Houda Golf & Beach Club Hotel

me and my wife stayed at the Houda Beach hotel, had an excellent time The bar and pool staff were excellent and friendly (especially when we kept going back for more Vodka all the time. Could not fault the location at all, right on the beach, I even went for moonlight walks every night. The 3 pools were great, but only went on the slides one once. The beach activities were fantastic 15 dinah when we went which is hell of a lot cheaper than Spain, Greece or UK. 1st time I've been paragliding and jet ski-ing too, loved it. The reception staff were exceptional when we had to report a problem with out toilet, we'd go to breakfast, come back for towels and the problem was fixed when we got back after about 1 hour. The cleanliness was fantastic of the rooms and hotel was fantastic. But I thought the corridors in general could do with re-decorating properly. Please say "Lovely Jubbly" to the man with the Pipes (couldn't remember his name), but we smoked pipes for a few days running, and managed to haggle him down on a couple of occasions. The restaurant facilities were excellent, though I thought the food was just above average, but can't complain The pool snack bar was excellent, especially if we didn't want to have a sit down lunch, we could just go there. I loved the free scuba diving lesson too, If we had more time, we'd have gone to sea to have a go there. I thought the Evening entertainment could have been more advertised, and it would have been great if they'rd been entertainment round the main bar area near the restaurant on an evening, (maybe remove the dry water fountain and replace with a DJ Stand?) A good idea would be a quiz night, with quiz master speaking in French and English? Karaoke would be good fun in that same area for future too. Also we thought that the nightclub area was poorly signposted and advertised, as we found by off chance midway through the holiday, but the music was excellent there after midnight after the other bar had closed. We would recommend Houda to anyone, and would definately go back soon

We were really worried about our holiday going to the Houda as had read some terrible reviews! Well what can I say, we went for a week on 9/10 and are now looking to go back in March. The staff were some of the friendliest I have ever come across on a holiday - all speaking at least 3 languages The hotel was spotless, we had clean towels in our room every other day and the bedding was changed twice in the week which we were there. The food was plentiful in the restaurant - ok there was chips and spaghetti every meal but there was also a large selection of other foods including salads, tunisian dishes, fish, chicken and beef. There were also vegetarian dishes. The entertainment was not the best I have seen but was adequate and we found that we couldn't miss it just to see what was on offer that night!!!! Also, join in the dances at the end of the show - we had a great time. I would not hesitate to recommend this hotel to anybody.

2 adults 2 teenagers and a 14 month old baby.. we saw less of the kids there than at home.. I called the hotel to make sure we had a cot for the baby.. I was given a choice of 1st or 2nd floor rooms - took the first floor as I knew there was no lift... Room was ok - 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms - so it meant our older two could come and go at night without disturbing us and the baby. There were a few broken things but the ones we told reception about were fixed by the next day. Food.... We ate everything, I had rabit and octopus whilst there - dont worry there are plenty of other things.. fish chicken beef lamb turkey and enough salad for an army of rabbits. We even had Ice in our drinks... The baby ate when he was hungry and really enjoyed the chocolate moose in the italian restraunt... You can visit both the italian and tunisian once per week... go back to reception and ask for your second weeks vouchers. The snack bar is open 12pm - 4 and open again at 11pm... Mostly pizza and chips but there are other things from 12 -2 and they also had buger and hotdogs. Drinks were ok.. I got really drunk one night on just the beer, red and white wine are good and the vodka... For the baby there was plenty of juice machines - but for the milk we had a choice... we could ask at the bar for cold milk and they would wash and fill the bottles for us - or we could use the milk for the coffee and hot chocolate - this is hot so we would get this at night so that it lasted the night. The pools were great... get a free scuba lesson... no hassle to go on a trip. The slides are really cool.. my kids spent most of the holiday there... zied and maher the life guards are great fun. We had thunder on a 3 days but as there is an indoor pool this was not a problem. Water sports are really good value... the parachute and jet ski were 20dn each but reduced while we were there to 15dn.. about £6... cheapest I have ever seen. I went on the catermaran with one of my kids.. 1hr 30dn you can have upto 3 people on it and you go way out and get a greate tan. Dont expect much for the evening entertainment... some was ok 1 night they had a fakir show (bed of nails swords etc) this was excellent but the rest of the entertainment is done by the in house guys who do a good enough job. Riko is the new kids club guy... The tunisians really know how to put a smile on a childs face. We went at the start of ramadan and every member of staff worked so hard and always had a smile or nice thing to say... No food or drink during daylight hours until 6pm could you do the same? every day for a month????? I was really worried about this hotel after reading all the bad reviews.. Yes there are flies... I went to the miramar next door for a beer and there were flies there also.. they can anoy but the food has none on them.. The restraunts are sprayed before the food and guests go in... We stayed in the maldives for our honeymoon ( 3 weeks AI *****) and the food was just as good What was your stomach like the last time you ate a curry or kebab.. or drank too much. Dont confuse food poisoning with just eating somthing spicy or too much drink and sun. Our baby ate the same as me and he was fine the whole time. I met people on holiday who expected to be treated like kings and queens... I can only imagine that similar people write the bad reviews and people should be carefull what they write We will be back next year and are taking friends with us If you go there say hi to Adel (Me Too) Every one knows him. Ask him if his MP3 play is ok (our gift) - best waiter I have ever met Oh and speak to ben(so he says) Cheeky s*** who does the henna tatoos.. tell him the crazy scottish says hi and Ill be back.... Anyway... dont read the bad reviews... I think they were writen by rival hotels..... what you waiting for - go pack your bags

Just back from Tunisia already looking to book up for April next year as it was fantastic. Everything about the hotel is great, the food was a bit basic but allways found something to eat, Everyone made you feel so welcome The Animation team were fantastic was'nt a night that went by with out laughing!! The hotel itself was so clean there were cleaners all day & night and they still had smiles on there faces, The rooms were very big, they were also kept very clean got clean sheets and towels every day. Did'nt know what to expect of this hotel as i read alot of reviews good and bad now i have been and seen it for my self and i will advise anyone if there wanting to have a fantastic holiday full of fun and for relaxing then go to the Houda golf & beach club!! you'll love it.

On our arrival to this hotel my first impressions were that the hotel looked nice and welcoming, although not very centrally located close to any main town centres that we would be able to walk to. In the reception area the staff behind the desk didn't seem to provide us with any information, just simply give us our keys and didn't even point us into the right direction of where our rooms might have been so we tended to stand there helpless for a short while trying to beckon a porter to help us out. The staff behind the counter didn't give us our wristbands till we actually asked either. The porter kindly showed us to our room with us carrying all our luggage and 3 small children in tow, up 2 flights of stairs as they have no lifts. On arrival to our rooms, the corridoor was in darkness and the light outside our actual door only worked the once all week, making it quite difficult each evening to unlock the door. The room itself was very spacious and clean and the bedding and towels were regulary changed. Now i've never been all inclusive before so i wasn't quite sure what to expect? on our first visit to the restaurant we went quite late, well late for me because i have three young children, it was 8.30pm because we had eaten in the day. On our visit to the restaurant on the first night we were told that we had been booked each night for after 8.30pm for all our other subsequent meals as there were two sittings per night.I found that a little inconvenient with the kids. The restaurant was always very warm, and there was a persistant problem with flys and mosquitos all week, now i know flys can't be helped, but they were a constant nuisance always on your food both inside and outside the restaurant. Food inside the restaurant wasn't covered up because of the nature of the buffet style, therefore had the flys landing on it regulary. My family and I had suffered upset stomaches all week and right upto a week after we returned home. The kids seemed to enjoy the swimming pools in the week and i myself found them to be child friendly as well as clean and well looked after. There was however a very slippy patch over inbetween the middle of the large pool where water had obviously collected and unable to drain away, and on a number of occasions i personally saw 2-3 children slip onto the floor narrowly avoiding having a minor accident. As an overall experience i have to say the hotel i found to be ok, but i was generally dissapointed after looking forward to it for so long. I am glad i had the oppertunity to have visted the country, but in an honest opinion i regret to say that i wouldn't be returning to the hotel on any future visits.

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.

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!