I’d like to leave as honest and open review as I can. Whilst reading this review please bear in mind there are several factors at play here when booking a cheap all inclusive hotel. Also there are cultural and socio economic factors at play too. I will describe our findings in a section at the end of the review so you don’t have to read it all if you don’t want too. In the main body of the review I’ll describe the overarching theme. I should say here that some of the pictures on holiday sites for example ‘Love Holidays’ who we booked through are not the hotel el Menzah bit the Hammamet which is on the same site and slightly better but not accessible to el menzah guests. Ok buckle in as this is a long one. We booked a week at El Murhadi El Menzah, because we wanted a short break somewhere hot and with everything covered in the booking including transfers etc. when we arrived it was quite late. The check in process was simple, we were given our wrist bands and then ushered through for dinner as they wanted us to eat before the restaurant shut. We went back to reception after eating and were given our room key. We were shown to the room. Once we put our bags down we had a look round the room. It certainly was not four star standard. By English standards it would probably be a one to two star. We decided to immediately go to reception and ask for a different room. The guy on reception didn’t even ask why we wanted to change rooms he simply said you need to come back tomorrow as there are no rooms. We went back to the room and had a rather uncomfortable first night in the hotel. The air conditioning worked albeit not well. We returned to reception the following morning only to be told that we would need to come back around 11-12 as they had to wait for people to check out before they could find us an alternative room. We decided to go to breakfast. It took a while to orientate ourselves but we found some items that looked ok and had breakfast. We went back to reception and were told there was a room which we could go and check to see if it was ok then they would make it up and we could change. We decided the room was marginally better than our original room so went back and said we would take it. This was also because we wanted to unpack and start relaxing. The room was ready around 12 so we transferred our bags and finally managed to unpack. We were approached by the love holidays rep (who we had booked through) we told him about changing our room, his response….. yes, day one everyone change room, very common. I said the hotel is very run down and he said ‘yes I know, it is needing ugrade’ that was it, nothing else. He then spent 30 seconds telling us about the surrounding area, cash point and money exchange, then about 5 minutes trying to get us to buy an excursion. As soon as he realised we weren’t interested he was gone. Not a great advert for Love Holidays simply made us feel it was about getting more money out of us rather than helping us enjoy our holiday. We then decided to take a walk and see what the surrounding area was like. Run down is the best way to describe it. The outside of the hotel needs painting and cleaning, also the communal areas are in desperate need of updating, maybe a coat of paint would sort this out. There is occasionally the smell of sewage when sat under the gazebo, not sure why but it’s definitely there. This is also a hotel of two halves (as a previous reviewer has stated). The El Menzeh has two pools yet there are four, turns out half of the hotel is the el hammamet. On the same site, with a separate pool area but clients can freely wander from one side to the other. I only found this out because I asked. The Hammamet seems a lot more up to date than the el menzeh. You can tell which of the outside areas belongs to which hotel because the floor changes. You’ll see it if you go!! There is entertainment in the evenings provided by the animation team. It seemed well attended and enjoyed although we didn’t go to this, opting to spend our evenings relaxing on our balcony. Reception - The staff were generally courteous and efficient I get that they are working with what they have. There is no guide given to tell you where to go or what time meals are. You will find this eventually on a board outside the restaurant. They were often inundated with newly arrived clients wanting to swap rooms. There was a sense that they know the issues people find with the rooms as they don’t ask why you want to change. On Wednesday 20/09/23 the power to the room went off, turns out this was to all the hotel except a few areas. Obviously there is no back up generator. The power came back on at 5am which meant it was a very uncomfortable night due to having no air con. The power went off again in the morning, meaning some of the drink machines and the toasters in the restaurant didn’t work. No power in our room either. It can back on around 10am and then very quickly went off again. Staying off most of the day. It came back on around 4pm. When I asked about the power being restored they said the problem was external and it would be back soon. 4/10. Restaurant - ok here goes, the decor is dated, there are stains on most of the walls and the grout in the tiles is filthy. It is hot, there is no air conditioning or what there is is not sufficient. The food is served buffet style, so help yourself, there is a griddle/plan here with a chef cooking to order this is always omelettes and eggs in the morning. There’s another grill where a chef is making pancakes, these are very tasty as are the omelettes. The rest of the food is really basic and standard fare. It’s well cooked and presentation isn’t too bad but as it’s help yourself it quickly gets messy. There are cereals and milk, there’s also a toaster too. It stays the same every day, with a couple of specials to change it up a bit. Lunch and dinner are practically the same with very little change. There’s a selection of salads which, if I’m honest, consist of maybe eight different ingredients in different combinations to give the appearance of more dishes. It is all very bland, you will need salt and pepper! The hot buffet, again is the same at lunch and dinner everything is well cooked but very bland. It does get repetitive after a few days. The grills do offer different things for lunch and dinner but on a rotation that is limited. The bread is reasonable but you will struggle to find butter, just margarine and only at breakfast. Take a few tubs for the evening!! The cakes are the same each day, don’t be deceived by the look, they all basically taste the same. Just a word of advice, this is a restaurant in Tunisia do not expect ‘English’ food as you will be disappointed. No chips, nuggets, sausages etc. salads, veal, turkey, chicken, ‘sheep’ and beef steaks (burgers not steak) are the daily standards. I think the ‘sheep’ is actually goat which isn’t bad and is quite tasty. I read one reviewer who said that people in the restaurant were piling their plates high and were being greedy, I get this when it’s something you aren’t used to seeing. I sensed that some people were eating as they perhaps would at home, so arranging food down the centre of the table and then everyone digging in as a family. I enjoyed seeing people enjoy this it was great to watch them engage in conversation and be together as a family. Flip side….. there were people piling ridiculous amounts of food on their plates and then also leaving huge amounts. I passed tables piled high with uneaten food each day I was there. This is completely wasteful. This is obviously beyond the control of the hotel staff and isn’t their fault. I mention it as it was something I observed frequently. We both ended up with upset stomachs, difficult to say if there’s an issue with the food or whether it’s the change of diet. I thought it worth adding if you have an allergy or are vegetarian/vegan you will really struggle. The staff put serving spoons out but these get mixed up by the clients. There is no control over this. Score 4/10 The rooms - This was the most disappointing part to be honest, when on a holiday for me usually being able to go back to a comfortable room which is well equipped is the best part after a day out. If that’s your expectation then you will be out of luck. Difficult to know where to start. The room was incredibly tired, the floors are tiled, which is something as it keeps it cool. The curtains were hanging off the track, the balcony door didn’t shut and had a gap, so there was no respite from the party music until it stops at 11pm. Only half the lights worked, the toilet seat was broken, the wardrobe doors were hanging off. No safe, no hairdryer, no toiletries, two small bath towels and mould all the way round the bath sealant. The shower head was in the bath as the holder was broken. The beds - one was on a slope as it had a wooden leg on one corner at the bottom and a wheel on the other corner, however the wheel had broken and so the bed tilted. The mattresses were threadbare and the sheets dirty. Be advised they only have single beds in the room, although they are pushed together. The desk/bench was old, stained and the veneer on the top was coming off. The chairs were broken. There was a cupboard which at some point must have had a fridge in, this wasn’t there and the base was rotted and dirty. The balcony was a reasonable size but again was seriously in need of updating. The table was old and worn out with a large chunk taken out of the top. The paint was flaking and the lights didn’t work, in fact most of the lights in the room didn’t work. The air conditioning wasn’t working properly, the best it could manage was getting the room down to 25c even though it was set to 5c. Again I assume it needs re-gassing and the filter cleaning as the fan had very little power behind it. Also the vent was broken and had fallen onto the floor so I had to put it back into its slot. The room we were moved into was marginally better but again the air con didn’t work well and the room was incredibly dated. I loved the fake phone, no connection and the old crt tv in our first room which had no reception at all. In our replacement room there was a flat screen tv but this didn’t work as the wires were exposed and there was no remote control! I should also mention in the bathroom there was a hole in the wall near the sink which had bare wires inside it, there was also bare wires to the tv in our second room. The hotel in general - very tired and run down. Certainly not the four stars that they proudly claim to have. Waiting staff are very good and amicable (a little tip helps) they will bring your drinks and clear your pots away from your table when dining but that’s it. Score 3/10 Domestics - the lady cleaning our room was very good and did the best with what they had, it’s very difficult to polish a turd!! The bedding and towels were changed on request which were good. She even made the sheet look nice on the bed. So they do try. 7/10 General facilities- there is no WiFi at the hotel, except in the reception area. Even then it is very intermittent at best. There is also no, or very little 4g coverage, this is my experience it may be different for you depending on network provider, if you need access to the internet then this will be tricky. I think when the hotel write about the facilities they include what the el hamidad has to offer in with theirs. There are toilet facilities and they are a reasonable quality. There are seating areas in the reception area they are adequate but again very tired, stained and old. I genuinely think the hotel staff try their best but they do know the issues with the facilities. I also understand that different people have different requirements so I would think some people are very happy. Be wary of the shop the guys in there seem to pluck the prices out of the air, very expensive. I recommend walking around the pool to the Hammamet hotel and buying from the shop there. Score 3/10 The pools - Whilst staying we used the pools. The salt water one was really good, a nice temperature and clean. The chlorinated one was mainly used by children and their parents so we stuck to the salt water one. The area around the pool is reasonable but could do with some updating and repair, loose tiles, broken plastic grates etc The decor is very tired. It’s little things as well like the planters around the gazebo, they’re wooden but half of them are broken and the bottoms have fallen out or the sides are coming off. The small pool for kids has tape around as it’s not working. The pool gazebo has broken planks on the top and a lot are missing. Score 7/10 for the pools Score 4/10 for the surround General pool feel - There is a DJ who plays dance music by the pool which isn’t too bad. The lobby bar is the place to get your drinks.. there are plenty of plastic sun lounges. Get them quite early and secure your spot. There are a lot of smokers around, if that’s a put off then you have been warned!! Also if you sit next to the gazebo you will notice an occasional whiff of sewage. Some days it’s worse than others. Surrounding area - there are a few shops around the hotel, they are the usual gift shops they will sit outside and then as you pass ask if they can ask you a question, this is obviously to get you into the shop. Once there they will do their best to sell you things. If you don’t mind this and enjoy haggling then this is an experience if not then maybe walk passed don’t acknowledge them or say firmly ‘no’ or ‘I have no money with me today. There is a supermarket about half a mile from the hotel, turn left out the doors and head to the marina, it is at the end of the road on a roundabout. There is plenty of trinkets there as well as snack, also there is no pressure selling and every is ‘price fixed’. The beach - looked clean and tidy and reasonably well kept. It fills up quick so we didn’t get the opportunity to spend any time on the beach. The sea looked clean and there were water activities on offer at varying prices. So in summary would I return? An emphatic NO. Even though it is relatively cheap it is nowhere near the standard I would expect. The fact that the problems are known by the hotel but they aren’t prepared to make any investment to improve it leads me to wonder how much they are committed to the customer and how much they are concerned about money. Such a shame because with investment this could be amazing, it could be so much better and if they want to attract more visitors and grow the tourism industry they really need to make that investment.…