Yasmine Beach Hotel

Before we were going away I was worried about what we were letting ourselves in for as I had read the bad reviews but i had nothing to worry about. We stayed from the 29th august 2010 - 12th september. The first week that we were there was really quiet due to ramadan, so the spa and indoor pool were shut but the 2 outside ones defo made up for it. They are always in the sun and the surroundings are beautiful. The 2nd week was buiser with more English people and local people too.
The staff in the hotel were all very polite to us and had a lot of time for us from making sure we always had a drink to reserving a table for us at meal times. They spoke English well enough to understand them so we got on really well with all of them. The animation team always got every 1 to join in with the fun and were always up to something crazy and put on shows every night.
I must admit that the hotel design and interior are not up to every ones standards but i thought it made the hotel look amazing, it is nothing i have seen before and for people to moan about it is crazy, they would soon be saying that it wasnt tunisian if it had all modern day items inside. The only down part is that the corridoors can be a bit dim but you are only in them for 10 secs max. The bedrooms itself are kept very clean and are very spaceous. The cleaners are in everyday with clean sheets and towels. We were surprised one day when they had scattered flowers over the bed which was a lovely touch, we also had different shapes made from the towels and swans made left on the bed. Our room looked over the tennis courts and the back pool and we loved sittin out there on a night time. Bad point - no kettle in room.
The food is all inclusive and is there for some times repetitive but you will get this on any all inclusive holiday where ever you go. There was a lovely BBQ that they done on the terrace where you can go and eat your food outside which is lovely as you can watch the sunset and look onto the beach which is very romantic. There is some thing for every onebe it traditional food or typical, chips, pasta, chicken or pizza.
When we decided to go out we were hasseled by local men trying to get us into their shops but we just politely said no with a smile and walked off, we DID NOT get any abuse towards us what so ever and they soon left us alone. I would warn people thought that some men by the medina say that they work at your hotel and its their day off, DONT listen saty away from them and try cover your A.I band up. they get you to go to certain shops, its a scam.
The hotel does have there own animals which include chickens, peacocks, 2dogs, gionen foel, rabbits and a stray cat. We did not know about these but there were not a problem infact it was nice to see them and you can go and stroke them and they are all friendly including the cat.
In my opinion i think that this hotel is lovely fair enought its not an English 5* but it is defo a 4. Im glad we went now as our honeymoon was fantastic and we really enjoyed it. We are thinking of going back again to celebrate our anniversary.

I would agree with most of the reviews I read, we were concerned about this hotel too after we've booked it and THEN read reviews...
So if you have read some of the reviews, I would just like to add that we had a bad experience with the staff on two occasions, one when we booked an air conditioned taxi and they gave us one not only without air conditioning but not even the fans working! When we phoned to complain they put the phone down on us.
Then there was a thing when I went to ask for some beach towels, i was only allowed to have 2 even though it was 4 of us and he had a pile of them.
We just came back from there (June 2010), if was very windy and the water in the pools and the see was freezing cold, we hardly swam at all, even the kids didn't want to go in the water at all. The hotel staff called us "lazy English".
I'm just discovering from some reviews that there was a BBQ, that's a news to us, we didn't know about that. I liked the food there, my husband didn't and the kids basicaly only eat pizza and chips all week. The puddings were great but the ice cream rubbish, all flavours just tasted like a chewing gum, but again, we have paid a little money for this holiday so can't complain.
One thing to add is the balcony we had was not safe for children, i was worried constantly. The kids club was ok, but you had to stay by the kids pool to overlook, I tried to go back to the room once and when I came back one of my boys was wandering about without anyone noticing. So deffinitaly NOT SAFE.
But over all, the hotel is beautifull, fantastic location next to the beach, but we didn't like the people. You get hassled a lot, whether by the hotel staff or outside, and if you don't buy anything in the shops they shout abuse after you. So not a place for us.

1 reader found this review helpful

I am wrining this review in the lobby of the hotel. The first thing you you will have to get your head round is the interior design.all the public areas are styled on the trogladite period that means that the interior design is based on caves so for the period of your holiday you get steadly depressed because its dark and dingy and opressive. There is nothing nice about this cave design as you move from lobby to restaurant to bar. The general ambience is depressing. There is nothing at all that is 5 star about this place, it really is a dump, i get the feeling the owners have given up and so too have the management.
food: i have to say this is the worst food i have ever been presented with. We are here on all inclusive and really regret that decision. At breakfast you can just about manage to pick a few items that that look an taste as you might expect.
lunch & dinner is just awful. They put the buffet out approx 30 mins before service and there it sits until the restaurant closes. They must buy the cheepest food available to most of the meat is not edible and vegetables are tinned thrown in a bainmarie with lots of warm water which turn them to mush.
most of the staff eat in the reataurant with you which leave me to assume that the chef dishes up staff food to the guests.
if you are here on all inclusive you are treated like a second class guest.
bar: choice of drink includes beer made at the hotel which is rank, local vodka, gin, whisky, lemonade, cola, local wine. No rum no brandy no fresh juice only the powdered juice mix with water. So a rum and coke is out the question.
service: basically there is no service, you have to get and carry your sunbed and mattress which they stack awayat the end and the staff watch you struggle with it. Crazy. Waiters walk arround the pool collecting glasses but will not serve you a drink, crazy. There are alot of staff but they seem to be eating in the restaurant or just stand and watch the hours go by.
with the appauling food and service and the depressing interior we got throughly depressed with the place.
you have to face a daily attack from touts trying to sell you excursions and they are allowed to roam the hotel even giving you the had sell round the pool.
so you get out of the hotel cross the 6 lane road to the beach. Here you are constantly approched by more tunisian men again attempting to sell you a load of crap, beeds, leather, henna paintings and so on.
the whole experience is appauling. We just cant wait to get home.. Please do not book this hotel you will regret it..........
despite my complaints to the many management in suits that seem to stand arround all day none was interested in my comments. They just dont want to know blameing the low wages they are paid.
tunisian tourism can only decline if they allow this standard of food and service and hotel to continue to trade under the lie that this is 5 star.. Fortunately there are plenty of other destinations that do offer great facilities food drink and service.

1 reader found this review helpful

I had holidays in this hotel at20th to 27th of December 2009.Iam in shock! And this hotel is 5*?NO ,NO,NO!Its a maximum 2* RUBBISH!Everywere is dark and very dirty.Staff is unhelpful and rudy.Meat is not good.Animation team is not interesting.I think that this hotel is for Algeryan arabics,but not for Europiens peoples.Dont book this hotel!!!this is 2* rubbish,NO MORE!NO WAY BACK!!!

7 readers found this review helpful

I spend on week in this hotel and I can't tell you how nice time i had there. Hotel is a great, stuff is so available and nice.
I would really recommended this hotel to anyone planing to visit Tunis, Hammamet.
Next year I am definitely going there, again.

5 readers found this review helpful

we spent 2 weeks at yasmine beach hotel and after reading some of the reviews i was a bit worried but i didnt need to be the hotel was great the staff were all very friendly the entertainment staff were brilliant my kids just loved all of them. i could not fault this hotel. the hotel staff even let us have a mael and drinks untill we had to leave to get our flight even though we had checked out we had such a good time me and my sister didnt want to come home we are looking to go back next yaer. the shopping is abit of a nightmare but we didnt buy anything that we didnt want

2 readers found this review helpful

Well, we've just returned from a week at Yasmine Beach, Hammamet and to be fair we couldnt wait to get back...
To begin with the hotel is DEFINETLY not five star, three star if we're being generous and this was the general consensus of people staying at the hotel. The staff didn't seem to friendly and they didn't really show any urgency when asked to do something. For example, BBC world news wasn't working in our room so I asked reception to send someone to fix it, and the man said he would do so. Five hours laters, still no BBC world news. After a complaint, they send someone within 15 minutes and it turned out to be a two minute job. To be honest they need a kick up the backside to get anything done for you.
The Decor of the hotel is quite awful. Modernisation is a must. The carpets are old and dirty and stained, and the lamps and lampshades are quite terrible and form quite a health hazard. Our balcony didn't have adequate safety and if that room was given to someone with a small child, then there would definetly have been an accident.
The food, if you're British you definetly wont like it. They cater mainly for Germans and have a small section dedicated to chips, pizza, spaghetti and pasta. But I can tell you even for chips and spaghetti lovers it can become quite menotinous two meals a day, for a week.
On the upside there was a BBQ, which was quite good so you could always take something from there (not if your a vegetarian of course).
Which leads me to my next point, just like the BBQ everything is really secluded within the hotel. Not until three days into my holiday did I find out that there was a second pool. And another gentleman that was staying in the hotel said he'd been there 10 days and only on the 9th day he found out there was a BBQ. Information is incredibly lacking.
On the upside there are a few good points:
- The rooms are clean and spacious. Cleaners come everyday and they are really polite.
- The hotel is in a prime location, near to the beach, marina and local shops.
- The waiters in the restaurant work really hard and serve drinks and clear your table quickly.

6 readers found this review helpful

We stayed at Yasmine beach last june (only writing now as just got computer). We had a fantastic time - me, my husband and 2 children (3 and 10 months old).
Yes the germans are rude and miserable, but that is not the hotels fault. I read one review where the staff were rude to the English. We found they could not have been friendlier. We always got big waves and smiles. They were fantastic with the children. My daughter celebrated her 3rd birthday whilst we were there. The staff were amazing, she had a cake made which the entertainment team paraded around the restaurant and sung happy birthday to her and a specially decorated table was laid for us. She felt like a princess. One of the waiters even bought her a teddy.
The food was decent enough, yes it was repetative at times but that is what happens with all inclusive in my view when you are catering for so many people. The drinks were good, i will agree small drinks but its all inclusive go and get another one. Just beware of the spirits in the bar near the entertainment stage, they were lethal you only needed 1.
The rooms were spacious and cleaned every day with added flowers and the bedding made in special designs.
The pools were big and clean, also good size indoor pool which was good for the little ones to escape the midday sun.
We was not to keen on venturing out to the shops due to the hagglers on the street but again that was not the hotels fault, that is the locals way of making money. We just stayed clear. The hotel had everything we needed.
We would definately go back to this hotel if we go to Tunisia again, we do like to travel around though.
Hope this is helpful

3 readers found this review helpful

Just arrived back from the Yasmine Beach, not as impressed as i thought we would be, staff were very friendly and polite, hotel is in need of some aircon outside the rooms as there were none. place needs updating . Please don't book the pirate trip with the hotels person, we paid £50 a couple had to drive an hour way on a cronky old bus (which we never thought would get us there) yet 5mins walk to the Harbour in Yasmine you get the same trip for £25 a couple. we was well and truly ripped off!!!. The hotel should never be classed as a 5*, we would say 3*+. Would defiantly go back to Yasmine Hamenett but not this hotel!!!

2 readers found this review helpful

Having read reviews by other holidaymakers
was a bit worried as to what we would find
the cleanliness of the rooms was good
The hotel was full of Germans who were treated like Gods
The Brits were treated as second class citizens .
The waiters were all after the woman to take them out for meals
I was very unfortunate to become ill on the very first day
I had a tummy upset which was quite bad the doctor said i should go to the clinic
I spent three days there.
While i was there the med Rep Shirley came to see me she was brilliant a very
caring lady Its nice to no that some reps do over and above what they are paid for.
Now to a warning when we went shopping in the shops we were called English [--]
if we did not buy anything.
Also youths walk about with knives .We saw one German man with a camera on his
shoulder four youths seperated him from his wife and cut his camers from him .He had no idea it had happend.
I will not be going back to Tunisia have been there four times now
Just do not feel welcome as an English person anymore.
Prehaps they should realise we are there bread and butter treat us better or pay the price