Marhaba Royal Salem Hotel

1 reader found this review helpful

The Hotel is our favourite in Tunisia. Nothing is too much trouble for the staff, everything is easy, from banking to travel, to communication etc.
The food had improved even more (should that be possible) - there is absolutely everything and anything you could wish for - the only missing thing is oat-based cereal at breakfast.
There is now some entertainment at night - but we hate noise and prefer quiet at night, so ensure you are "behind the fire doors" if you don't like noise!
The staff are marvellous, the beach is superb and the Tunisians have now got into the habit of clearing up any seaweed blown in the March winds!
The only criticism is that the beach cafe should be open more and more readily available drinks, food (perhaps just Panini, chips etc.) and ice cream should be on sale there.
However a superb holiday as usual - we will be returning in October.
This is one of the best beaches in the whole world and the water sport facilities are cheap and excellent. Lots of lovely pure golden sand and a very gentle shelving bay, secure for children.
Food - now all buffet, which we prefer and totally excellent. Well done and thank-you, especially to Zu Zu for putting out our chairs daily.
One big consideration for families is that all sun-beds are free - if you go to any Spanish location, or Canary Isles, Balearic isles, sun-bed hire can cost a family of 4 another 8Euros each per day! That is 112Euros a fortnight - so think of Tunisia where it's all free apart from the odd Dinar tip!

I am surprised at the really positive reviews given by others. The Hotel was okay.
Furniture in rooms a little dated. Mattress a little too soft for our liking.
Food was good. However they charge for mineral water/fresh orange juice for evening meals and breakfast.
The pools were satisfactory, kid’s playground a little basic, Kids club good.
My first visit to Tunisia probably wouldn't go to Royal Salem again.

1 reader found this review helpful

Great hotel, good food, nice people very clean and a good size bed which is comfortable.
What more do you want from your hotel. My visit was in Dec so I cannot tell you if you would have problems with sun loungers in the summer but I could not see many about, this could have been the fact they had been stored for winter.
The pools are first class with great slides for the kids.
A great visit for the quality shopper is the slim centre, great shopping mall with great quality goods and great prices, about a mile from the hotel a taxi will cost you no more than £1.00 but it is also a nice walk.
We only found it by accident but what a surprise, you do not expect to find a shopping mall quite like this in Sousse.
Go for a week and you will have plenty to do and see without having to go on the tour operators expensive trips, if you go for two weeks. I feel you may have to book trips with the tour operator as you will run out of things to do unless you are happy lying in the sun.
My first visit to Tunisia but sure to return and with a bit of luck will be able to book the Royal Salem again.
Could only find one fault and that was with the travel rep from My Travel not the best we have come across but we didn't need him anyway.

After reading reviews here before my Holiday I was dreading not a nice holiday.
This was definitely not the case.
On arrival at 1.30am we were greeted by very pleasant staff, and shown to our room.
The Rooms had a nice bathroom, 2 beds, a wardrobe, a TV and 2 mirrors, and a pool side view, so for a 3 star hotel what else do you expect, so people that complain, stop spending so much time in your room, and get out and enjoy yourself, the room was air conditioned so that was a definite plus.
The food everyday was excellent, I think the hotel goes out its way to sit people from the same country together so you make friends straight away. By the end of the week My Girlfriend and I had met about 20 Brits that made the holiday such a fantastic week.
The only night I can criticise the food was the night they had a set menu, and there wasn't much choice, apart from that, every was very nice, brilliantly cooked and tasted great, the waiters were always there to look after your needs
The Pool in the Marhaba Salem, is a good size, and you can easily get a sun lounger up until about 11 o'clock, just slip the lovely pool man a couple of Dinar, these people get paid like 6 pounds a week, so if you help them they help you. He used to keep sun loungers hidden away for us, so you then had time to enjoy your breakfast.
The other pools, are ok, the Blue Star Royal Salem, has a sea water pool, which I fond pointless cause your 2 minutes from the beach.
The best part of the whole holiday was the Animation team at the Marhaba Salem, what a fantastic bunch of guys, and some people on here have no idea how hard they work, from 8.30am in the morning till 11pm at night this team of friendly people got out of their way to make your holiday a great time.
Everyday from 9 till 5 they take part in activities, Darts, Mini Golf, Volleyball, Archery, Water Polo, Table Tennis, and the energetic Aqua Aerobics. These activities are a great way of meeting people and making your holiday so enjoyable, get to know the animation team and they will double the enjoyment of your holiday.
Zuzu "The Best mini golf player in North Africa" - Such a great guy, answered every question I had, and help us all out, he's had 5 days off since Christmas, but has energy everyday to laugh and entertain with all the guests
Sou Sou - Patrick Vieira look alike, called me Jimmy because I am Scottish, a hit with the Ladies, always dancing about and getting everyone involved
Moo Moo - what a talented guy, the Bingo game played every night, he calls the numbers in 5 languages, and one night in the nightclub in the hotel he stood up for my girlfriend when a Tunisian man was bad mouthing her in Arabic, he didn't have to but he sorted him out, and got us some more drinks.
Rammy and Sergit the other 2 quality guys made us feel so welcome the holiday wouldn't have been the same without them, including Zuzu, Sergit and myself having a heated midnight discussion about the quality of Tunisian football
There wasn’t a night went past during the entertainment section at night time when one of our group wasn't up on stage taking part in the festivities, even though sometimes embarrassing (I was up a few times myself) it just adds to your enjoyment
The other thing I wanted to mention was the vast number of foreigners in the hotel, yes it's true there are French Germans, and lots of eastern Europeans, this for me was not a problem, I learnt some words in a few languages, spoke to some French and couple of Germans, and played the international sport of football, with Swedes, Northern Irish, Serbian, English, my self a Scotsman and a French, and Zuzu a Tunisian, I’d much rather have this interesting mix, then full of Brits
My Girlfriend and I already want to go back we had such a good time
So if you’re thinking of going there, don't hesitate, and make sure you tell the Animation team, "Jimmy" or Andrew sent you

Have just returned after a 2 week stay. Hotel excellent, greeted by staff at door who carried suitcases into foyer, then we were asked to take a seat and was presented with a free drink, and checked in. Luggage then taken to our rooms. Only problem was put in annex which was only 2star in my opinion complained and was then transferred back to main hotel .There was a few teething problems because of the refurbishment of the annex at the back of the complex known as blue star.
Staff was friendly and always willing to do a bit extra to ensure your stay was good.
Entertainment not to my liking but across the road was the Medina Centre which is a bar and shop and very pleasant to sit in.
Only compliant was the influx of the Russians .About 80% was rude and determined to eat the restaurant out of food.
We had many laughs including the night that a taxi driver insisted we got in his cab .I have a bad knee trouble bending it.
But driver insistent at one point thought he has going to break my leg rather than lose a fare. My friends and I are already talking about going back end of September as we had such a good time.

Just got back from the Royal Salem and just have to say this is a very nice hotel. The reception and the rooms for Tunisia are a definite 4 star. The hotel gardens are well kept and lead down to a nice sandy beach. The facilities are shared with the Marhaba Salem next door (3 star) and this is where the Animation Team operates from around their pool which can be used by all guests.
We sat by the small pool which is situated just outside the Royal. But if you walk through the gardens you can find the large rectangular pool of the Marhaba Salem, and on further walking they have just opened a new part of the hotel - The Blue Star Royal Salem - which has a very large lagoon salt-water pool, complete with slides and flumes. Next to this is a good size children's pool. Also there is a very nice large indoor pool at the Royal.
The staff at the hotel are very helpful and friendly, and the room we had was very large and comfortable. The sheets and towels were changed every day. The air con is free and is an absolute god send as the temperature for our week never dropped below 100!
The food in the hotel is very good. Breakfast consists of freshly made omlettes, fried eggs or pancakes. In the hot trays are sausages, scrambled egg, beans, delicious fried potatoes etc, etc. Good choice of cereals, fresh fruit, yogurts, bread, boiled eggs, cold meats etc. etc. Fruit juice, tea or coffee are also served. Lunchtime was also varied and plentiful and was the evening meal which seemed to have some sort of theme on most nights - Chinese, Italian etc.
Entertainment on the hotel is provided by a Tunisian singer on an organ in the main bar lounge of the Royal, and if you take a short walk to the Salem pool for the Animation team. The entertainment follows the usual format, dance shows, audience participation, karaoke, fire eater, snake charmer etc. There is also a children's disco earlier on in the evening.
Sousse town centre is about 4km away as is Port El Kantaoui. Both are very nice with plenty of bars and restaurants. Both are lively and Port El Kantaoui has a lovely marina where you can book your own boat trips.
All bars are open from 8am to midnight and serve nice tasting beer, although not that strong and on AI you can also get local whisky, bouka, vodka and red and white wine. The coffee is not bad at all.
Other people have mentioned that the hotel is full of Russians and French, well I can honestly say that last week it was 70% British, 1% German and the rest made up of Russian, Ukrainian, French, Italian and Latvians.
All in all, a very nice holiday, and as we booked it late and the price we paid, can not complain at all. This is as good a hotel as you will find anywhere in Tunisia. I should know, I have stayed in a few.

We changed our hotel last minute to stay in the Marhaba Royal Salem and am so glad we did. The hotel was the nicest I have ever stayed in. It was spotless with clean bedding and towels every day. The food I couldn’t fault only it did get a bit repetitive after a week. We were 1/2 board breakfast had lots to choose from and so did the evening meals but be warned the hotel is full of Russians and French who have no respect for anyone other than themselves, but we didn’t let that bother us, we got used to being pushed out of the way and having no ‘thank you's’ from them.
We didn’t use the pool at all as it was too small but enjoyed the private beach which was cleaned daily and you are not bothered by locals as only employees of the hotel are aloud on the beach. Be warned the Russians would be down at 6 every morning to take all the loungers on the beach and were also paying one of the staff to put their towels out for them, we decided if you can’t be them, then join them. We did go out one evening to the market but after 1/2 hour of being pestered we decided to return to the hotel as my son was frightened by the experience.
There entertainment has a lot to be improved it was conducted in every language other than English which only last 30 mins for the smaller children and it was the same every night. We had a seven year old and 12 year old with us the 7 year old loved it but my son sat next to us every evening as there was nothing at all for him to do. You can use the hotels either side but the one with the slides was shut for refurbishment while we were there and was opening back up on our last day and we had a fab day in there on the slides.
If you want a relaxing holiday this is the place we are so used to hectic holidays that I actually found this ok. All I can stress is the hotel needs to improve on the entertainment other than that I couldn’t fault it.

Hi we stayed here in early April and the Hotel was fine. The staff were very friendly. There is not much to do if you have teenagers but we enjoyed a week of lovely weather and just relaxed.
The breakfast menu was buffet style affair and had a very wide selection. I do not know what the food was like at night as we went either into Sousse or up to Port el Kantaoui. Both of these were only about 4 Dinars in a taxi (couple of quid). The restaurants in Port El Kantaoui were OK - it was a lot more expensive than Sousse, and the food was just OK. - not really much to do there either. Sousse had a couple of excellent restaurants I would recommend the "Bonaparte" we had a couple of excellent meals there.
The Hotel had entertainment on most nights and it was Ok to sit and listen to for a little bit but I think the Hotel could do better entertainment wise (it probably does in the High season). The Hotel rooms etc were fine, nice views of the sea and cleaned every day.
We went to Sousse Medina market a couple of times and the prices of leather goods etc are really cheap if you do a bit of bargaining, but be warned they all try to get you into their shops - and it can be a bit annoying after a while, I think you just have to say No and they are not offended.
If you use the little restaurant at the entrance to the Hotel be warned that the Waiter seems to like to keep any change as a tip without bothering to wait and see if you are going to give him a tip. All in all I enjoyed Tunisia and would go back again if the price was right for another relaxing week.

I thought that the Royal Jinene was amazing and the entertainers (especially Sam) were hot! However, Sam has a bad reputation with me and that’s all I'm saying because I ain't gonna be rude! ;)
The hotel was amazing and no matter what anyone says the hotel staff were nice. Even the waiter who attended to me when I became ill through light sun stroke and it became hard for me to eat. They made me my own dinner just to make sure I ate it. I came back only 2 pounds lighter though which was a disappointment.
The staff look after their guests and the bedrooms are neat and tidy. The Royal Jinene has an excellent pool shared with its sister hotel. The whole week that I was there for was excellent.

This is our second time at this hotel and we've already booked our 3rd trip for this summer!
The location is ideal as it has it's own beach which is accessible through some lovely gardens within the hotel quarters. There's also a Medina just outside the hotel gates which has everything from food to gifts...everything you need if you don't want the hustle and bustle of the main Sousse centre.
It's also not too far from the beautiful resort of Port El Kantaoui, which has gorgeous scenery and a very relaxing atmosphere.
We thought the hotel was of a very good standard overall. The only thing we can grumble about is that not all the rooms are particularly fantastic. However, the maids (who work unbelievably hard!) are fantastic and friendly and clean the rooms everyday providing you with fresh towels and linen.
The staff at this hotel are absolutely fantastic! They're all so down-to-earth and friendly. Especially the hard-working entertainment team. Moo Moo - the entertainment manager, and a fave with the ladies - is brilliant. Not only are the staff kind, but the hotel manager is ever so friendly. He's always about the hotel making sure everyone is okay and even ahs the time to sit and talk to people.
All we can say is if you want a relaxing and nice holiday with your family or friends, this hotel will do the trick nicely. You can comfortably lounge around the hotel and always see a friendly face. If you enjoy yourself, like we did, it'll feel like you're leaving behind friends when it comes to the end of your holiday.