Kinza Zenith Hotel Complex

Right, where do i start? not off to a good start, checked into the hotel at 1am after long journey, signed registration cards with 2 young arabs who werent staff members peering over my shoulder at our names and room numbers. you can imagine how uncomfortable this was as we are two young girls. dont judge the hotel on first impressions, especially in the dark. things were alot better in the morning, breakfast was lovely, restaurant staff are amazing, they reserved a table for us every night, pre ordered our drinks and put beautiful flowers on our table. Reception not too helpful with our requests...the toilet was on permanent flush all night, we had no tv as advertised and when we finally got one there was one channel and no sound and the bed and pillows in the rooms were rock hard. the maid was very helpful with the latter and gave us softer pillows. however our room looked absolutely nothing like the website. lunch was again good, although when you work out your eating there 14 times in a week there is limited choice, especially if you have children. also no pool snacks/bar during the times no food was being served as it said there would be when we booked, apparently this is because we went out of season. more problems with room though, over looking the roof of the indoor pool with a huge fan on the top that ran constantly, also overlooked a train track and everytime the train when past it beeped and honked all the time. small thing was that we were all inclusive but spirits were not included in this, as we stayed at an all inclusive resort in the same town last year we assumed they would be and did not account for it. last little thing was the beach had lots of broken glass, cigarette ends but the staff that were located on the beach were very helpful in the way of chasing away little perverts! but please dont let this put you off, maybe it was a one off. we really really enjoyed ourselves, the animation team are fantastic with every age group. we would definately go back although be alot pickier about our choice of hotel, we only booked 3 days before we left. they helped in anyway they could and made our holiday. please dont hesitate to conact me if you have any questions

We paid a bargain price for this holiday for 2 adults, 2 kids and teenager and had a brilliant time. The staff are all lovely although their english is not great, but they do their best. top marks to the maids and the wonderful animation staff. the entertainment was great and there was loads to do, if you take part in as much as possible you will have a good time. The kids could just wander off to different activities with the animation team giving us a bit of R & R. The only down side was the food. we didnt expect miracles as everyone we know who has been to tunisia has said the food is not the best. Its ok if you are not too fussy, however none of my lot eat veggies or salad so it was hard going sometiimes but we didn't starve! TIP: if you have the fresh food off the BBQ make sure it is cooked properly. It sometimes was not and we asked for it to be put back on. At first the chef will complain and you will have to be firm but if you put your foot down once you wont have a problem for the rest of your stay. there are two shops opposite the hotel, one opposite the main hotel entrance - avoid it like the plague! they will try to rip you off big style. The other is outside the beach entrance and is much better, fixed prices and no hastle. also quite reasonably priced.just make sure you inspect what you are buying carefully before you pay for it. things to take with you, tea bags and ketchup. all in all a great holiday for a bargain price, but dont expect the ritz or 5 star cuisine.

We booked our holiday over the phone via teletext and didn't get to see the hotel until after we booked it. When we looked at the reviews we were absolutelly gutted. There were some good reviews which in the end pursuaded us to just go comsidering that we'd already paid for it and would be unable to get our money back. Big Mistake! On arrival at the airport we were asked to fill in travel cards before going through customs, the staff at the airport were very rude, refusing to lend us a pen to fill out the form. Resulting in a half an our wait to use another travellers pen. Once we were out of the hotel and onto the transfer bus we had been told that it would take about an hour to get to the hotel. This is wrong, it took us closer to 3 hours. Once at the hotel the reception staff were very rude to us and very unhelpful. The room we were given was not double as stated on our holiday voucher but a room with 2 single beds pushed together. The room was however a very nice room, very clean and tidy and the maids that came to clean the room every day were definatly the most polite people we met whilst staying at the hotel, they were very nice and considerate and were always polite. The bar staff were another matter, they weren't very nice to us at all. At one point I was stood at the bar for near enough half an hour whilst everyother person who came to the bar was served before me, all of whom were either French, german or italian. There were all in all 12 British people staying in this hotel and we were treated the worst out of all the guests. The French and Italians were given the best service and treatment. Especially in the dining room, they were given specially set reserved tables which were set with flowers and candles and had bottles of wine on them. Which brings me onto the next problem, The Food. It was terrible. While we were there a lot of people were going down with stomach upsets and food poisoning. One British woman even had to take her daughter to the hospital who was given injections, put on a drip and kept in hospital for 2 nights. Tunisia is a very very beautiful place it's just that staff and food at the hotel that runied things a bit for us. We got a taxi into Hammamet Yasmin and went for a walk round there and into the Medina and that was beautiful. I would definatly go to Tunisia again just not to the Northern part of Hammamet. I would want to go back to Hammamet Yasmin or try somewhere new because the weather was beautiful and we did really enjoy ourselves. At the end of the day a holiday is what you make it. Instead of moping around feeling sorry for ourselves we went out on a night for a meal or we went out sightseeing during the day. It is very very cheap in Tunisia. We took £300 spending money and even though we'd been eating out every night and getting taxis to places during the day we were left with just short of £100 at the end of the holiday. A typical meal for us at a restaurant was 2 mixed grills, 4 bottles of beer and 2 soft drinks for about 30 dinar, which is about £13.50. Youcan't go wrong with prices like that really. Also, I would recommend that if you smoke and you're wanting to get some cheap cigarettes get them on the plane on your way there. It cost us £24 for 400 cigarettes on the plane. You wont be able to find anything cheaper in Hammamet. All in all we did end up having a brilliant holiday but it was in no way to do with where we were staying. The only reason we enjoyed ourselves because we made sure we did. You make your own fun. I would recommend going to Tunisia, just definatly not to this hotel. Go to Tunisia, Go to Hammamet by all means.. .. .. just not to The Kinza Hotel, The Zenith Hotel or The Anais hotel (These are the ones that are all in the same complex and share the pools and dining room).

I was quite worried after reading some of the reviews posted about travelling to this hotel, but I can say definitely that I have had a wonderful holiday. The staff were very friendly and polite, many of whom speak english better than my french, although I did try to speak french and some words of arabic. we went all inclusive; breakfast was continental although you could have an omelette or fried egg freshly cooked each morning. There was a chef stationed at every mealtime cooking certain foods to order. Lunch was a selection of different dishes or you could just have lunch from the pool bar which offered pizza, chips sandwiches etc. A grill was available at lunchtime for freshly cooked meats etc. Dinner was again a large selection of dishes. Pasta could be cooked to order and there was a separate barbecue and 'cooking station' outside that other options werte available from each night. At every meal, you could have as much bread, salad etc as you wanted; there were no limits on the food you could have. Drinks were available from a bar within the restaurant; the beer here was not chilled but you could get other drinks, fanta, coke, wine water etc. Every evening there was an ice cream stall too; my daughter enjoyed going to get the drinks and ices! The room we had overlooked the restaurant and was on the first floor so I was initially worried about noise, but everything stops about 11pm and in any case it wasn't a particular problem. Ours was a 3 bedded room with en suite and a small balcony. We have no complaints at all about it - it was comfortable and with air conditioning etc. The bathroom was adequate although not luxurious and the maid came every day to change towels, make beds etc. My 5 year old daughter was the only English girl for much of our stay but the animation team was fantastic. At the start of activities, they blow whistles and call out so that guests know where to go; this is also announced over PA. I have to commend the children's team - Cross came to collect my daughter, Claudia, for every activity from where we were sitting by the pool as she was shy at first - in the end, she didn't want to leave. He made such a fuss of her, as he did with others too and made sure the children enjoyed their activities. We didn't partake in any activities, preferring to lounge by the pool. Loungers were free, but to get your preferred spot, you had to be up early. By 9am, most loungers would be taken. In the evening, there was a programme of entertainment, again the animators were heavily involved! We didn't stay up beyond the ;'mini-disco' for the children which finoshed about 10pm. We stayed up on the last evening to watch the fakir show, but having a small child, this was not practical for most of our stay. The main bar served cold beer and there were 'cocktails du jour' included in the A/I. Service was excellent and friendly - we couldn't fault the staff at all. We went on the 2 day tour to the Sahara; we were collected at 5am and even though there was alot of travelling involved, tgis was still one of the main highlights for me which I would do again. Included was a trip to the colloseum at El Jem, visit to the trogladytes, camel ride, etc and meals and overnight hotel accomodation. There was an optional 4x4 excursion into the desert to the star wars set which I would recommend (about £15 per adult and half for kids.) I could easily have stayed longer and would definitely return. It was excellent value for money - not 5 star luxury, but easily worth the 3 stars.

My husband booked this hotel for an anniversary surprise. Was I gutted when reading the reviews on this site. But how wrong I was to be worried. The staff were great, hotel clean, plenty of food choice and a great relaxed atmosphere. I would certainly return.

well what can isay stayed at the kinza food was bad also the staff rude and abrupt the only good thing was meeting pamela from widnes who kept me and the other lads entertained for the rest of our stay there well done pam you made our holiday very enjoyable love and kisses hope to see you again in tunsia your the only reason to go back to the kinza

Personally I had a brilliant holiday, but I don't think I'll be heading back to Tunisia any time soon although that had little to do with the hotel. I read some of the reviews about the Kinza after I had booked and tried to change hotels but I'm quite glad that we didn't. I have to admit the room was more 2* than 3* star in terms of the decor and the balcony was tiny, but surely that doesnt make or break the holiday? And although it was true that the TV only had a BBC news channel, i had not planned to watch the TV all week except perhaps to pick up the cricket scores so it didnt bother us in the slightest. After reading reports of ruined holidays at this hotel due to food poisioning, we were really worried about the food which the hotel would have to offer. I have to say the only complaint which I personally had about the food was that after 3 days I got quite bored of eating rice, pasta and bread. I didn't have any troubles on the holiday which I put down to avoiding all the uncooked fruit and veg (as it was washed in the water) and all the meat which was in the buffet trays as it was not freshly cooked. Other than that I thought the food they had to offer was really nice (especially the different rice) and there was even a chef who freshly cooked veg and pasta of your choice in a tomato sauce, which was really tasty. The animation team were in my opinion quite cheesy but then I didn't go on holiday to be entertained by other people and to be fair as most spoke French, Arabic, German and Italian I don't blame them for not being fluent at English aswell. We also read about the staff being really rude to the English, I have no idea where that came from. The staff were lovely, but you have to appreciate that they do things differently in Tunisia and customer service as we Brits know it just isn't the same. When you order a drink at dinner for example you may get it immediately, it may be 10 minutes later depending on how busy they are. We found that you just have to be patient and speaking a little french or arabic really helps. I read a review saying that they had to speak the language to get anyway as the staff were so rude, maybe it could be seen as rude to go to a country and to not attempt to speak their language? I personally enjoyed speaking little bits of French as it felt like we taking in more of the culture. Similarly, I did not find that I was served last in anyway, in fact I once went to the bar and was served immediately before other waiting guests (whom weren't English i may add). I honestly felt that it was just down to who was the politest to the waiters and nothing to do with my nationality. Lastly, if when you arrive you are placed in Le Zenith (like we were even though we were booked into the Kinza) I wouldn't be too alarmed as by chance we had friends in the Kinza and all the rooms are identical even the decor, its just two seperate buildings. If you are planning to go on any day trips we would really recommend Frigua Park it cost us only about £25 each inc. a taxi (40 mins each way), entrance, lunch and a camel ride through an antelope enclosure which was my highlight of the holiday! If you've booked into the Kinza and read some of the horrifying reviews as we did I wouldn't be too worried. If you go with an open mind bearing in mind how much you paid, that you watch what you eat and that your prepared to speak a little French, I'm sure you'll have as good a holiday as we did!

First of all this hotel is a 3 star, it may not quite be up to the 3 star standard you would expect in England for example, but it is 3 star and does not pretend to be anything different. For the price me and my Partner paid we were more than happy with the room and the service we recieved, on arrival at near 4 in the morning (due to our plane being dleayed at Gatwick) we were reated with bread and cheese and a porter ready to take our luggage to the room. The only real complaint i can have is the pool side music (we were woken at 9 by Celine Dion) but the Animation team were always trying to get people involved. We experienced no prejudice what so ever, although we did try and say please and thank you in Arabic or French. The all inc food was ok, nothing special but not poor and the drinks were always available. The staff were friendly and helpful and im surprised some people thought the opposite, also im surprised people were upset at not having pork available in a Muslim Country!!! I would reccomend this holiday to anyone who wants to sit by the pool and soak up the sun, but if your aim on holiday is to get wasted on the free all inc alcohol i would suggest somewhere else, dont go expecting a luxurious holiday and you wont be disappointed, it is exactly what you pay for!

What you see is not what you get. The pool area is fantastic and animation team is also good. Some of the rooms are in poor state especially the bathrooms (ok it is 3 star but…..). Walking in corridors reminded me in the 1940s. Some of the waiters are ignorant and impolite especially if you speak English. Do not speak English at all cost if you want to be served like the French tourist or else you are the last to be served and not without a bad tone sometimes. In my 7 night stay full board I never saw any type of pork meat nor any type of beef meat, only turkey, chicken, rabbit and small fish.

Went to Tunisia for a 'different' holiday hoping to escape from the usual tackiness of package holidays. Within a day we all wished we were back in good old Benidorm! The hotel looked very nice in parts but most of it was closed off and dark, also there was a strange smell on one of the stairwells. We went all inclusive, there was plenty of choice for meals and the food cooked on the bbq outside was very nice however we were all ill for most of the week, probably due to flies on the food. The drinks weren't bad however towards the middle of the week when we went to the bar for beers we were served them in white plastic cups (the sort that vend from coffee machines!). Due to the mini-size of our drinks we were constantly queuing back at the one bar open (which became very busy) to get more drinks. The animation team were very good and worked hard to get everyone involved in activities, they worked all day and night to provide entertainment which is good as there was not much else in the area of the hotel to entertain people. The beach just down the road was its only redeeming feature and we spent a lovely day there. We ventured out two nights of the week to try and find a bit of nightlife and a decent sized drink but did not find much of interest! Overall it was a disappointing holiday and we were all agreed that we would not be returning in a hurry! (Oh and if you don't like long transfers to your hotel - avoid this one, it took over 2 hours to get from the airport to the hotel as we were the last to be dropped off).