Narjess Residence Hammamet — Hotel in Maghreb

We stayed for 2 weeks in September 2009. This was a time share exchange with Interval International and I reported back to them as soon as we returned - they said they would send someone out to inspect immediately. I can only hope that it made a difference - but I doubt it. The hotel was once ideally placed for the old town and the beaches before the new tourist area 5 miles away was built. Now it is stuck in the middle of nowhere and everything around it has died. Shuttered hotels, restaurants, bars and shops - the only places open were filthy local men's coffee bars and small shops. The tourists now go only to the new part and everything here has collapsed economically. It once was a good hotel with a large pool bar and barbeque (now closed), a large restaurant with varied menu (closed) and a pizza and ice cream parlour (closed). The rooms are dreadful with hard bench type settee in the lounge with no back, just cushions. The second bedroom has virtually no hanging space and no drawers (we were 2 couples). The bathroom was filthy when we arrived as was the kitchen. We waited while it was cleaned - it had been forgotten apparently. The kitchen was just a joke. Table and 2 chairs fixed in place to the floor. (there were 4 of us). No kettle, no grill, dirty old and noisy fridge, very little cutlery, no teaspoons and one desert spoon, two drinking glasses. Two hotplates only 1 of which worked. We were brought a hugely elaborate and totally useless coffee pot when we asked for a kettle the first time. When we finally explained that we wanted an electric kettle (plus all the other stuff) they said we would have it the next day. We told some other people there who laughed and said that they had gone out and bought everything after a week as they had given up asking! Thank heavens there was an English owned and run pub/restaurant around the corner or we would probably have starved. We foolishly booked dinner the night we arrived followed by breakfast the next||morning. They did not charge much for this which was just as well. A bit of dried up chicken and salad with stale bread for dinner with a banana for desert. Breakfast was plain yogurt, stale cake, a cheese triangle and undrinkable coffee. Tea was a non starter as they had no milk and only herbal teabags. I am happy to 'do as the Romans do' in foreign countries and we are very well travelled, but the entire clientelle was English or Dutch and no attempt was made to cater for European tastes. You couldn't even buy an ice cream.. We stole loo rolls from the reception toilet as the cleaners didn't ever leave us any. We cleaned the place ourselves as they only made the beds. The only highlight was the hotel's horse drawn carriage to the beach and back - a most enjoyable 15 minutes each way. We spent most of our time relaxing on the lovely sandy beach which had plenty of places to eat and drink, or hiring a driver and car to visit truly wonderful places like Carthage and Jem and eating and strolling around in the lovely old town of Hammamet (the new tourist town is tacky) - anything to delay returning to the ghastly hotel. The only entertainment at the hotel was a large screen TV in the Reception lounge. We wanted to watch this a couple of times, but the staff were all sitting around it watching sport all day and evening. We did find it unmanned once and put it on CNN - only to have a couple of staff just walk over soon after and change channel as if we weren't there! I wanted to write this report to warn other Exchange owners to avoid this one...

Where do I start - the reason for the 2 star rating was purely for the friendliness of the staff who tried to help whenever they could, which included a daily room cleaning service, otherwise we would have found another hotel. The location of the hotel is very isolated but the cheap taxi fares helped to negate this problem. There were NO amenities - a bar that served no drinks & a fast food cafe, next to the pool, which had the appearance of not functioning whatsoever. The breakfast was very monotonous and could have been more varied. There is also some form of nightclub across the road which tended to check their acoustics in the early hours. We were at the end of our stay when we were informed that the restaurant did serve evening meals so we thought to try it for our last night. The menu was a waste of time. It was easier to ask what they DID have and not being told what they DIDN'T have.One tip - have a working knowledge of French otherwise it will be more difficult throughout Tunisia. Loved Hammamet but would NOT stay at this...

We stayed here August 2010 for my parents Ruby wedding anniversary. We consisted of 4 families with 6 children. This hotel was great. Very quiet so we had the majority of the pool every day. 2 year olds were running around happy, part of the garden is grassed so safe for little one, lots of cool shade too. There was a little play area - swings/slide. Evening food was very 'Tunisian' but the lunch bar was fab. Kids loved the chocolate crepes! Rooms were fine, comfy, clean, staff were lovely. We asked for one room change to be closer to each other and they moved us no problem. Bar wasn't open at all but they allowed you to take your own wine/beer to dinner. Lots of the hotel seemed unused but all tastefully decorated. They ran a shuttle horse and trap to the beach which was great. Would not write off this place at all, we had a...