Alhambra Thalasso

Did not attend due to difficulty with public transport and therefore am unable to comment therefore please discard the ratings given

Great hotel. Lovely food, great staff and 5 minutes from the beach. Only loses a star because it allows smoking in all areas. Short walk to Hammamet promenade. Rooms are large and well maintained. Local cocktails and beer. Has own spa and shisha and gym. Also has an indoor pool and outdoor pool and kids pool. Tunisian style interior so not to everyone’s taste but we liked it. Stayed through love holiday for @£740 all in.

We have just returned from a 7 night family holiday at the Alhambra Thalasso Hotel in Tunisia. What was meant to be a 5* hotel, is actually like a 2*. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Ibrahim (assistant manager) and he explained about the timings of breakfast, lunch and dinner and told us he hopes we have a relaxing holiday. As we entered our room- Room 1051, the smell of damp overtook us and the walls were covered in moths as a result. There were also cob webs near one of the lampshades. We later discovered the damp smell was in fact coming from the A/C in the room. The mini fridge was extremely dirty and broken. We went back to reception and requested a room change. Ibrahim (assistant manager) showed us to our new room (Room 2054) and was quite abrupt as if to say we should of stayed with that musty room. He doesn't realise how much money was spent for this holiday. The fridge was quite warm at the highest setting, but much cleaner then the 1st room. No drinks or soft drinks included. Evening entertainment from the animation team was good. They seemed to have about 10 chart songs, which I discovered was their only music going as they played the same exact music by the pool in the daytime and the same exact songs at night. This happened for the entire time we were there. In the morning on the 2nd day, we went to use the gym, but left disappointed to find the treadmill and bike not working. The seat for the weight's machine was broken. No one was in the gym and should of had a ''broken gym'' sign on. The food in the buffet was plentiful, but nothing looked edible. The signs were all written in French and I soon discovered that Allergy info and the availability for non-dairy users were non-existent at this hotel. I saw they had dairy milk, but myself who can't have dairy (lactose intolerance). Luckily, I had brought my own instant coffee with oat milk from the UK. They had a chef on the fresh egg stations and a chef doing fresh crepes and doughnuts. The chefs all look so miserable as if they were being forced to be there. You could just tell that they probably weren't getting paid enough. I ended up eating an omelette every day for breakfast, along with 1 small doughnut with sugar and honey. My son came down with food poisoning on Day 2 and I had to go to reception to request to see a doctor on Day 3, as my son was getting dehydrated and wasn't able to keep anything down). The reception rang the doctor (as there wasn't a doctor on site). Ibrahim then suggested it was the ''climate, weather, beach or pool'' that must of got my son ill, not the food in the hotel. The doctor came and examined my son and said it was a viral stomach bug/food poisoning that he must of caught from the hotel. The doctor said someone preparing the food must of gone to the toilet, not washed their hands then prepared the food. We even watched the chefs at the BBQ station, taking raw chicken with the same tongs that were holding cooked chicken. This

Staff amazing . Husband not well for 4 of our 7 days so only did one excursion but thoroughly embraced using the health spa massages were fab and reasonably priced. The food wasn't the best but always managed to eat something adequate. The hotel building is really nice ,could do with freshening up but was very clean .The rooms and balcony were amazingly big. The indoor pool and sauna were an added bonus . The wonderful lady on reception sent a taxi for medication for my husband who delivered back to the hotel quite fast . We met some really lovely people who made our holiday in tunisia exceptional. Thankyou all .

We were very disappointed with the restaurant and food in this hotel. The choice and quality was certainly not 5 star. Inferior ingredients were used and the food was often cold. Dishes were not replenished when they had run out. Some of the cutlery was plastic and some of the staff surly and unhelpful Apart from breakfast all the hot drinks were served in paper cups everywhere and not just around the pool. The room was fine. A bit dated but clean and spacious. Our only complaint about the room was there was no kettle or drinking water. We were also surprised to discover it was not possible to borrow an iron. We were entitled to a meal in the Al La Carte restaurant which was much better than the normal restaurant but reception didn't tell us this and were not pleasant when we enquired and made the booking ourselves. The bar was lovely and a pleasant place to sit. The staff there were friendly and the choice and quality of drinks was good. The building itself was beautiful and location good but as we were so let down on the catering side we shall certainly not go back. We expect better when we book 5☆