Bella Vista Family Resort

DO NOT BOOK: Absolute Nightmare at Bella Vista Family Resort, Gross Misrepresentation, and Complete Lack of Care for Vulnerable Families Overall Rating: 1 / 5 Stars I am writing this review to warn anyone—especially families traveling with children or individuals with additional needs—to avoid booking through LoveHolidays or staying at Bella Vista Family Resort (5000 Skanes; Monastir, Skanes, 5000, Tunisia). What was supposed to be a carefully planned, hard-earned family holiday turned into an absolute nightmare from start to finish due to gross misrepresentation, unsanitary conditions, broken facilities, and non-existent customer service. 1. Misleading Listing & Broken Facilities Virtually everything advertised on the LoveHolidays website was either non-existent, closed, or completely unusable: * Kids' Club: Completely closed/non-existent throughout our stay. * Indoor Pool & Spa: The indoor pool, sauna, steam room, and hammam facilities were all locked or out of service. * Mini Golf: Unusable as the hotel stated all the equipment was lost. * General Amenities: Entertainment was practically non-existent, air conditioning barely functioned, and basic items like cutlery, tissues, and drinks were constantly running out. 2. Unsanitary Rooms & Severe Health Hazards The condition of the hotel and accommodation was disgusting and unsafe: * Family Separation: Despite paying specifically for connecting rooms, we were placed in separate rooms. As a family traveling with disabled children who require constant night care, this kept us awake checking on them constantly. * Lack of Cleanliness: Rooms were filthy upon arrival, and we even found previous guests' clothing left inside. * Blood-Stained Bedding & Pests: We were expected to sleep on blood-stained mattresses and sheets, and bugs were constantly crawling in the bathroom sink. * No Running Water: There was no daily running water to shower, wash, or flush toilets—both in our rooms and in public facilities. * Widespread Structural Damage: The hotel features rotting doorframes, torn curtain tracks, wall lamps hanging off plaster, broken plug sockets and TVs, loose floor tiles, and deeply stained, severely ripped hallway carpets. * Safety Hazards & Filth: Public stairwells were cluttered with discarded rubbish, loose tools, and abandoned mattresses. The outdoor restrooms near the pool were filthy and unsafe, public areas were strewn with litter, and there was a noticeable sewage issue near the beach bar. 3. Disastrous Airport Transfers (MTS Globe Tunisia SARL) The transfer service provided by MTS Globe Tunisia SARL was an absolute joke: * Arrival Transfer: After landing following a flight delay with exhausted children, transfer staff were rudely fighting over customers. We were then forced to sit on a bus for over 90 minutes waiting for a completely separate flight to land before departing. There was no apology or explanation, and as a result, we missed our evening meal at the hotel and our entire planned night was ruined. * Return Transfer: The return bus was tiny and severely overcrowded with virtually no room for passengers or luggage. 4. Total Failure & Lack of Support from LoveHolidays LoveHolidays completely failed in their duty of care: * Zero Proactive Support: Communication from LoveHolidays was appalling. Throughout our stay, we received nothing beyond generic, copy-and-paste automated chat responses. * No Solutions Provided: Despite logging four separate complaints during our trip, LoveHolidays failed to offer a single workable solution or resolution while we were stranded. * Left Ignored Until Departure: We received no meaningful update or real assistance from their support team until the final day as we were checking out. They left a vulnerable family abroad in unacceptable, unsafe conditions with zero backing. Hotel staff repeatedly ignored reports of missing amenities or pests, claiming they would "sort it" without anyone ever showing up, while constantly expecting tips or bribes for basic assistance. Furthermore, hotel management falsely claimed no concerns were raised on-site, despite us complaining daily in English and French, filing four separate live chat reports with LoveHolidays, and explicitly outlining every single complaint to the in-resort customer representative. The only tiny positive was a few individual, hardworking hotel staff members whom we thanked personally upon departure. This entire holiday was traumatizing, unsanitary, and a total breach of contract. We are pursuing a full refund and taking formal action through ABTA and a Section 75 credit card claim. Save your time, money, and sanity—do not book this hotel or use LoveHolidays.

1/5 — WE PAID TO FLY OUR FAMILY HOME EARLY. I WOULD NEVER RETURN. We holiday abroad as a family every year. We have NEVER complained about a hotel before and have certainly never abandoned a family holiday and paid for new flights home. Bella Vista Family Resort changed that. We were booked for a 10-night family holiday for 2 adults and our 3 children. Conditions became so unacceptable that we eventually checked out early, arranged our own transfer and spent over £1,000 on replacement flights to get our family back to the UK. That is how bad our experience became. 🏊 THE POOL WAS DISGUSTING Throughout our stay, we NEVER saw the bottom of the swimming pool. Even saw falsifying pool test results. Poured small amount of chlorine into side of pool, swirled it around and a woman tested that area straight away. We shot up and demanded they test the opposite side of the pool, we were hand gestures away. Straight to guest relations again to be told “oh that’s good they are cleaning it” I said “NO that’s fraud along with serious h&s” This wasn’t an occasional period of cloudy water. At ALL times the water was so cloudy/dirty that you could not see through it. Also we stated that there could be a serious safety to life concern as anybody could (dare I say) drown in that pool and NOBODY would see a body at the bottom of the pool!! There were also hundreds of bugs/larvae swimming in the water. This was the main pool and children’s pool at a family resort full of children. Also a photo provided to promote the hotel shows a whole extra pool that doesn’t even exist!! Our alternative was the sea — where myself and all of our children were stung multiple times by jellyfish. There were ZERO warnings from the hotel about the jellyfish or the increased numbers in the water. The sea is also not netted off as most “private hotel” sections are. It genuinely felt like our options were risk becoming unwell from the condition of the pool or risk being stung in the sea. 🍽️ MEALTIMES WERE LIKE THE HUNGER GAMES I don’t use that description lightly. The food was disgusting in our experience. We encountered food that was raw, inedible and extremely poor quality, with very little suitable for our children. *TIPS for CHIPS* Eventually we started ordering food from outside the hotel and having it delivered because we struggled so much with the hotel food. We saw numerous other families doing exactly the same thing. The restaurant itself was chaos. There was ZERO control over queue jumping. We witnessed people using their HANDS to take food. We witnessed guests using their OWN USED CUTLERY to serve themselves sauces and other food. Raw, mouldy and rotten food on offer or that was all that was left after other guests collected their 17 mounded plates per family of 4 - most of which not surprisingly ended up being wasted. Sheer greed and piggery. Tables were NEVER reset after the initial opening of the meal service. Once somebody had eaten and left, another family was effectively left to use that table. I never saw cleaning spray being used on the tables. What we repeatedly saw was a dirty, damp cloth being used to wipe them. Plates, cups/glasses, cutlery and napkins regularly ran out. For a hotel catering for this many families, the hygiene and organisation we personally witnessed was completely unacceptable. 🚨 INCIDENTS INVOLVING OUR CHILDREN Our young son was SHOVED by a member of cleaning staff. Our daughter had a door slammed into her face. When confronted about these incidents, the staff members involved walked away. Make official complaints human to human - not allowed. They will write notes and will tell the manager and “unfortunately I am telling my manager but he isn’t listening” As parents, this was completely unacceptable. 🚪 A MAINTENANCE MAN ENTERED OUR ROOM This incident particularly unsettled us because by this point we had been complaining to the hotel DAILY. A maintenance man entered our room saying he was there regarding the air conditioning. We had NOT reported an air-conditioning problem. When he realised my partner was in the room, he left. Air con no longer need “fixing?” I cannot state what his reason or intention was and I won’t speculate. What I CAN say is that we had not requested anyone attend our room, it happened after we had been making daily complaints, and the circumstances left us feeling extremely uncomfortable and intimidated. 📢 THE HOTEL MANAGER This wasn’t simply a case of one or two unhappy guests. We witnessed multiple arguments DAILY in the lobby (where I spent a lot of my time on WiFi trying to escape) involving unhappy families. We personally witnessed and recorded the HOTEL MANAGER shouting directly in guests’ faces during confrontations. The atmosphere was awful. Instead of feeling like we were staying at a relaxing family resort, there seemed to be a constant stream of unhappy guests trying to get problems resolved. 🏚️ FACILITIES WERE NOTHING LIKE WE EXPECTED The indoor pool was EMPTY, with the area badly neglected and the ceiling appearing to be deteriorating. The kids’ club was not operating. The salon was closed and looked as though it had been unused for a considerable period. Facilities advertised to us including spa/wellness facilities, sauna/steam bath/hammam and numerous sporting activities were either unavailable or nowhere to be found during our stay. Sunbathing areas shown as spacious loungers on green areas were nothing like our experience. We encountered cramped loungers, mud and dirty/mouldy-looking cushions. There was also an extremely unpleasant raw sewage issue/smell. The public toilets and general cleanliness in areas of the hotel were shocking in our experience. 🎵 ENTERTAINMENT We experienced one Arabian-themed evening. In which 2 large hair spray bottles where used with lighters multiple times on stage and then when guests where up following/crowding around them doing a lap of the seating area. Otherwise, our experience largely consisted of the same children’s mini-disco songs followed by the same music. Bingo was offered once at £20 per ticket - no thank you. Also the same night was told about a pool/foam party the following day. Neither of which took place. Again, this was nothing like the family resort experience we believed we had purchased. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 WE WERE FAR FROM THE ONLY FAMILY UNHAPPY During our stay I personally spoke with multiple families who were extremely unhappy with their experience. Several told me they had also paid for their OWN flights to leave early or paid to move elsewhere. I can only speak for what those families told me — but seeing other families reaching the same point certainly reinforced that we weren’t alone in our concerns. 📞 WE BEGGED FOR HELP BEFORE LEAVING We didn’t simply return to the UK and decide afterwards that we wanted our money back. We complained while we were THERE. We complained to the hotel DAILY. We repeatedly contacted our holiday provider while still abroad. We asked for help. We tried to get the situation resolved. We gave them the opportunity to assist us. Eventually we reached the point where enough was enough. We were not prepared to spend the remainder of our family holiday living like this. We checked out early, paid for our own transfer to the airport and purchased replacement flights home at a cost of over £1,000. Think about that. We had already paid thousands of pounds for this holiday. We then chose to spend another £1,000+ just to GET OUR FAMILY OUT OF THERE EARLY. 💥 AND WE HAVE EVIDENCE We have extensive photographs and videos documenting what we experienced. We have photographs/videos of the pool, closed/unavailable facilities, cleanliness issues and other conditions around the hotel. We have retained evidence of complaints made while we were actually there. We also have video footage of the hotel manager’s behaviour towards guests. There is an ongoing formal complaint regarding our holiday. I can only review what WE personally experienced. We holiday abroad as a family every year. We have NEVER previously complained about a hotel. We have NEVER paid to move ourselves. We have NEVER bought replacement flights to abandon a holiday early. We have NEVER felt so desperate to get our children home that losing the remainder of a holiday we’d saved and paid thousands of pounds for seemed preferable to staying. Other people are entitled to leave reviews based on their own experiences. This is ours. Bella Vista Family Resort was supposed to be our family holiday. Instead, we spent our time dealing with filthy pool water, jellyfish stings, appalling mealtimes, hygiene concerns, unavailable facilities, incidents involving our children, daily complaints and confrontations around the hotel. Eventually, we paid to get out. I would NEVER return and based on what my family personally witnessed and experienced, I could NEVER recommend this hotel to another family.

After seeing all the reviews we wanted to cancel but I'm so glad we didnt We were absolutely petrified about coming to Bella Vista Monistair with all the recent reviews! Quite frankly we have had the opposite experience from what the new trip advisor reviews are saying. All staff have been super friendly - from reception, bar staff, cleaners and entertainment team. There's always been food we can eat (so don't listen to the horror stories). There's been pancakes, pasta, baguettes, pizzas, burgers, stir fry, salad, rice, potatoes, noodles, bambalouni (doughnuts), cakes, fruit..... even with fussy eaters we haven't had a problem. We have two rooms - the air con works well in both (so much so I turned mine down last night). We have played darts and Bowls - and joined in with mini club in the evening! Both pools have been fine - no issues, the beach is also manned by security. Honestly we were dreading it and so far have been so pleasantly surprised!! There is an a la carte restaurant also, entertainment staff are brilliant. We can't complain especially for what we paid for it in the summer holidays.

⭐ 1/5 – Absolutely NOT a 4-star Ultra All Inclusive resort – Avoid Our family group of 14 (6 adults and 8 children) stayed at Bella Vista Monastir Resort from 30 July to 7 August 2026. We booked 4 family rooms on an Ultra All Inclusive basis and were expecting a 4-star family resort. What we experienced was nowhere near that standard. The rooms were poorly cleaned, with hair and insects present. Bathrooms had broken shower heads, broken flushes and holders, and the water temperature constantly changed from freezing to dangerously hot. Fridges did not work properly, there were no kettles, Wi-Fi was largely unavailable in the rooms and key cards repeatedly stopped working. The air conditioning was a major problem. Several rooms had faulty or leaking units, the hotel-wide air conditioning failed for a night, and in one room smoke came from the air-conditioning unit, causing us to leave the room immediately because of concerns about fire and electrical safety. Food was extremely disappointing for an Ultra All Inclusive resort – repetitive, limited and poorly organised, with shortages of cutlery and glasses. Children's food was particularly poor. The indoor pool and spa advertised by the resort were closed throughout our stay, and there was virtually no meaningful children's entertainment. We complained repeatedly to reception and were moved THREE times, yet the problems continued. Staff were often unhelpful and we were left waiting at reception for long periods. The holiday became even more distressing when four members of our family were involved in a quad bike accident. One child suffered significant injuries and another family member suffered a fractured and dislocated wrist requiring emergency surgery. Despite the seriousness of the situation, we found the hotel's support and first-aid assistance extremely inadequate. This was supposed to be a special family holiday, including a first overseas leisure holiday for some members of our family. Instead, it became a week of discomfort, frustration and stress. I have photographs and videos documenting many of these problems. Based on our experience, I would NOT recommend this resort to families expecting a genuine 4-star Ultra All Inclusive experience. In my opinion, the standard provided was substantially below what was advertised and reasonably expected.

absolutely shocking behaviour from a holiday provider. There was more than 15 families i met there that had booked with 'On the Beach' going through the exact same thing. Even now its impossible to speak to someone about the court proceedings i would like to take against you. I have booked with you before and not had an issue with the trip but guess that was just luck. 1st sign of an issue and On the Beach disappear and take no responsibility. We were left stranded in a hotel that was absolutely not fit for any human, and thats not me being over the top. I have pictures and videos and also conversations with hotel staff that openly admit that its all disgusting. No resolution as there is no contact or way of contacting them apart from a whatsapp chat. Ended up booking my own flights to get home. On the beach im still waiting for your company information so i can begin legal proceedings. The hotel is horrible, PLEASE if you have booked for the future CANCEL now.