Ritz used to have its own program even though the Marriott pts can book reward nights at Ritz. I never consider Ritz primarily because of they don't provide benefits to Marriott elites. The location is by the Egyptian Museum, but the hotel is built many years ago. St. Regis is only 2? years old.
Lounge access at $100 for 2 is reasonable but still not a bargain if the offerings are good. What do they offer? Breakfast, afternoon snack and evening spreads? I don't think one could use the afternoon snacks if one is out and about on sightseeing. Usually breakfast at the restaurant is better than at the lounge from the stand point of spreads.
May be you can find reviews online. As a comparison, a friend returned from London recently. The family of 3 stayed at InterContinental Park Lane - he used a mix of a FN on points, free weekend night when you also pay one as part of Ambassdor benefit, and one plain pay night. He paid $168+ for one day lounge access for 3 persons. They had brekkie, afternoon tea and evening foods. He said the evening foods were the best he ever had among all ICs he had stayed before. So it was about $55+ a person, but in London, a much more expensive city than Cairo, though of course IC is at least 2 levels lower than Ritz, 
Mena House actually has M Club. Though I don't like M Club concept after experienced one in Calgary and one in IAH airport Marriott.
I may give up the current 35K FN booking at St Regis on our day 3 in Cairo before flying next day to Aswan, and use it on our last day in Cairo but have to top up by 5K since it is 40K now. I think I have seen it at 37, 38K before. We would only spend very limited time at the hotel on our 3rd day as that day has a full schedule, Egyptian Museum and other sights in Cairo. Then with the flight to Aswan departs at 1:45? Meaning we need to head to CAI no later than 10:45am, not much leeway to enjoy breakfast leisurely. On our last day in Cairo, we fly back from Luxor at 8:35am, arriving Cairo 9:45am. That is a Full Day in Cairo. The next day our flight to London leaves at 5:55pm - we can use late check out at 2pm, have at least half a day in town, truly can enjoy the St Regis. Therefore that extra 5K probably is worth it. (similar to spend $50)
As for the program cost, I think you and I have very different focus. I never think about the aspect of how hungry the local providers for business. I only think about how to make sure the local provider is a proven company so less possibilities for unforeseen issues.
For this trip my focus is much less on pricing, I know all along Misr is nowhere the cheapest. I am much more focus on getting a reliable private tour that is quite a bit cheaper than the group tour offered by companies such as Gate 1, and hugely cheaper than what Abercrombie and Kent, or Travelous would charge. I used to think if we go to places like Egypt we need to go with the type of travel service like A&K... for the comfort and security... Therefore I am quite happy to be able to "trust" local travel service like Misr. I am willing to pay that 30% premium you find.
I also feel at poor countries, one should not try to squeeze the saving to the max, because those countries truly need the tourism dollars. For that matter, when I read 五湖以北 blog, about how a taxi driver was so desperately wanted a hire from them by passing their sittings at a cafe front 5 times asking if they needed a ride - if it were me, even I don't need one, depends on what loose change I have with me I would just give the taxi driver 50 to 100 Le, as it is just $3 to $6, but would mean a lot to the taxi driver. Yet all 五湖以北 can think of was if they got on this taxi, the driver would gauge them because the driver was very desperate due to 冇生意。 Likewise, I was touched when reading 背包客棧 the young mother with her 2 little sons traveling in Egypt and Turkey alone.。One day their driver (from local Uber style service) mentioned it was his 5 years old daughter's birthday, she suggested she would get a birthday cake for the little girl. The cake was about $6 yet it was 1/5 of the driver's basic pay (when they do not have rides) and he could not spend that kind of money on a birthday cake for his little girl. The driver was very grateful for the lady's kind gesture. He called home to have her little girl to say thank you to the writer. When the writer and her 2 little kids got off the car, the driver sincerely said to her, "Allah will bless you." Hence, for us from the wealthier countries, as long as the higher prices also give you something extra, such as less hassles (whether it is worth it or not, is up to individual interpretation), there is really no need to seek for the most competitive pricing.
Check out how much these well known names would charge on a Small Group tours.
https://www.abercrombiekent.com/travel-destinations/middle-east-luxury-travel/egypt
https://travelous.com/destinations/tours/exclusive-egypt
I also have no inclination to check around to hunt for the most competitive or the cheapest. I would rather use some companies that are already tried and proved, such as Misr or Egypt Tailor Made. There is also a Go Luxor Tours that several posters claimed they had good experiences but those posts lack substances, therefore I am skeptical on the authenticity of such. At least Misr is used several times by an American friend over the years, and Egypt Tailor Made is used by a good blogger Earth Trekker through the family's whole trip. (Egypt Tailor Made has an office in Giza and an office in Luxor IIRC)
When I show my husband the final cost of the package Misr charged, he said "It is very cheap." I told him Cairo hotels were not in the total. 
Since the Cairo hotels are on our own, that alone would shave close to $2000 as the retail rates per night are over $500 after the 28% taxes!
We also get our own domestic flights but as I mentioned before, Misr does not charge extra on the flights above the retail price. They deduct $139 pp on the 2 flights after I decided we book the flights ourselves. You could buy the flight from some OTAs shown by Google flight at as low as $60 one way. Egypt Air sells it at $76 on its own site. I used UA mikes at 8.8K + $8.65 tax, actually is the most expensive as 1 mile should worth 0.012 to 0.015, so 8.8K would worth $105 哈！ After adding the $8.65 tax, our tickets would be $$114 per ticket, or $228 for 2 flights. That is a lot more than the $139 pp Misr would charge!. OTOH, the cost of our miles is much lower than 0.012 per mile so essentially it is a breakeven thing. I just prefer to handle the flight booking myself so I have direct access to the reservations. I might eventually replace the UA awards with cash tickets. I have until beginning of Oct to decide this.
BTW, if you buy the tickets on Egypt Air website, it is Economy Flexible, a refundable ticket with nominal fee. Cancellation and refund are done online. They do refund but take several months. TripAdvisor just has a fresh thread talking about this as someone got his dates mixed up and bought the wrong date.
The overnight train you think of, would cost $80+ pp, and a restless long night. I don't see any reason to take overnight train over the plane.
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