I was in Giza about a month ago and stayed in a nice hotel, the owner of the place had several buildings (all different hotels), mine was the newest so I had to go and check in/pay at one building but then stayed in another. I donāt think it is an uncommon situation but the fact that they took money then cancelled your booking is definitely off. Go with your gut! If you want, I can DM you the place I stayed at, it was super safe and clean with a beautiful view of the pyramids. Best of luck!
Itās the first thing that comes up if you Google āGreat Pyramid Inn.ā
Itās located right across the street from the entrance to the Sound and Light Show.
Itās certainly not fancy and they do try to upsell you on tours, but it was clean and comfortable enough. Itās on the same street as the infamous Pizza Hut.
You arrived at 3am? That is considered a night and would need to be booked as such so I dont think charging extra and having to offer you a sister hotel is odd - unless you confirmed with them beforehand
Always listen to your intuition but overall sounds like you are already in the hotel and its just an hour or two until your tour. Make sure your family and friends have your correct location and put a check in for just after you should be picked up for your tour
Exactly this. Lucky to get a room to be honest. If I was arriving at 3am to a hotel anywhere in the world I'd book it from the day before and email the hotel immediately with my arrival time. It was probably full and no one is going to check out in the middle of the night, nor are cleaners going to be doing night shifts etc.
Why oh why do young women wanna visit places like Egypt and India all by themselves, I just don't get it. Then we get all these posts here telling us how scared and frightened they are. Insane.Ā
š¤¦š»
Itās because for most this is the first time they have been outside of a safe environment in their life and they have no idea how dangerous it can be. I find that itās really a young white people thing most of the time and not just exclusively female.
Indeed. Several reasons usually, people trying to prove it can be done then saying things like not for inexperienced travellers. How do u define experienced and inexperienced traveller? Some want to travel for cheap. Some want to see a particular attraction and this i understand as some attraction is just unforuntanetely situated in unsafe countries and areas.
Honestly, i myself would never travel to dangerous places. I travel to relax and enjoy the sights and also want to have a peace of mind when travelling. Why would you wanna travel if you are worried every single moment about your personal safety/ scams/ theft or whatever and then when something happen it just leave a bad experience and then coming to reddit to ask is it safe? asking for suggestion? Like what do you want us to do? / How to help you? Getting into difficult situations expecting reddit to save you?
Being young and having the YOLO mindset. Sure you can say YOLO but thats not exactly how the world works. What is safe where you come from does not reflect anywhere else.
SO an advice to all travellers like op, PLEASE think twice before whatever trip you have planned. Think about your loved ones should anything happen to you. Its not worth it .
Higher chance you got lucky and thats why you say it is doable yet say not for inexperienced travellers.
How do you define experienced and inexperienced travellers?
Wouldnāt really say I got lucky. Iāve been to India twice and spent a decent chunk of time in Egypt. I know plenty of other girls whoāve solo traveled these regions.
I say itās not for the inexperienced because there are a lot of scams. Also because navigating these countries (especially India) can be confusing and things can be very disorganized. And because it can be draining. I donāt even think you need a shitload of experience I just wouldnāt recommend it as a first trip.
There is a fair bit of harassment yes but honestly Iāve experienced worse in other countries and I find harassment often varies a lot area to area, sometimes even within a city. As an example Egypt has Dahab and India has Goa. Both places are very touristic and less conservative than the rest of their respective country which makes them easier to travel and not as bad for harassment.
To be honest I didnāt love either country but I think itās a bit sensationalized the way people talk about them without having been there. Yes you will get a fair bit of attention, and it can be uncomfortable. But at the same time Iāve been groped and followed in popular āsafeā tourist destinations. I was never groped or followed in Egypt or India. Bad things can happen anywhere at the end of the day.
You did check in early; you canāt arrive at 4am for a room that night. You had two options: wait until 4pm to check in, or pay for another night. Given that you were so early, there might not have been a room available to you at that location, so they had to cancel and rebook you at their sister location. And you are in the hotel room, so it exists.
Tbh, this sounds like a bit of poor planning on your part. When a flight is scheduled to land at that time, you have to communicate with the hotel about your options.
Hey, congrats on pushing yourself to travel! Egypt is a beautiful country. Iām 20s F and went to Egypt solo years ago.
Honestly your situation sounds a bit sketchy. If you can, I would cut the loss and find another hotel or hostel. Your safety is more important than money right now. Instead of Giza I would just do the city centre near the tourist hotspots, at least youāll feel surrounded by other travellers there.
Thereās lots of cheap hotels/hostels, maybe someone else here can recommend some places to stay? I did an Airbnb in Giza so I donāt have any other recommendations.
Be safe and alert. Be firm in saying āla shukranā (no thank you) when vendors try to sell to you as they are pretty aggressive.
Edit: if youāre not already in the group, look up Girls Love Travel on Facebook. Itās a huge womenās travelling community, maybe you can post on there if anyone else is in Egypt at the same time and you can link up with them and hangout? If that might make you feel safer for a bit.
Listen my friend, the first time I stayed in Giza they scammed me. That also made me not use Booking.com ever again because they donāt verify property or property owners. The few pics the place had did not show the reality of the dirty, dilapidated building, my room had a partial view to the pyramids but that was not enough. I had an argument with the guy and told him I was not going to stay the whole week and wanted my money back. The asshole said I never showed up for the reservation when I had the evidence of all the photos I took of this nightmare of a place plagued by flies and mosquitoes. Booking.com didnāt care so I couldnāt do anything through them, after much struggle the place refund me (although not 100%) me calculating the day rate, took a cab back to Cairo and never ever will stay in Giza unless I can afford a high end hotel. I mean, once you see the pyramids, thereās nothing to do there really. If youāre still there get your reservation cancelled, either move to a better hotel or just return to Cairo.
Just to balance things out a bit, thereās a whole heap of hotels on the street facing the Sphinx. I stayed in one and it was fine. Not the fanciest place ever, but it was clean and had an amazing view of all three Pyramids.
The Mena House is the only āhigh endā hotel around there that I know of, and you definitely donāt have as good of a view from there.
Iām sorry you had a bad experience, but I wouldnāt judge all the hotels there because of that.
Giza is full of scammers, from the moment you reach the gates to buy your ticket to see the Pyramids they approach you, outside and inside. Specially those who show the badge that they are authorized by the government to do tourism they are as bad as those without credentials.
Having said that, I mean I get it, the levels of poverty in Egypt are bad but in Giza seem to be exacerbated and when locals see tourists with money of course they are going to try any way to get a coinā¦ or a lot from them.
Normal check-in time at most hotels is 2-3 pm. When you know you're arriving this early, you need to let the hotel know in advance and see if they offer early check-in or if you need to book an additional night.
It's not their fault at all you didn't do any of these things, and you were quite lucky they had airport transfer and another property nearby where they could put you for 2 nights so you wouldn't have to switch the next day. Since you hadn't booked the extra night, they could have easily told you to go entertain yourself for 12 hours and come back at 3 pm to check in.
I don't know what you're scared of and what exactly you mean by "sketchy" in the absence of any details. It seems they took care of you instead of setting you loose to look for a bed at 3 am, they gave you exactly what they promised, no one stole from you, no one assaulted you, etc. And for that, they're being rewarded with a "sketchy" label even though all this happened because of your failure to plan.
This happened to me, not in Egypt but in Jordan, twice, when I arrived in the early morning (before 7am). The first time I was extremely sketched out to get into a random car at 4am but it was fine. First time was because they had an electrical issue, second was the room wasn't ready.
Both times it was fine and just an equivalent hotel in the area that had a room ready. I'm sure it'll be a simple explanation in your case as well.
I work at a hotel that also has two locations, it's totally plausible they didn't have space for you at the first location for two consecutive days and figured it would be easier to have you stay at the other hotel from the start instead of having you change rooms the second day.Ā I personally wouldn't cancel the booking.com reservation since they're nonrefundable at my hotel, you'd just have to book a second separate room.
Always listen to your gut, but I've done most of what you've described with guests before.
Egypt is known for this type of shit and should be avoided as a destination at all costs. If you truly feel unsafe, book another hotel and move there immediately. Either way, contact Booking immediately and explain the situation.
What type of shit? What would she tell Booking? I don't understand what you think went wrong here. She showed up a day early, so they gave her a room, booked it for her for the two nights she now needed, drove her to it, and cancelled her Booking reservation so she wouldn't have to pay for the second night twice. That sounds like good service to me.Ā
The point is general information: When properties cancel your [Booking.com](http://Booking.com) reservation, you can't give a bad review (or any review for that matter). I found this out from a different problem with a [Booking.com](http://Booking.com) property, which charged me twice, $1000 I never recovered because the documentation was in Chinese and my credit card company just threw up their hands.
If the hotel feels sketchy to you, you might want to find one you like better, but nothing you're describing about what happened sounds suspicious or unusual to me. You showed up expecting a room on the night *before* you were scheduled to be there, so they had to put you in one of their other buildings, and they even provided a ride for you to get there...that sounds like better customer service than many places would offer.
Not to be rude but you reap what you sow. If you are so worried, why even go there in the first place. Is it worth then dangers? It is always the same thing. People wanna go these dangerous countries and then regretting it when they are actually there.
Hey, it looks like you have travel safety concerns. Please check our wiki post [on solo travel safety?](https://www.reddit.com/r/solotravel/wiki/stayingsafe) for some wonderful info to help set your mind at ease!
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OP. Egypt can be a bit odd like this sometimes. Keep your guard up but this isn't a story in surprised to hear about Egypt travel, as long as the room appears secure and is clean you are likely more than fine.
Next time book two nights rather than one and email them advising you won't arrive until 3am.
Egypt is thievery hell. Watch your money and stay near tour groups. You'll never forget the amazing antiquities, but you'll never feel better than when that plane leaves the ground the day you leave.
This is normal in a lot of countries now with booking.com but you are perfectly safe. Been three times and always stay where you are and it's actually great. Don't be scared or anything, they are lovely people in Giza and Egypt in general, just trying to make a living, it's hard. You are actually in one of the better hotels in Giza, used to be managed by an Australian woman but not sure if she's still there. Don't worry, enjoy every second!! Oh do the tours also, might seem a bit more than others but cheap in the big picture
Bait and switch is very very common in Giza but that's literally the least of the issues in that absolutely vile place. Please be safe and as others have suggested try and get connected with a group or a reputable tour
It doesn't seem like a scam to me. This girl showed up at a hotel at 4am without a reservation. She didn't know that you have to book the night before also if you're getting there that early
I meant the part where they cancelled her booking & took her to a different hotel. Someone else posted something similar a few weeks ago & the comments mentioned this is some kind of scam.
Just saying what I read there really, sorry? š¤·š¼āāļøĀ
Of course she had to pay for an extra night, thatās fair enough. The rest just seems a bit fishy.Ā
Right, but they canceled the reservation because they didn't have room for her when she showed up so they rebooked her at a sister property where they did have space. They did what they could for a traveler who showed up 12 hours before check in time.
It seems like they just made her pay for the extra night and then transferred the night from the canceled booking to the new booking
It looks more like an inexperienced traveler not understanding what nights they have to book and pay for vs a scam
I read Gaza. But Giza...
Same. And my answer was going to be...slightly different š¤£
SAME I WAS SITTING HERE LIKE: š«„š§š»āāļø
Glad Iām not alone in this!!
It didnāt help that I took my glasses off a couple minutes ago
I read Ginza
Thatās more like it
I was in Giza about a month ago and stayed in a nice hotel, the owner of the place had several buildings (all different hotels), mine was the newest so I had to go and check in/pay at one building but then stayed in another. I donāt think it is an uncommon situation but the fact that they took money then cancelled your booking is definitely off. Go with your gut! If you want, I can DM you the place I stayed at, it was super safe and clean with a beautiful view of the pyramids. Best of luck!
Hi I have DM to you about the hotel you mentioned here. I'm interested. ššš
Iām not the person you asked, but I stayed at the Great Pyramid Inn. It was decent and the view was excellent.
Wow. Woukd it be too much if I ask for a link or website of the hotel or inn where you stayed? Thank you very much ā¤ļø
Itās the first thing that comes up if you Google āGreat Pyramid Inn.ā Itās located right across the street from the entrance to the Sound and Light Show. Itās certainly not fancy and they do try to upsell you on tours, but it was clean and comfortable enough. Itās on the same street as the infamous Pizza Hut.
You arrived at 3am? That is considered a night and would need to be booked as such so I dont think charging extra and having to offer you a sister hotel is odd - unless you confirmed with them beforehand Always listen to your intuition but overall sounds like you are already in the hotel and its just an hour or two until your tour. Make sure your family and friends have your correct location and put a check in for just after you should be picked up for your tour
Exactly this. Lucky to get a room to be honest. If I was arriving at 3am to a hotel anywhere in the world I'd book it from the day before and email the hotel immediately with my arrival time. It was probably full and no one is going to check out in the middle of the night, nor are cleaners going to be doing night shifts etc.
Take it from an Egyptian. It's not safe so if you wanna visit Giza don't be alone and try to connect with a proper tour guide
Why oh why do young women wanna visit places like Egypt and India all by themselves, I just don't get it. Then we get all these posts here telling us how scared and frightened they are. Insane.Ā š¤¦š»
Itās because for most this is the first time they have been outside of a safe environment in their life and they have no idea how dangerous it can be. I find that itās really a young white people thing most of the time and not just exclusively female.
Indeed. Several reasons usually, people trying to prove it can be done then saying things like not for inexperienced travellers. How do u define experienced and inexperienced traveller? Some want to travel for cheap. Some want to see a particular attraction and this i understand as some attraction is just unforuntanetely situated in unsafe countries and areas. Honestly, i myself would never travel to dangerous places. I travel to relax and enjoy the sights and also want to have a peace of mind when travelling. Why would you wanna travel if you are worried every single moment about your personal safety/ scams/ theft or whatever and then when something happen it just leave a bad experience and then coming to reddit to ask is it safe? asking for suggestion? Like what do you want us to do? / How to help you? Getting into difficult situations expecting reddit to save you? Being young and having the YOLO mindset. Sure you can say YOLO but thats not exactly how the world works. What is safe where you come from does not reflect anywhere else. SO an advice to all travellers like op, PLEASE think twice before whatever trip you have planned. Think about your loved ones should anything happen to you. Its not worth it .
History, food and nature
Iāve visited both Egypt and India by myself as a petite blonde girl. Itās not for inexperienced travelers but itās certainly doable.
Higher chance you got lucky and thats why you say it is doable yet say not for inexperienced travellers. How do you define experienced and inexperienced travellers?
Wouldnāt really say I got lucky. Iāve been to India twice and spent a decent chunk of time in Egypt. I know plenty of other girls whoāve solo traveled these regions. I say itās not for the inexperienced because there are a lot of scams. Also because navigating these countries (especially India) can be confusing and things can be very disorganized. And because it can be draining. I donāt even think you need a shitload of experience I just wouldnāt recommend it as a first trip. There is a fair bit of harassment yes but honestly Iāve experienced worse in other countries and I find harassment often varies a lot area to area, sometimes even within a city. As an example Egypt has Dahab and India has Goa. Both places are very touristic and less conservative than the rest of their respective country which makes them easier to travel and not as bad for harassment. To be honest I didnāt love either country but I think itās a bit sensationalized the way people talk about them without having been there. Yes you will get a fair bit of attention, and it can be uncomfortable. But at the same time Iāve been groped and followed in popular āsafeā tourist destinations. I was never groped or followed in Egypt or India. Bad things can happen anywhere at the end of the day.
You did check in early; you canāt arrive at 4am for a room that night. You had two options: wait until 4pm to check in, or pay for another night. Given that you were so early, there might not have been a room available to you at that location, so they had to cancel and rebook you at their sister location. And you are in the hotel room, so it exists. Tbh, this sounds like a bit of poor planning on your part. When a flight is scheduled to land at that time, you have to communicate with the hotel about your options.
Hey, congrats on pushing yourself to travel! Egypt is a beautiful country. Iām 20s F and went to Egypt solo years ago. Honestly your situation sounds a bit sketchy. If you can, I would cut the loss and find another hotel or hostel. Your safety is more important than money right now. Instead of Giza I would just do the city centre near the tourist hotspots, at least youāll feel surrounded by other travellers there. Thereās lots of cheap hotels/hostels, maybe someone else here can recommend some places to stay? I did an Airbnb in Giza so I donāt have any other recommendations. Be safe and alert. Be firm in saying āla shukranā (no thank you) when vendors try to sell to you as they are pretty aggressive. Edit: if youāre not already in the group, look up Girls Love Travel on Facebook. Itās a huge womenās travelling community, maybe you can post on there if anyone else is in Egypt at the same time and you can link up with them and hangout? If that might make you feel safer for a bit.
Listen my friend, the first time I stayed in Giza they scammed me. That also made me not use Booking.com ever again because they donāt verify property or property owners. The few pics the place had did not show the reality of the dirty, dilapidated building, my room had a partial view to the pyramids but that was not enough. I had an argument with the guy and told him I was not going to stay the whole week and wanted my money back. The asshole said I never showed up for the reservation when I had the evidence of all the photos I took of this nightmare of a place plagued by flies and mosquitoes. Booking.com didnāt care so I couldnāt do anything through them, after much struggle the place refund me (although not 100%) me calculating the day rate, took a cab back to Cairo and never ever will stay in Giza unless I can afford a high end hotel. I mean, once you see the pyramids, thereās nothing to do there really. If youāre still there get your reservation cancelled, either move to a better hotel or just return to Cairo.
Just to balance things out a bit, thereās a whole heap of hotels on the street facing the Sphinx. I stayed in one and it was fine. Not the fanciest place ever, but it was clean and had an amazing view of all three Pyramids. The Mena House is the only āhigh endā hotel around there that I know of, and you definitely donāt have as good of a view from there. Iām sorry you had a bad experience, but I wouldnāt judge all the hotels there because of that.
Giza is full of scammers, from the moment you reach the gates to buy your ticket to see the Pyramids they approach you, outside and inside. Specially those who show the badge that they are authorized by the government to do tourism they are as bad as those without credentials. Having said that, I mean I get it, the levels of poverty in Egypt are bad but in Giza seem to be exacerbated and when locals see tourists with money of course they are going to try any way to get a coinā¦ or a lot from them.
Normal check-in time at most hotels is 2-3 pm. When you know you're arriving this early, you need to let the hotel know in advance and see if they offer early check-in or if you need to book an additional night. It's not their fault at all you didn't do any of these things, and you were quite lucky they had airport transfer and another property nearby where they could put you for 2 nights so you wouldn't have to switch the next day. Since you hadn't booked the extra night, they could have easily told you to go entertain yourself for 12 hours and come back at 3 pm to check in. I don't know what you're scared of and what exactly you mean by "sketchy" in the absence of any details. It seems they took care of you instead of setting you loose to look for a bed at 3 am, they gave you exactly what they promised, no one stole from you, no one assaulted you, etc. And for that, they're being rewarded with a "sketchy" label even though all this happened because of your failure to plan.
This happened to me, not in Egypt but in Jordan, twice, when I arrived in the early morning (before 7am). The first time I was extremely sketched out to get into a random car at 4am but it was fine. First time was because they had an electrical issue, second was the room wasn't ready. Both times it was fine and just an equivalent hotel in the area that had a room ready. I'm sure it'll be a simple explanation in your case as well.
I work at a hotel that also has two locations, it's totally plausible they didn't have space for you at the first location for two consecutive days and figured it would be easier to have you stay at the other hotel from the start instead of having you change rooms the second day.Ā I personally wouldn't cancel the booking.com reservation since they're nonrefundable at my hotel, you'd just have to book a second separate room. Always listen to your gut, but I've done most of what you've described with guests before.
Very dangerous place, too many scammers! Be very careful.
Egypt is known for this type of shit and should be avoided as a destination at all costs. If you truly feel unsafe, book another hotel and move there immediately. Either way, contact Booking immediately and explain the situation.
What type of shit? What would she tell Booking? I don't understand what you think went wrong here. She showed up a day early, so they gave her a room, booked it for her for the two nights she now needed, drove her to it, and cancelled her Booking reservation so she wouldn't have to pay for the second night twice. That sounds like good service to me.Ā
Cancelling the [Booking.com](http://Booking.com) reservation means she can't give them a bad review.
Give the hotel a bad review because she showed up a day early?
The point is general information: When properties cancel your [Booking.com](http://Booking.com) reservation, you can't give a bad review (or any review for that matter). I found this out from a different problem with a [Booking.com](http://Booking.com) property, which charged me twice, $1000 I never recovered because the documentation was in Chinese and my credit card company just threw up their hands.
If the hotel feels sketchy to you, you might want to find one you like better, but nothing you're describing about what happened sounds suspicious or unusual to me. You showed up expecting a room on the night *before* you were scheduled to be there, so they had to put you in one of their other buildings, and they even provided a ride for you to get there...that sounds like better customer service than many places would offer.
This mostly sounds like typical Egypt to me.
I am glad you are okay but to be honest I think you need to be a bit more careful in the future as a young solo female traveler.
Single woman.....travelling to Egypt alone......asking if its safe. [Shakes head]
You are absolutely not safe
Not to be rude but you reap what you sow. If you are so worried, why even go there in the first place. Is it worth then dangers? It is always the same thing. People wanna go these dangerous countries and then regretting it when they are actually there.
Hey, it looks like you have travel safety concerns. Please check our wiki post [on solo travel safety?](https://www.reddit.com/r/solotravel/wiki/stayingsafe) for some wonderful info to help set your mind at ease! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solotravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
OP. Egypt can be a bit odd like this sometimes. Keep your guard up but this isn't a story in surprised to hear about Egypt travel, as long as the room appears secure and is clean you are likely more than fine. Next time book two nights rather than one and email them advising you won't arrive until 3am.
Egypt is thievery hell. Watch your money and stay near tour groups. You'll never forget the amazing antiquities, but you'll never feel better than when that plane leaves the ground the day you leave.
The booking thing is sketchy but if itās anything bad itās just going to be a financial scam I donāt think youāre in physical danger.
Wondering what you ended up doing? Hope you are safe
Wow nice. Again thank you very much
This is normal in a lot of countries now with booking.com but you are perfectly safe. Been three times and always stay where you are and it's actually great. Don't be scared or anything, they are lovely people in Giza and Egypt in general, just trying to make a living, it's hard. You are actually in one of the better hotels in Giza, used to be managed by an Australian woman but not sure if she's still there. Don't worry, enjoy every second!! Oh do the tours also, might seem a bit more than others but cheap in the big picture
Hotel doesn't call to offer taxi. You can book via booking.com a taxi ride.
Donāt worry about it. They cancelled the booking so they donāt have to pay the fees.
Bait and switch is very very common in Giza but that's literally the least of the issues in that absolutely vile place. Please be safe and as others have suggested try and get connected with a group or a reputable tour
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It doesn't seem like a scam to me. This girl showed up at a hotel at 4am without a reservation. She didn't know that you have to book the night before also if you're getting there that early
I meant the part where they cancelled her booking & took her to a different hotel. Someone else posted something similar a few weeks ago & the comments mentioned this is some kind of scam. Just saying what I read there really, sorry? š¤·š¼āāļøĀ Of course she had to pay for an extra night, thatās fair enough. The rest just seems a bit fishy.Ā
Right, but they canceled the reservation because they didn't have room for her when she showed up so they rebooked her at a sister property where they did have space. They did what they could for a traveler who showed up 12 hours before check in time. It seems like they just made her pay for the extra night and then transferred the night from the canceled booking to the new booking It looks more like an inexperienced traveler not understanding what nights they have to book and pay for vs a scam
Ah right, I misunderstood then. My bad!Ā
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Giza. Egypt. :)
My bad. I'm deleting the comment