Golf Residence Hotel

Just back from Gold Residence in Port El Kantaoui and was my worst holiday ever. The Hotel is old and shabby. The rooms are awful and our bathroom had cracked and broken tiles with a stained bath and looked really grubby.
We had no air conditioning as the hotel said it was low season and wasn’t switched on so at the night it was unbearable and we had to sleep with the balcony door open to get some cool air which wasn’t very safe as we where on the first floor. The staff at reception were the most unfriendly I have came across. The food is just ok but I don’t think this is good enough when you are half board. The Hotel needs a total refurbish and I would NOT recommend it to anyone. Avoid at all costs I wish we had!
The only reason I have given a 2 out of 10 is because the pool area was ok.

Very clean, well air conditioned. The staff are the friendliest and most patient I have ever come across.
The food was excellent and well worth trying all types. It was a pleasure to sample Tunisian food and not the staple diet of some Brits abroad, including chips with everything. There was plenty of fruit and a wide variety.
I would recommend this hotel to anyone, especially those with kids, as we felt it was very child friendly and they made every attempt to keep them occupied.

The golf residence will ONLY appeal to older, hard of hearing customers. Just spent 2 weeks with my wife and 2 young children in the hotel and was fed-up after 5 days.
The accommodation is basic to say the least, very dated and worn furniture, chipped and cracked tiles, unlockable windows and no seating in the rooms. The maids come in daily and make the beds and clean the floors and we were happy with the standard. Twice our room didn’t get cleaned till after 3 o’clock but it wasn’t really a problem.
The killer is the noise. There is a nightclub bolted on to the side of the hotel and it draws quite a crowd every night of the week. The booming noise can be heard from every room apart from those with a pool view. We moved rooms 3 times to try and get some sleep but still we could hear the music. Pray your not there on a Saturday because the whole town descends on the nightclub. The first Saturday people were screeching cars around the front of the hotel and having a party until...wait for it......7.30am. One person claimed to have seen the reception staff shaking hands with some of the party-goers.
The second Saturday (and last) cars were parked in four lines down the main street as the locals shouted and FOUGHT their way thru the night...it all quietened down when a pane of glass was smashed on the security hut.
The food is bland, nothing more. Our first meal was beef rind with potatoes and beans, which we thought, was ok, but the next night was a similar variation and the next, and the next, and then it was beef rind night again. Yes there is a choice but if you can afford to eat out then DO. Breakfast is fine, choose from eggs, toast, cereal, croissants, cake, baguettes etc. The restaurant staff are very good, friendly and efficient. If you put your cup down they will take it! As my wife found out when she put down here coffee. (Bring some Nescafe, the coffee is vile). They are good with children, which really brightened up meal times.
The reception staff were different. We arrived at 12.30 at night (2 and a half hours late) and were dumped in the foyer by the rep. The guy at reception didn’t even raise a smile, didn’t say hello or welcome just handed us a form to fill in before we could go to our rooms. Why it needed to be done there and then I don’t know but with our two young sons asleep in our arms, we were less than impressed. And throughout our stay the reception staff remained rude and unhelpful. Their English is worse than that of the maids or the restaurant staff. AND twice we were short changed when changing money at reception (go to the big marina shop to exchange money).
Location is good, directly opposite a water park, which looked impressive but was shut. Also close to Hannibal park which is a British seaside funfair. There is no complimentary horse drawn carriage to the beach....we asked the rep. So the beach is a 10-minute walk from the hotel. I recommend you go to one of the 5 star hotels and use their beach as it is cleaner and there are people who turn away the beach traders.
NOTHING is free in Tunisia, even if they say it’s free. We were looking for a bucket and spade and asked in one of the shops, he said No but took us to another shop and said "small money" to us, we gave him a dinar but he wanted more. We didn’t give him more.
We went in the shop and they didn’t sell buckets or spades. Another guy to look out for is "BAMBINO". Dressed in a ski jacket with a bin bag over his shoulder he will walk past you, turn and say "Bambino" and point at your child, he then hands a bag of chocolate nuts to your kids, as if they’re free. If you say no he opens a bag for you to try and you then feel obliged to give him something for it. JUST SAY NO! But once you know him you can watch him do the same routine to other people which is quite amusing.
The shopkeepers will hassle you, "have a butchers, ASDA price, luvvlyjubbly, later alligator" and they really do go on and on and on. JUST SAY NO.
The fixed price shops are much easier to look round and sell exactly the same as EVERY shop in Port el Kantaoui. They are cheaper too, you wont haggle a bargain in other shops they just don’t go that low.
The zoo was a little gem for the kids, it looks naff from the front but is bigger than you think and boasts camels, emus, ostriches, tortoises, birds etc. But they DONT have 25,000 different plants.....50 maybe.
On the whole the holiday was OK at best and we will not return to Tunisia. Scariest of all is saved till last....
When we were waiting for the coach to take us to the airport, we went down 30 mins early to the foyer, the coach turned up 5 minutes later, and the Rep said "there should be another couple". She shouted out their names...no reply. "Oh well I expect they got a taxi".....and we went. Even though the coach was 25 minutes early...we went.