certainly makes a statement.
Finally, there are the other "odd" visitors. Well,
not odd, as such, but interesting. Resident at the Hotel
Longchamps is Hussein A. Bakri, truly one of the founders of
Egyptian Tourism. Many of the "bigwigs" of Egyptian
tourism refer to him as their godfather, and one may often find
him on one of the terraces visiting with the elite of Egyptian
tourism. Please see this month's Editor's Comment for a short
biography of Mr. Bakri.
Of course, the Hotel Longchamps would not be the Hotel
Longchamps without its owner, Hussein Bakri's daughter, Hebba. She
not only makes guests feel at home, but also guides them. Of
course, as those who have visited Egypt before might well know,
many will try to guide you, but Hebba does it with honesty,
explaining taxi costs, pointing out shops that will treat you
well, good inexpensive restaurants and much more. Tales are told
of her standing down taxi drivers who would attempt to overcharge
her guests.
All of which brings me to the statement about budget hotels in
Egypt that I wish to make. In Egypt, there are many fine, five
star hotels for those who can afford them. But many tourism
professionals will point out that there are few good budget
hotels. Tour Egypt is on a crusade to find others that we can give
as high of recommendations as we have to the Longchamps. We are
specifically looking for hotels in Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan and
Sharm el-Sheikh. Hurghada is less of a problem because they have
many new budget hotels and specifically cater to a budget oriented
population from Europe. Our criteria for an outstanding budget
hotel consists of:
A clean comfortable facility
This implies much more than one might first consider. While the
hotel should be clean, with comfortable beds, good hot water and
private baths, it should also be bright, and welcoming. In
addition, other factors should be present to make guests feel
comfortable. For example, harassment of women at hotel facilities
such as a bar should be strictly prohibited, and the prohibition
strictly enforced.
Management honesty and helpfulness
Regrettably, at many budget hotels, the room rate may be
inexpensive, but then management attempts to make up for the room
rate with sometimes outrageous prices for other services. For
example, a beer at the bar may be very expensive, or very often,
telephone charges are way more than what they should be. These
charges add up, and often make a "budget" stay fall
outside of one's budget.
Helpfulness is an integrated part of honesty. As we stated,
many people in Egypt will provide tourists with suggestions on
where to shop, where to eat or a "good" taxi driver.
Unfortunately, and in most cases, such suggestions are given
because a profit will be made. This does not fall within our
definition of helpfulness.
In addition, we have found some budget hotels that will reserve
a room for you at one price, and attempt to charge you a higher
rate upon arrival. Obviously, this will blacklist a hotel with
Tour Egypt.
Easy and inexpensive reservations
A budget hotel need not have online reservations, provided
email is available. Of course, it helps (the Longchamps does have
a secured, online reservation form). But most budget hotels can
take your reservation, allowing payment to be made upon arrival.
Having an email address is very important, because if one must
call and fax the reservations, before long, the cost of long
distance to Egypt may make a budget hotel stay not so inexpensive.
This is not to say that there are not some good, budget hotels
in Egypt. We have referred to many of these in our feature
articles on budget travel, and if one is traveling in a tour
group, there are little problems. But few besides the Longchamps
meet all of our criteria and so for the independent travelers the
situation is more difficult. The problem with many is
communications. That is, having to call or fax, and often, not
receiving a timely reply to faxes.
Now the reason I am telling all of our readers this is because
good budget hotels are rare. The Longchamps hotel falls within the
above guidelines, and because they do, we have created a web site
for them at no cost, and have given them a certain amount of free
publicity. Tour Egypt is very interested for others to make the
same efforts as the Longchamps, particularly in the cities cited
above. We are so interested; in fact, that we are willing to seek
them out, and provide them with the same incentives we have given
to the Longchamps, including free web sites and promotion.
It all comes down to the fact that it is easy for us to tell
our readers the options if budget is not a problem, but we would
also like to be able to do likewise with our budget travelers.
The Longchamps Hotel, Revisited
21, Ismail Mohamed St., Zamalek,
Cairo, Egypt
Telephone: +20 2 735 2311-12
Fax: +20 2 735 9644 Email Reservations
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