Houda Golf & Beach Club Hotel

Houda Golf and Beach Club.

We have just got back from the Houda Golf and Beach Club after staying there for one week all inclusive. We paid approximately 350 pound each. So what did we think of it? Well on the whole and considering the price that we paid, we had a great time. The Houda is a very clean hotel and the staff work very hard to keep it that way. It has three great pools and one of them has its own set of water slides. Great fun after a few beers and I would imagine great if you have kids.

If you like the beach, the Houda has its own private beach just through the gates at the bottom of the pool area. On here you can do paracending, jet skiing, banana boat etc, all for around 20 Dinar (that’s about 10 quid). Paracending was great, I don’t like height’s but I loved it, the guys that run it are very precise and can drop you in an area on the beach which is about 20ftx20ft. They can also (if you want to) alter the speed of the boat so that your legs drop into the med, before they send you up again.

The food at the hotel was ok, not brilliant but I found something to eat everyday, but more importantly it was usually hot. (And there are people who go around with temperature gauges to check it). Here is a tip that we only found out in the last couple of days. If you do not like what is on offer just ask. The chef will cook you what you want, and do it every day if necessary. The lager was cold and tasted good and they were not tight with the spirits….that said, even though we read a bottle of vodka which said 40% we found it difficult to get drunk!!!!

Ok now for the bad points. On the second day we had a can of lynx deodorant, a tin of hair spay and of bottle of Tommy girl stolen from our room, our friends in the next room had a bottle of Jupe also taken. Now, we can not prove who did this but it had to be someone with access to a master key and the Manager told us that the master keys were in blocks and not the entire complex. The maid was suspended without pay pending an enquiry. We told the manager that no one was to enter our room again and put a do not disturb sign on our door permanently.

This did not stop the maids though; they are told that after 3 o’clock they can enter a room to clean it, even if the sign is on the door. Another trip to the manager, a meeting with the maids (caught in the act of cleaning with our sign on the door) and a compromise was reached. No more maid service, ever. In fact they refused to come in. Fine by me, we got our clean towels etc from reception. So lets not get too hung up about it, at the end of the day what had been taken was not a lot.

The most expensive item, the perfume only had about a quarter left in it, but it is the principle. Make sure your valuables are put in the safe deposit box. 10 dinar for 1 week. Best 5 quid I ever spent.

Ok on to the next niggle. The Houda has a really stupid habit of closing a bar that you are using (in the pool area) and making you walk around to another bar that is further away! I could understand if it was a staff issue, but these are self service dispensers. More annoying is that when you do get to a “manned” bar they enforce the 2 drinks per person only rule. That’s always a bit awkward to get a round in when there are 6 of you. My partner had a few run-in’s with the female bar staff, I did not and so can’t really comment, however my partner is slim and blonde and the bar woman wasn’t. Enough said I think.

The entertainment in the complex was mediocre, we had some laughs there but it was very similar on most nights. But what hotel has fantastic entertainment when you paid @ 350 quid all inclusive. This is what galls me about these web sites. I know I have moaned a bit, but we had a really good time in Tunisia. But at the end of the day you get what you pay for, and YOU make YOUR holiday. Not someone else.

Tunisia is a great place, very friendly, very helpful and a lot of fun, we did 2 excursions, a trip on a pirate ship which was fun. (we did find out after though that if we had gone on the full day tour, they take you to see the “coliseum” where they filmed “The Gladiator”) We went Quad biking, great fun, especially when they take you to see the coca-cola drinking camel, he was sweet. I also surprised myself as it did not take me long to work out how to make the bike slide in the direction that you want it to.

We took ourselves in a Taxi (arrange the price before you get in and barter, they start at 10 dinar you start at 5, and after you walk away they compromise at 5!!!) to the market at Medinar in Sousse. That was like a scene from an Indiana Jones movie, very authentic, very old, pretty and bustling with local people.

Watch your wallet, we were warned about pick-pocket’s, they are supposed to be very good. My wallet lived next to my testicles for the duration and only came out to pay for the Hubbly-bubbly pipe and a rather nice elephant. If you are into animal rights you have to overt your eyes as we did. Tortoises in buckets, Iguana’s used to entice the curious foreigner into the shops and live chickens laid face down with their legs tied behind them. Not nice to see.

The shops more or less sell the same thing so don’t be afraid to walk away. The golden rule is barter. Never pay more than a third of the original price offered to you, and if you do walk away, and they let you, don’t worry the same thing will be in one of the next 3 shops. One last tip for you all, Whisky is expensive in Tunisia we did not know this. However if you were thinking of buying leather goods, jacket’s especially, we were asked on more than one occasion if we had whiskey as a trade, to off set the price. Maybe that cheap black label off the plane could come in handy after all.

So to sum up, if you want to sit in the hotel and moan your holiday will be something to moan about. If you get out and about and except that there is life beyond the football results you will have a ball, and Tunisia is just the place to do it.

We visited the Hotel Houda for the first time in February 05. Husband, 16 year old daughter and myself. Having been to Tunisia before we knew what to expect from the people, kind, very friendly, always helpful and occasionaly a bit overbearing (but that could just be our English reserve).

The weather to be honest wasn't as nice as we would have liked and could be described as very cold. The only way you could swim was in the indoor pool - unless you were partial to frostbite!

The hotel and staff however made up for the lack of good weather. ALL the staff were great and spoke to you as if you were their friends. In my opinion if you treat people with the same respect you would expect, you receive the same!! The animation staff - funny, entertaining and a lot more hard working than any I had ever seen before.

Food - varied! Why go abroad if you are not prepared to try different things? Although there were chips available most of the day for those who need their little bit of England......

Our waiter was lovely and always had our drinks on the table waiting for us. The two evenings that we attended the a'la carte resturants (Italian & Tunisian) were worthy of any restaurant that I have been to back home.

Cleanliness - very!!!!!

A few flies in the height of summer, but have you had a BBQ at home and not been hassled by them?

The disco and entertainment were really enjoyable. We were in stitches with some of the sketches acted by the animation team. The disco was very enjoyable - giving my daughter and myself the opportunity of having somewhere to have a really good boogy together, without the usual stares that you receive back home!! She especially enjoyed the salsa dancing that she did with the animation staff.

We did return back in early July, bringing our elder 19 year old with us. It was quite a bit busier, with the slide pool being open. As we went just before the English summer holiday's began there were quite a few more French & Germans (this being the only downside). Just make sure that you go during English school holidays, or make sure that you don't go during Europe's main holiday time!!!

I only wish that we had found somewhere like this when my children were smaller, having paid totally over the top in previous years for half the facililties for children that are available at this hotel!!!!!!

Please do not take my word, but look at a holiday in this hotel as an enjoyable break, lovely staff, extreamely clean and total value for money.

PS we're going back again.

Everything was going well. As a lot of the reports already say, the Houda was clean and well kept. The complaints we had until the last night were:

1. The heat in the restaurant. We know there were a lot of people in the restaurant but where we were sat for our fortnight it was extremely warm but there also didn't seem to be any air conditioning. The chefs, although they kept going and never stopped, the queues of people waiting to be served seemed to never end.

2. On the landing to our room, there seemed to be no bulb in the light and even although I reported it out at the beginning of our stay it was still out at the end!

3. The Lobby bar which was supposed to stay open until midnight was usually shut by 11pm. If you were sitting inside the hotel all the lights around this bar were usually put off around 11pm which meant that you had to go up and down a couple of stairs in the dark and that you had to queue outside for your drinks.

4. Our main complaint took place on the last night. Our key broke in the safety deposit box. We reported it straight away to reception, who asked us to come back at 6.30pm. When we did, we were told that we would require to go and look for Bobo. We spent an hour of our time looking for this person who seemed never to materialise. After approaching reception again, we were told to go back between 8.30-9pm to speak to the duty manager, which we did. He eventually appeared and said there had been a problem in the restaurant and he would deal with us in a minute. When he did start dealing with our complaint he took the key off us and then went to the safety deposit box and tried it. He said that we must have forced the key in and tried to turn it. As we had been using the safe for a fortnight I said that I think we knew how to work a lock. We were also told that to get access to the safe we would require to pay 30tnd (around £12). As we hadn'd lost the key we didn't think we should have to pay. Eventually the duty manager spoke to someone else behind reception who would be there in the morning and told him there should be no charge for us. After about three hours, we were told that we would need to return in the morning at 9am to get it sorted out. We did this and someone came and started to try and hammer the key into the safe. He then went away at around 9.30am to get a machine which turned out to be a drill. As we were leaving at 11am this was cutting it a bit fine. Once the back of the safe had been drilled away, we were then told that we would require to pay 75tnd as they now had no use of the safe! As we waited for our bus, Jan, the woman who was supposed to help guests with problems said that we should really pay. When our bus appeared, Jan managed to be on our bus before us and had obviously spoke to our rep. Our rep ushered us onto the bus. He then went and spoke to the hotel and then said that we would really have to pay something. In the end, rather than hold the whole bus up we paid 10tnd - the hotel also kept our deposit of 10tnd. Apparently the duty manager should never have given the go ahead to burst the safe open as we had said we were not going to pay and now would have to pay for the safe to get fixed out of his own pocket. Surely a duty manager is given the responsibility of making decisions regarding these things and that the hotel is insured against such things.

Up until this last night, everything had went well but this put a whole damper on our holiday as we had arranged to sit in company for dinner and a few drinks before going our separate ways.

I have to say that the majority of the staff, particularly the waiter who was in charge of our table and one of the other waiters were extremely pleasant and polite at all times - even when they weren't feeling great or working long hours.

Well done Monir and Adeel.

Well what can i say???

I first visited the Houda in July 2004 with my husband, 4yr old Son and 9yr old Daughter for a 2 week stay.

I then returned with my Daughter in October for 1 week to celebrate her 10th Birthday.

I then returned in April ALONE.

I then returned in July 2005 for a 2 week stay with all my family.

Does that tell you we like it??

I have read the reviews and they made me laugh! I have read about people complaining about the FOOD and stating there was no English food....well you are not in England! My 2 children are fussy eaters but believe me they didn't starve, i tried all the local dishes, i thought that was what going abroad was about to try the culture there and i enjoyed it.

The FLIES were another complaint from people, do we not have flies in England? Tunisians live with these flies all year round and they survive.

The LIFEGAURDS with girls was another complaint i read, well they are alot more tactile in this country and if the Parents do not agree with this they should be monitoring they're children better.

We all found every room we have been allocated on each visit extremely clean and comfortable and the Maids very helpful and attentive.

The Animation Team are Fab they remembered us each time we went back and made a great fuss of all of us. The evening entertainment isn't on a par with Spain etc but when you take in to account these lads n lasses work from 9am until 2am the next day for the equivilent of £150 per month i think they do a great job. They keep smiling at all times even when guests are being rude to them and they're children are hitting, kicking and on a few occassions biting the Team as i have seen on 3 of my visits.

Just ask yourself WOULD YOU GET OUT OF BED FOR £150 MONTH AND BE TREAT LIKE THAT? I don't think so.

The staff at this hotel work long hours in a heat which makes me fit for nothing just to try and please us and some people think they can treat them like idiots and speak to them in any fashion, we wouldn't put up with it in England!

The Welcome meeting with the Reps worried me more as each one i have attended the Reps have informed the Guest that the In House Excusion providers are not covered by insurance so we should all do they're excursions. This is not true please ask the In House guys, Fritz, Ben etc and they will show you the insurance and they are cheaper than the Reps and are not pushy. The excursions are all Fab and i would recommend them to all.

If you do have any complaints or requests there is an English Lady there named Jan who is Guest Relations, she will be more that happy to attend to you and try and sort out any issues with the Hotel.

My family love this Hotel because you are made to feel welcome and nothing is too much trouble for the staff. I hardly saw my children whilst there as the Animation Team are around at all times ensuring they had a good time. My children feel totally safe at this Hotel and were able to go from one pool to another when ever they wanted. They also went to lunch with young friends and if they needed any help the staff were there like a flash to help.

The difference i think between Tunisia and Europe is that Tunisia needs our custom and they look after you while you are there i have never felt this in Europe.

SO HERES TO MY NEXT VISIT TO TUNISIA...SOON I HOPE!

Having just returned from this hotel I feel I must let others know what we thought.

On arrival we were allocated a room which resembled a prison cell, the drains gave off a particularly unpleasant odour. We asked to change rooms and were put off until the following day when we were allocated our new room which, I must say, was one of the largest rooms I have ever stayed in. It was kept clean all fortnight by a very friendly and pleasant cleaner.

Meal times were an experience, we cannot understand why the policy in place at breakfast, where you can eat when you like and sit where you like, is not in place at other meal times. Depending on what you are doing through the day it may suit you to have a more flexible dining time, but it is the evening dinner where most problems are caused by the 'fixed time' process. We found that with the 2nd service beginning at 8.00pm there was a rush every evening at this time making people more and more upset because of the queues created by lots of people arriving at once. I feel that if the dinner time was flexible to allow you to eat when you wished to, between fixed times of say 7.00pm and 9.30pm then this would not have the 'peak-time' rush creating problems. Overall we found the food rather plain but you could always find something to fill your plate. Once again the staff were in the restaurant were very pleasant and friendly.

We found the entertainment on an evening the biggest let down. The idea of moving people away from the main part of the hotel and up to the 'slides' area where you were expected to sit in rows, not around tables, and only have soft drinks available was very disappointing. We were expecting to be able to get alcoholic drinks throughout the day and evening as part of our all-inclusive package. I would also like to say we were disappointed at the main bar area where the service was a little slow when 2 bar staff were expected to run 2 bars on their own. This was made even worse most eveinings when the inside Lobby Bar usually closed around 11.00pm, even though a sign above the bar stated it was open until 12.00 midnight! Everyine then had to queue outside at the only other bar open. In difficult conditions the bar-staff again were very friendly and pleasant.

My final complaint was that the brochure told us that snacks were available through the day, they failed to tell us that these snacks consisted of either pizza or chips or a hot dog, not much choice there.

In summary, although all the staff were good we came away from our holiday feeling a little bored and our expectations of a fun-filled holiday, particularly our kids aged 12 & 14, were left a little deflated.

After we booked this holiday I started checking up on the internet regarding the hotel etc, I know I should of done this before we all went, but you know who does that anyway ?????

This was a 2 week Family holiday 2 Adults and 2 Kids (14 & 12). The whole experience was great, the weather, the people, the hotel, first choice reps. the only down side to the holiday I can say is the food after a week and a half you knew what was on the menu without even looking at the food. but saying that we always found something to eat...

All I really wanted to say is if anyone is thinking of going to the hotel, GO you will have a fab holiday. a must is a Yellow Cab, always sort out a price before you get into the cab. but journey will be one you have never had before (great fun)... my 14 year old daughter found it V Funny.......

All that is left for me to say now is

Thank you to First Choice and Houda Golf and Beach Club for a Fab holiday of 2005.

Debbie & Family

My family and myself have just returned from 2 weeks at this hotel and would like people to read a fair review and not the too often picky ones i read before we went. I was immediately impressed with the stature of the hotel and its cleanliness and service. The food was generally ok and to be expected by an all inclusive buffet but certainly enough to satisfy most pallets. The staff were without exception friendly and made us all of all ages really welcome and important. 1 week into the holiday i had a major accident involving the flumes at the pool, which was a complete accident as i slipped at the top and ended up head first resulting in a fractured vertibrea and over 35 stitches. Let me be clear that although this was a worrying few days the staff and especially the hotel nurse looked after me and my family. The only downside was no management came to see me after to see if i needed anything. The one thing i can say about this whole holiday considering what happened to me was that i am now looking to book up the same hotel and resort for next year! what more needs said? dont look for perfection but great weather.... lovely people... and great service is what is on offer! see you all again next year but i will be a little more carefull!

Having seen mixed reports and having the recommendation of my parents-in-law in our heads we didn’t know what to expect. On the whole we had a good holiday. Kids (8 and 12) loved the pools and the slide. The two a la carte restaurants were good and a welcome break from the queues in the main restaurant. The poolside area was pleasant. Sousse is close by taxi or by bus - half a dinar each (50 eurocents) - and the bus stop is right outside the hotel. It stops just outside the Medina.

Go the museum in the Medina in the old Kasbah - excellent mosaics - and find the covered souks. Pay no more than one-third of the asking price. Walk away if you don’t want to pay their prices. Careful if you go to another nearby stall - they are often connected one way or another.

An excursion worth doing is the two-day Sahara trip. Restless kids won’t like it though. Check out more than one rep. Our Dutch rep offered us a trip which was more expensive and less extensive than the one with the English bloke.

The poolside guards are strict but good in the main pool. If you manage to get a lounger they can tell you where to get mattresses for them - a closely guarded secret in the Houda !

Poolside 'animation' can be variable. Some 'animators' are helpful and energetic, others surly and too busy checking out the talent. The music can be ridiculously loud. Given that one reason why we booked this hotel is because it was billed as one that provided ‘‘soft animation’’ this was disappointing. The loudness of the music seems directly linked to who’s got their fingers on the volume control. More to entertain themselves than please the guests. I witnessed a heated argument between two animators one evening. One was trying to turn the music down and the other, with the help of some louder guests she’d befriended, wanted it tuned up so loud the sound was distorted. She won. This music was on the terrace just below countless rooms after 11 at night. There was a disco alternative well away from most rooms.

I got up at 7 to get loungers. Almost all were gone by then right by pool. Some people were getting up at 6 even though the hotel had a rule that they can’t be booked before 7.30.

Bring your own towels too as hotel won’t let you use theirs.

Despite the music, the poolside area is very nice and the pool great. Drinks and food easily available but be prepared for a battle with the fizzy drinks machines - it takes a little time.

Restaurant served plentiful food and kitchen staff work hard. Some food looked re-cycled. With so many people in this hotel - c. 2000 - queues are long and people push in. The French were the main culprits, I’m sorry to say. This is why booking the two a la Carte restaurants is good. You can visit both once a week. Extra tickets from reception. Go back and push harder if they refuse second tickets. Have to use these to book times in the lobby from 10am.

We had a problem with our room on arrival. So did others. They gave us a double room in the old part of the hotel and called it a family room. Eventually they relented and gave us something like what we had booked. Room service variable. We went many days without enough towels in spite of repeated requests and the maid barged her way into a room a couple of times, knocking as she was half way in, forfeiting her tip.

A lady called Jan - Guest Relations - is very helpful and the hotel does respond to complaints and requests depending on whom you talk to. Reception staff are mixed.

We had a good time and enjoyed Tunisia mainly because we got out of the hotel and saw a good deal of the country and because we had time to relax. But we wouldn’t go back there again. We felt it was expensive for what it was.

Enjoyed the hols, the food was ok, hygiene ok, entertainment ok, but the kids entertainment by pool side should have bar serving alcohol for parents.

Staff were very helpful and friendly. Would not return but had a good holiday. I would recommend that the rooms be upgraded and then the resort will be of high standard.

We have just returned back from the Houda Golf and Beach resort, what more can I say, this again was a great holiday that we had. All I can say is do not listen to negative reports about this hotel.

The staff are always helpful of course they are angling for a tip but if you got paid under £18 per week, wouldn’t you? The rooms were spotless everyday, towels changed daily. The entertainment team has changed since we were there last year, but they do a great job. Fou Fou was still there, he is amazing with the kids, and they just love him.

We meet a couple who was needing clothes washed, they asked the maid and she did a full case load for 20 dinars roughly £9.50 (what a bargain).

Whilst we were at the Houda we did Scuba Diving in the pool, which was free, Parasailing on the beach for £7, my wife went Quad Biking for £20 for around 3 hours. So there is lots to keep you busy.

Honestly if you read bad reviews from the ***** website , they are a piece of crap. We would certainly go back to this hotel.

Give it a go you will go back!