March 2001 - The Windsor Hotel, Cairo Egypt

We've included these photos of the Windsor Hotel in Cairo, Egypt for two reasons. First, they help illustrate one of the general problems that faces nearly all travelers: trying to find a place to stay in a new city when one is miles away. Second, we thought that, perhaps, those who have read the glowing descriptions of Cairo's Windsor Hotel on the Windsor Hotel's website, www.windsorhotel.com or in a guidebook, might benefit from comparing what they see on the Windsor Hotel's website to what we experienced at the Windsor Hotel. These are some photos of what the Windsor Hotel told us was a "good, nice room."

Lamp dangling from wire above TV that didn't seem to receive any stations. Wallpaper and wall next to the bed. The mattress and pillows matched the decor.Since we were arriving in Cairo late, I called the Windsor Hotel from Athens to make a reservation and agree on a price. This time of year (and probably any time of year in Cairo), most room prices are negotiable. Between being put on hold and the Greek telephone system, it took three calls to settle on a price for two suitable rooms. The Windsor Hotel agreed to give us two, "very nice rooms" for $70.

(The Windsor also asked whether we would like to be picked up at the airport for "about $20." Since "about" is an imprecise term, and I knew there was a bus, I declined. When we arrived, we were offered several cab rides for a bit less than $10 - without haggling - but took the airport bus for less than $3.25.)

Cleanliness is next to godliness.The air conditioner controls. To make a long story short, the Windsor Hotel first tried to get us to pay $90 for the rooms I had booked at $70, and finally offered us two "good, nice rooms" for $78. Since dragging three tired children wearing backpacks around nightime Cairo to look at hotel rooms was not really in the cards, after haggling for awhile longer, I accepted.

It is difficult to say whether our rooms were typical or not. We looked into some open doors and found rooms that were not very different from ours. One of our rooms had newer wallpaper than is shown in these photos. The whole place looked like a rundown fraternity house or the set for a movie about an ancient flophouse. Loose carpet transformed part of the stairs into something akin to a waterslide. There were large holes in the most prominent painting in the breakfast room. The supposedly charming lounge bar featured chairs designed to look as if they had been cleverly crafted from barrels - if you lived in an American suburb in the 60's or 70's and knew someone with a "bar" in their basement, you might have a good idea of what they looked like. If I had to guess, I would say our rooms were typical.Door of the common bathroom

Bare wires on dirty carpetPerhaps the most troubling thing about the Windsor Hotel is the possibility that many of the people staying at the Windsor Hotel might think that what the Windsor offers is "the sort of awful thing you get in Egypt." This would be completely untrue. The next day, for a bit less money, we moved to absolutely clean and very quiet rooms in a much nicer hotel. Both rooms had a refrigerator, new television with remote, comfortable mattresses, extra pillows, nice furniture, direct dial phone, and an immaculate "en suite" bathroom. This was not a great or special find. Other hotels offered us rooms as nice in the same price range. Several days later, we moved to rooms that were in better shape than those at the Windsor Hotel for roughly half the price. (It is worth noting that for the price of our rooms at the Windsor Hotel, all of us could eat 3 or 4 complete dinners at a nice kushari place, ride in a falucca for 4 or 5 hours, or take a cab to the pyramids six or seven times.) A neighboring room with what appear to be hospital beds. You might be able to see that the middle bed has a distinct headward slant to it.I couldn't reconcile the $38 we were charged for this room with the posted rate.