ONE Resort Aqua Park & Spa — Hotel in Maghreb

Avoid. Overall there’s not much to do and it’s quite repetitive. Something went wrong everyday

Room This is where the holiday went downhill as the rooms are ‘Pontins’ adjacent. We had a ‘refurbished’ room and it was filthy. The sleeping areas need a good scrub as they look like they haven’t ever had a proper clean. The bathroom was disgusting! It’s outdated and filthy. Wee and god knows what up the back of the toilet, hairs everywhere, mould, limescale, broken rusty drains in the walk in shower. Other guests had the same issue, even though these were ‘newer rooms’. The shower drain was clogged with hair so the whole bathroom flooded. The repair man fixed it but left previous guests hair everywhere and they refused to send a cleaner until the middle of the next day so we were unable to shower. One day we woke up at 6am to no hot water at all despite consistently running the shower. The younger man at the reception (Moslem) was horrid. He told us to run the water for 10 minutes (it had already been 25) and kept smirking and laughing at the issue and not listening or helping in anyway. After begging almost an hour for another room to just shower in we were shown to room 001 to use. It hadn’t been cleaned as there was litter strewn in the room and various belongings. The wet room had hairs and dirty towels all over it so we refused to use it and asked for it to be cleaned. Moslem laughed and told me to clean it myself (somebody else’s mess!!). We ended up having cold showers in our room and missing breakfast because we had to leave for an excursion. He definitely needs re-training in customer service or a career that isn’t customer facing

Cleaning The communal areas were spotless. There were always grounds keepers tidying and collecting rubbish. The cleaning in the room however was basically nonexistent. The cleaner tried to haggle her way out of cleaning everyday and on the days she did clean she would walk a dirty broom with a dirty cloth over the floors (that was used for EVERY guest room on the grounds) and regularly gave us dirty pillowcases and towels (with hairs and blood stains on)

Entertainment We loved the water slides and pools. My son loved the animation team - especially the 8pm kids disco and the foam pool party. The days are very repetitive spent by the pool or on the beach as there isn’t anything close by (we recommend booking excursions through the Ali Baba team on site). There are different themed evenings though (like comedy night, Michael Jackson night etc) but we didn’t go to these.

Beach Small sandy beach with clear water and fish swimming at your feet. The banana boats at the beach (run by Honey) were so fun. There’s even a camel that walks up and down too

Pressing service There are no irons available in the rooms so we opted for their ‘Pressing service’ to have our clothes ironed. Unfortunately, we were left without the majority of our clothes for most of the holiday because for the first two days we were told to leave our clothes in the bags provided to be collected (spoiler: they were not collected). The third day our clothes were collected and returned to us, untouched, in the bags they were given in. On the fourth day they were picked up again with the promise of being returned that evening but were not returned until the fifth day. The manager promised to have our clothes back before 7am as we had an excursion to leave for but the clothes arrived at 7.38am when we already left for the excursion. They didn’t look anymore ironed than before and were even more creased because multiple items were piled onto each hanger. I would have just preferred an iron to do it myself. Oh, and despite the manager saying the ‘pressing service’ would be free because of all of the hassle they tried to extort us into paying £££ for the ‘service’ on our last day. He also tried to smooth things over with the promise of a ‘free gift’ that would be left in our room that...

The rooms are clean enough, the pools are large and well maintained, and the service is great, especially if you tip as it can get very busy at meal times.

The animation team makes this hotel! Something to do all day from around 10am and the shows at night usually finish around 10.30/11pm.

Individual rooms are cute instead of a big hotel style. Shop on site, hairdryer in the room, gardens and grounds are well maintained, beach is lovely and has staff and security on from early until late. The beach front snack bar is beautiful in the evening and provides a lovely breeze.

The food is fine, a little repetitive, However, there is always something to eat from salads, rice, meats, and fruits.

My kids didn't like the slides as they said they snagged their clothing going down on the joins of the slide, so they didn't really bother after the first go. The lazy river is somewhat relaxing.

My tips would be to take a cup with a lid in your suitcase. The cups are very small, and they are happy to fill up a cup for you at the bars throughout the hotel. Wear goggles or sunglasses for the pool foam party as it stings your eyes, but it is so much fun. Once the foam starts, it will cover small children as there is so much if it (covered my 7 year old), so keep hold of them! We had no issues if safety, but I would recommend using the free safe in the room. Check-in is from 3pm, which I wasn't aware of. We arrived at 11.30am. So, I needed to go through the case for a costume. I would add a costume and towel in your hand luggage and small suncream so you can make use of the facilities while waiting.

On the beach there are water sports and activities which are reasonably priced and we took part in a few of them, camel rides also available on the beach (added a photo of the prices). There are jellyfish in the sea and on the edges, and my kids were stung on day 1. However, this can happen on any beach, anywhere. The life guards quickly produced a cream, and all was resolved.

The photographer at the hotel is great and provides a free photoshoot, then you pay for some or all of the pictures you want. Pictures are around 15 dinar/£4 per picture. There is a tour person on site called Ali baba who offers camel rides, quad biking, and a boat trip. We didn't use these as lots already going on, but hearing from other people who did go on the pirate ship trip, they said it wasn't what was promised.

The rooms are cleaned daily and fresh towels provided. We did have a few issues with ants and electric sockets, however after reporting to reception they came out straight away (11pm) and fumigated the room and changed all the plug sockets) the staff are efficient and friendly.

There is WIFI, which works fine mostly. I couldn't get WIFI in my room unless I went on the balcony, but lots of others could. Depends on where you are on site. However, around the main pool is great for connection as well as other public parts.

There is a spa on site offering massages and such. However, I didn't use this facility, so I can't comment on the quality or prices.

We went in August, and it was HOT. Take lots of suncream as you will go through it. We had 8 different types for 1 adult and 2 kids and went through it! Try and find shade to take a break throughout the day.

Getting a subbed around the slides and lazy river isn't really an issue, same for the beach... but the main pool gets full quick. Getting to the main pool at 7am should secure you a decent spot.

It is by no means 5 star luxury, but it is clean enough and provides lots of things to do, eat, and see for the price paid. I would go again, as would the kids. We had a great week away and...

My family visited the One Resort Aqua Park and Spa for one week all inclusive.

On arrival it appeared the whole place was in chaos with very few English speaking staff. Not too much of an issue, but had to wait for rooms to be ready. Was asked to go to the bar where the bar man gave me the look of a deranged killer when I asked for our drinks, which were seemingly small enough to quench the thirst of a beetle at best!

We were then ushered into a dining room filled with other guests, still in our travel clothes, sweating from every orifice to be told to eat before the rooms were ready.

Following some very strange quisine, we were finally given the room key and began the small marathon to our room. It was on the outer edges of the park so we considered camping half way for the night and continuing the next morning, however the need for a cold shower whilst stood in the 34 degrees heat of the Tunisian midday made us continue on our quest.

On arriving at the room we found it basic, but clean and tidy. There was also the addition of a baby's cot, which would've been great if our children weren't 11 and 14. The maid quickly ushered an assistant to remove the cot and we all had cold showers and bathed in the glorious coldness of the air conditioning.

After the first night we only received 3 towels per day between 4 of us, which was a little awkward but we managed.

In order to get a sun lounger it's essential to get up before sunrise and plaster your beach towels over your selected loungers, however this does not guarantee they'll still be there when you get to the lounger after breakfast.

The water park is basic and does not have anywhere near enough capacity to deal with the number of guests that visit. Expect lengthy waits for both drinks and food here. The food is extremely basic at the park and the drinks miniscule.

The dining hall was permanently packed and in utter chaos. The food did not cater for English tastes, which is generally fine as you're in a foreign country, however there were many children very disappointed at the lack of decent chicken nuggets and tomato ketchup. My wife also found it very difficult to get any information on which dishes contained nuts, as she suffers from an allergy to them.

The entertainment team were very good with plenty on for the kids to do however they can be a little pushy in trying to get people to take part in activities.

The staff in general were fairly pleasant but the language barrier did make things difficult. There was also a tendancy for them to point at someone else and scarper when you asked them for anything such as cutlery or a napkin.

It felt like the resort was jam packed at all times which made relaxing and enjoying some family time a little difficult. The fact that they have one member of staff on the bars with queues of up to 50 people long, shows they really need to up their game and staff the bars more appropriately. It would also help if all bars served all drinks. Instead it's pot luck on which bars serve spirits and at what time.

I would avoid going into any of the shops on site as they jump on you as soon as you enter and try to flog anything to you. If you do decide to go in, make sure you barter for everything as the first prices they give you are massively inflated.

I'm sure that Tunisia has a lot to offer, however for me the One Resort Aqua Park and Spa fell short of my expectations and I left feeling really disappointed with my holiday. It's definitely geared up more for French and German tourists so I'd suggest maybe looking for another resort that's either geared up for, or at least has experience...