Iberostar Selection Kantaoui Bay — Hotel in Maghreb

This is not a negative review, just an honest one. I had a good time, laid in the sun, got a good tan, read a couple of good books and really relaxed. ||It’s not 5*……but let’s be honest, they rarely are. ||The hotel was at full occupancy during our stay. I would hazard a guess that 80% of those staying are German with the remaining quests being made up of UK, French, and Italian . ||The hotel is very nice. Internally it’s well maintained and very clean. Outside, a few grassy areas are roped off, but other than that it’s laid out really well. ||Our room was on the second floor with a view of the front of the building…not very picturesque and the balcony never got any sun, but it was clean, quiet and functional. The air conditioning was a bit ropey, and some of our cupboard doors wouldn’t close, but the bed was comfortable and we only wanted to sleep in it in any case. ||The main pool was extremely noisy and had some kind of activity going on throughout the day. If you like to be entertained, you won’t be disappointed. The entertainments team work extremely hard to get everyone involved. ||If you want something a bit more relaxed than the adults pool is the one for you, but you still won’t escape the noise entirely. ||If you find somewhere around any of the pools that you particularly like, be prepared to claim your sun-bed by 07:15 in the morning or else you will be disappointed. ||There are always plenty of free sun beds on the beach.||There are 3 restaurants. Don’t bother with the Tunisian themed one. The starters and dessert were okay, but the main was awful. Many diners walked out when we dined there. The Italian was superb, everything we ate was fantastic. Both of these are bookable. The buffet restaurant had the same fare every day, but there was a lot of choice and everything was tasty and well prepared. ||The alcohol is not really alcohol….its more akin to alcohol flavoured soft drink. I am not a big drinker, but if I had consumed the amount of gins and whiskey at home that I did here I would probably be hospitalised! It’s very hot, you are very thirsty, the drinks service is very good, you are never left without a drink in your hand, but don’t worry about getting drunk….you won’t. The wine is local, it’s drinkable, but again, it’s more akin to wine flavoured water if there is such a thing. The hot drinks, coffee for example is very drinkable, and you will always have fresh cool water to hand….definitely needed in this heat. ||The gym was extremely disappointing. The description on the website was one of the reasons we chose this hotel as we enjoy a workout, but none of the electrical equipment was working and everything else was plain tatty and in disrepair. No water and no air conditioning either. ||The surrounding areas outside of the hotel are not really worth exploring. We walked both left and right of the hotel along the beach and found it quite smelly, what looked like human excrement on the beach and a few rough sleepers. Loads of jellyfish. The beach immediately to the front of the hotel was absolutely fine. ||We also walked to Port El Kantaoui one afternoon. It took us about 40 minutes to walk there. The road/pavement is in a bit of disrepair with plastic rubbish everywhere but it’s doable and quite straightforward and safe. There isn’t much at the Port…a few touristy trinket/t-shirt/fake leather shops and a handful of bars. If you don’t go, you won’t have missed much.||The staff at the hotel are amazing. They are a real credit to the hotel. Nothing is too much trouble, they are always friendly and do their utmost to insure you have a good time. A few tips go a long way and are well deserved. ||Overall, this hotel is extremely good value for money. You would probably pay double to get the same experience in Turkey and or...

My partner and I spent a wonderful week at this resort at the end of August. We did a lot of research of different resorts before booking and ultimately chose this one, which we are very pleased about. This would be a couple friendly hotel, with some families also. No big rowdy groups or any sort of trouble from guests. ||Arrival - bags went through a security scanner and were set aside while we checked in. This was a flawless service, we were given wristbands, paid our tourist tax (roughly £40) and went for a drink/lunch until our room was ready. Returned at 1pm to find our room was ready and our bags were delivered by a lovely porter. ||Room - we were in room 208 which overlooked the front of the hotel but this was fine as we hadn’t requested a pool/beach view. Plus we got to see the sunset each evening. The room was very large, a bit dated, but spotlessly clean. The big walk in shower was a welcome recent update. The beds were 2 singles pushed together but really comfy and good quality bedding. We had read in some reviews that the aircon was poor, but we found it very satisfactory. The friendly maid Chadia cleaned our room daily, left fresh towels and restocked the fridge. ||Food - we were warmly welcomed to the dining room each night by our waiter Ismail, he always remembered what we liked to drink and it was there waiting when we came to dinner. There was a good variety of food, if you have an adventurous palate you will love it, but as someone who is fussy with meat and doesn’t eat seafood I struggled a bit. Breakfast was amazing…the live omelette and crepe/waffle station was a highlight for us. If you like your British tea, bring your own teabags! We didn’t have lunch so can’t comment on that.||Pool - amazing! Big enough area for everyone to enjoy, no sunbed wars. The lifeguards are more than happy to assist when you arrive and get your sorted with beds, towels and umbrellas. Pool itself is big and clean. There is waiter service and you don’t have to move off your sunbed if you don’t want to, drinks are constantly refilled. Animation team work very hard offering a variety of activities daily and make time to talk to and try and include everyone. The foam party was a highlight of the week with a great atmosphere. The cocktails at the pool bar are much nicer than elsewhere in the hotel. ||Beach - we had seen some reviews about a lot of plastic in the water and litter, we saw none of either, the sea was beautifully clean. We also didn’t see any jelly fish which is something we were wary of. There are a lot of activities on the beach, all at low costs. We didn’t do any this time so can’t review. ||Excursions - we only did a catamaran trip which we paid €30 pp for, booked through a guy at the hotel. We don’t recommend this trip. It leaves from port el Kantaoui, goes 1 hour out into the middle of the sea, 20min swim stop in unattractive deep water, and then a slow tootle back to the port. Obviously you aren’t guaranteed to see dolphins, which we didn’t. I would save your money and look into other boat trips, we will probs do the kuriat islands one next time. ||Evening entertainment - this suits everyone, each night was different - singers, musicians, dancing, kids shows, a fire show, white party, comedy show. The staff are very attentive at the lobby bar and your glass will never be empty. ||Hotel in general - very big, clean and well kept. The staff are very friendly, nobody will pass you without saying hello. There is a little shop just off the foyer, this sells everything from souvenirs to toiletries to snacks to swimwear to some replica items, all at a decent price. There is a cash machine in the foyer which charges 10 dinar (£2.50) to withdraw money, but handy to have. |Would we return?...

Hi

Usually I never write a review but here 5 star reviews given by people are a bit too dodgy.

This hotel is actually not more than 3 star. The 5 star reviews are either begged or by force. I start with reception. The reception staff was extremely friendly on the arrival but no details were provided and once we checked in the rooms with our baby, we were shocked to experience the noise level and the poor quality of hygiene and cleaning. The toilet flush was not working and the fridge was stinking. We had to come to the reception to ask the phone number to speak to them. Lots of efforts to explain to the morning staff and then ended up paying them all inclusive to get a better room and better service. No real change except a little less noise. We had to carry our own luggage to change the rooms as the porter was not keen to get the trolley in this five star hotel.

Toilet tissues, towels, shower gels, handwash were not provided and we had to ask the reception for every little thing. The sockets were coming out of the walls and the cleaner was doing the jobs according to her own mood in this so called five star hotel. No towels robes were provided until 4th day and the cleaner was reported this day. She straight away was very upset then started yelling at me in her language. I told her I am going to record her and I started recording. There was no water bottles were given to us for whole night despite numerous requests and knowingly that I have medical conditions and have two year old child. The room ac wasn't working and it took ages to explain it to them. We were shocked to see the irony of the iron provided on request. All broken and water tank was tapped. This five star hotel provides no iron board and iron. Only on request and broken ones.

The toilets were not clean near to the dinner area.

The electricity was off for 7 hours and The hot water was off for 18 hours and we had to take cold showers.

The food is OK and very repetitive and drinks are awful. One of manager is the only lively person along with some chefs and waiters.

The hamam was the most horrible experience of a lifetime. I would request everyone not to pay for hamam until you see it first. The website mention sauna however you have to pay for it. This five star hotel doesn't provide the basic amenities of sauna even in all inclusive. Joke it is!!

The entertainment was good. The staff was nice except one male called Speedy. He wears a hat and try to grab attention with poor jokes. He is the one who was intimidating children and scolding them like he is the boss. He was very rude with the children and try to scare them whenever he got a chance. He is getting away with it. He was the only unprofessional in the entertainment team.

The most humiliation was when we were forced to give 5 star They were on our head while having dinner and asking everyone to give them only 5 star Me and other families who have not given them 5 stars were questioned by the lady manager like we were answerable to her. I explained it to her that may be she doesn't understand what a five star hotel services are like. The other family was questioned in the same manner. It is a shame that they are actually luring the innocent visitors by these begged reviews and I totally understand how the tourists are getting emotionally bribed by the...