Golden Tulip President Hammamet — Hotel in Maghreb

There were a lot of things that if we had known before hand we would’ve most likely re-considered our stay here. We stayed in the resort for ten nights and our main downside to our experience was the cleanliness of the place and the food. Starting with the cleanliness, the rooms are cleaned every 3 days unless you ask at reception, the floors are not particularly clean and are definitely very dated. A lot of the sealant around the bathroom has molded and has come away from the wall and floor. In terms of the rest of the room, the sheets are clean and so were the towels. The air conditioning works well and is very effective. However, when looking at the unit from a behind you can see the mould and the bacteria that has built up due to poor maintenance of the units. The food was something that me and my partner struggled with. Breakfast is fine and so is lunch. It is mostly the same everyday but there is stuff to choose from and there is a variety. Dinner on the overhand was very underwhelming. The hotel does themed dinner nights which at first seemed nice, however there was very little to choice. Me and my partner are not fusy eaters but we really struggled with the dinners at the resort. Something else to consider, the hotel is marketed as having a gym and a sauna and also an indoor pool. This is not the case, there is no gym or indoor pool on site and the sauna is only available at the spa, which you have to pay for. For myself and my partner, we booked the resort with the idea of a romantic holiday, but as we continued our stay we realise this was not the case.The drinks are okay, there are 3 cocktails to choose from and lots of soft drinks. You have to pay extra for other bottles of beer. Something I will say though was that the bar staff are incredible. They walk round the pool continuously and are always asking if you need a drink or would like one, they are friendly and it was really easy to have conversations with them. Youssef in particular was great and so friendly. Him and my partner got on very well and he was one of our highlights our trip. Leading on from staff, the hotel receptionists are mostly friendly. On our first day as we checked in, after waiting near enough an hour to be seen, one of the older women refused to deal with me as my booking was online. One of the younger ladies whose name was Ahlem, at reception then dealt with us. She was amazing throughout our stay, and again was friendly and very welcoming if we had any questions. I wish I could say the same for all of them. One thing I will say as well is that there is no guidance on times of breakfast/lunch or dinner. We had to get this information ourselves. There is no conversation of any hospitals near by and no discussion of where the pools are or any guidance around the hotel. Four days into our stay, after speaking to a couple we had met, we found out there was a snack bar on the resort. Even something like this should be communicated on our first day with an itinerary. We booked our holiday through loveholidays and again only found out about our rep a week into the holiday, which again should have been something we were informed of at the start of our stay. Little things like this for us, especially as it was our first holiday away together, really impacted how we felt.Something else to consider as well is the noise from places outside of the resort. There is a club that is a few meters away from the hotel and they play music very loud until roughly 2am most nights. Sometimes later on the weekends! The thing that was the most frustrating for us is that we payed extra for a sea view room, which is at the front of the hotel, which is where the majority of the music comes from. If we had known this we would’ve saved our money and not paid the extra.When we got to the hotel we were approached by a rep on the hotel who specialized in booking days out at the resort. We choose to do the quad biking at it was 100% one of the best things we had done before. This was probably the only positive of our stay. Any advice, it would be to...

Avoid This Hotel – Disappointing Experience

I don’t typically write negative reviews, but I feel compelled to warn others about this hotel.

The Positives I’ll start with the few positives: the weather was lovely, and the pool was enjoyable. Unfortunately, that’s where the good experience ended.

Transfer Issues Our trouble began with the transfer. The hotel promised a 40-minute journey, but it ended up being an exhausting 1 hour and 40 minutes, with an unplanned stop for a second transfer along the way.

Check-In Problems Upon arrival, we were ignored at the front desk until a rather rude staff member finally approached. She barely spoke English and requested that we email our booking details, as they didn’t have our reservation on their system—something that should have been checked and confirmed beforehand. After filling out forms asking for unnecessary personal information (including our home address, occupation, and car registration), we were told we couldn’t check in until 2 pm. No one showed us where any of the facilities were, and we had to wander around to find our way.

Unpleasant Welcome While waiting in the lobby, we were immediately harassed by people trying to sell us trips and spa treatments. Having just arrived, it was overwhelming and far from the relaxing welcome we had hoped for. I understand the need to promote these services, but the approach was intrusive.

Disappointing Room Once we got to our room, the disappointment continued. Although we technically had a sea view, it was overshadowed by a dirty, unattractive rooftop (see attached image). The shower had mold, and the balcony had just one plastic chair and a tiny table. The only positive aspect was that the room itself was relatively clean, and the beds were comfortable.

Poor Dining Experience The food, though initially appearing varied, was bland, overly greasy, and left us feeling unwell. Salads were dry, and there was little variety each night. We ended up resorting to bread and chips on most evenings. The snack bar was also disappointing, offering only leftovers from lunch, and it didn’t open until 4 pm.

Subpar Service While one or two waiters were friendly, tables were often left dirty, and we frequently had to clean them ourselves and find our own cutlery. It was clear that if you spoke French, you received better service, while we were often overlooked due to the language barrier.

Limited Drink Selection The drink offerings were laughable compared to what was advertised. Despite boasting a cocktail expert with 35 years of experience, there were only three cocktails, three spirits, and one beer available. The drinks were served inconsistently, and often in flimsy plastic cups.

Unkempt Beach & Surrounding Area The beach was poorly maintained and dirty, while the surrounding area was rundown and far from inviting.

Unsettling Room Entry On our third evening, despite having the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, staff entered and cleaned the room. This disregard for privacy made me feel uncomfortable and unsafe.

Overpriced On-Site Shop The on-site shop was outrageously overpriced. We were charged 150 dinar (around £37) for one bottle of shampoo, one bottle of conditioner, and two coasters – a shocking price for such basic items.

Lackluster Entertainment The entertainment was simply awful. People were leaving halfway through the show we attended. While the dancers were passable, the rest of the act was underwhelming, featuring a man juggling a few pieces of cloth and balls. The grand finale? A football juggling act that fell flat.

In Conclusion There is much more I could add, but I believe the above gives a clear picture of why I strongly advise against staying at this hotel. It was a deeply disappointing experience, and I wouldn’t recommend...

Hotel of Horrors: My Room & The Awful Staff "Service"|Checking in was slow, and I had to find someone just to get our luggage and show us to our separate rooms. My initial ground-floor single person bungalow was truly a nightmare and a long walk from the main areas. I was deeply disturbed by:|• Mould that was rampant in the walk-in shower corners (just look at the photos!), beside the toilet, and underneath the bathroom sink. It was everywhere.|• The room, inexplicably for one person, had three single beds with such ill-fitting mattresses and disgustingly grimy bases (visibly captured in the images). It was clearly not maintained.|• The inside door lock was broken with chipped paintwork (confirmed by images), making me feel incredibly unsafe. Being on the ground floor, this was a serious worry.|The front desk staff were so frustrating to deal with. Their limited English made it impossible to get clear answers, and they were unhelpful, constantly delaying promises of a new room or just plain ignoring you to talk among themselves or to other guests. It was incredibly disrespectful.||Then, the guest services manager I was passed to didn't even bother to introduce himself or his assistant. They were so condescending, implying I had picked the awful room and that it was some "premier space." I was so upset when I was told I had to spend the second night in my niece’s room.||There was no clear information about hotel facilities or our half-board plan – I had no idea which restaurants we could eat at or what was included, which led to an unnecessary and upsetting 100-dinar charge for lunch. We were left completely in the dark for the first 24 hours.||I was also very let down by our Lastminute.com rep. I only met her on Sunday morning because she had left meeting information only for my niece the night before, nothing for me, even though we arrived on the same flight. While she seemed nice, she was completely ineffectual in helping me with my distress.||The food was consistently cold, tasteless, and unappetizing, and the dining room was plagued by flies. Breakfast items like omelettes were both burnt, tasteless and undercooked at the same time, which was just unbelievable. Even though I paid for half board, we were so disgusted that we ate out every evening for the entire trip.||I was passed around from one staff member to another, which was incredibly frustrating. Even the Lastminute.com rep proved unhelpful, seemingly only interested in selling trips. To make things worse, my niece’s room also suffered from a severe shower leak, causing rot around the bathroom door frame. When I finally got a slightly better room on Sunday afternoon, less mouldy, I still had to deal with constant street noise from loud parties and motorbikes from the main road. We decided not to spend any more money in the hotel and elected to eat out each night. It felt so unfair to leave the UK for peace and relaxation, only to find the same noise and stress there.||Overall, the hotel was in a truly severe state of disrepair with really poor workmanship (it was so clear in the mouldy grout, broken furniture, and rotted doors). What's shown online is deceptively different from reality, especially beyond the main lobby. Notably there are no pictures of the bungalow rooms on their website. Even locals in Tunisia confirmed it's a "really crap hotel," which was just disheartening.|I would absolutely not recommend this hotel to anyone, and I would never, ever return to Tunisia. ||It was genuinely one of the worst places I've stayed in a very long time, and it just reinforces that only the 5-star hotels in Tunisia might meet even basic expectations. I was very, very unhappy with...