Melia El Mansour Mahdia

Fantastic hotel – highly recommended!We had an amazing stay at this hotel. The food was absolutely delicious and incredibly diverse every single day, with a fantastic selection of delicious ice cream. There was always plenty to eat and drink, and the cocktails were superb!They take great care of both adults and children. The kids' attractions were excellent and changed daily, keeping the little ones fully entertained, while adults also had plenty of great activities to enjoy. Big rooms.. close.to.the sea. We didn't miss a single thing during our holiday. We will definitely be back!

This was not our first stay at this hotel, so we have a good basis for comparison. Unfortunately, compared to our visit in 2023, the quality has declined dramatically. RECEPTION & ROOM We were assigned a worn-out first-floor room right next to the elevators. The view was almost entirely blocked by the indoor pool dome and the large waterslide. From around 6:00 a.m., the corridor became a constant walkway to the elevators, and from 10:00 a.m. until late evening the hotel was filled with loud music, entertainment shows, lifeguard whistles and screaming children. Resting in the room during the day was simply impossible, and we had to keep the blackout curtains closed for privacy. Because of our late arrival, we missed dinner on the first evening. Reception promised to check with the kitchen but never followed up. The currency exchange policy was equally disappointing. Reception refused to accept slightly damaged euro banknotes, claiming the bank would reject them, yet a private exchange office accepted the same notes without hesitation. Ironically, in return they happily give guests old, torn and heavily worn Tunisian dinars. FOOD & DRINKS The "all-inclusive" package is far less impressive than advertised. Drink options are extremely limited: one draft beer, one white wine, watered-down soft drinks, powdered juices, and only the most basic cocktails. The coffee is among the worst we've ever had. The food was the biggest disappointment. Although there was plenty of it, quantity cannot compensate for quality. Most dishes were bland, poorly prepared, overly spicy or simply unrecognizable. There were virtually no options for guests with dietary restrictions or those preferring simple international food. We saw countless guests filling their plates only to throw most of it away—a shocking amount of food waste. The kitchen's hygiene also raises concerns. Guests are warned not to drink tap water, yet the hotel never explains what water is used for cooking, washing food or producing large quantities of ice. Stomach problems among guests are therefore hardly surprising. The buffet layout is inefficient, with long queues at the live cooking stations. Waiting 20 minutes for a few slices of pizza became normal. Avoid the reservation-only Tunisian restaurant. Most guests around us left nearly all of their food untouched. SUNBEDS Finding a sunbed is a daily battle. Unless you're up by 6:00 a.m. to reserve one, your chances are slim. Towels are left everywhere for hours, and staff reportedly reserve the best spots for paying guests. The beach operates similarly—the better your tip, the better your location. On Saturdays, beach staff even remove unattended belongings and give the sunbeds to outside visitors who pay to access the beach. Apparently, maximizing revenue is more important than taking care of hotel guests. HOUSEKEEPING Housekeeping was well below four-star standards. Our room was not properly cleaned upon arrival, service carts blocked the corridors all day, and staff communicated loudly over walkie-talkies. Cleaners often knocked as late as 4–5 p.m., towels and toilet paper were not consistently replaced, rubbish was sometimes left behind, and we repeatedly had to contact reception to resolve basic housekeeping issues. Communication was also difficult due to the language barrier. OUTDATED FACILITIES Despite the change in ownership, there is little evidence of investment. Our room was visibly outdated and poorly maintained. The shower screen leaked because it had been incorrectly installed, the shower gel dispenser blocked access to the faucet, there were only two electrical outlets in the entire room, and the balcony lighting was almost useless. STAFF Most employees appeared unmotivated and unfriendly. Service felt mechanical rather than welcoming, and there was little sense that guests were genuinely valued. EXTRA CHARGES Charging extra for pool towels at a hotel advertised as four-star is simply unacceptable. The Blue Beach Bar is listed in the hotel's brochure as one of the available restaurants and bars, yet what they conveniently fail to mention is that it is not included in the all-inclusive package and requires additional payment. This hotel no longer deserves its four-star rating. Our experience was a huge disappointment compared to 2023. Poor food, constant noise, outdated facilities, inconsistent housekeeping, extra charges for services that should be included, and an overall lack of hospitality made this one of the most disappointing holidays we've had. We hope this review helps future guests make an informed decision before booking.

We had a very pleasant stay at this hotel and our overall impression was very positive. The hotel is beautiful, and it is clear that many areas, including the rooms, have been recently renovated. However, I believe the hotel has the potential to be even better with just a few small improvements. The rooms were clean and well maintained, although there were a few minor inconveniences, such as having only one power outlet in the room. The food was excellent, especially the seafood and fresh fish. Our only suggestion would be to improve the food labeling. More than half of the dishes were not labeled, and some of them were quite spicy without any indication. This is a small issue that would be very easy to fix. Most of the staff were friendly and welcoming. The few issues we encountered upon arrival, such as the missing safe in our room, were resolved quickly. The only area that could be improved is the reception, where several staff members spoke very little English, making communication difficult at times. Our biggest disappointment was the gym. Not only is it poorly equipped, but it was also extremely dirty. There were thick layers of dust on the equipment, weights were left scattered everywhere, and dirty towels were lying around, while clean towels were not available. In its current condition, it would honestly be better not to advertise a gym at all than to leave it like this. Finally, the main reason we would happily return is the beach. We walked along the entire beach, and in our opinion, the section in front of this hotel is by far the most beautiful. The sea is crystal clear, the sand is soft, and the setting is simply stunning. With just a few minor improvements, this hotel would easily deserve a perfect score.

To summarise / TL;DR: 1. If you are looking to stay here, do not go for a Standard Room as they are in dire need of renovating 2. If you are vegetarian / have food allergies be on alert for cross contamination 3. The pool and sea were stunning and well maintained 4. The animators, bar staff and dining room staff were all wonderful 5. The Front of House manager with glasses (didn't catch his name) wins the award for the rudest greeter I've ever met I’ll try to keep to the facts, this was an experience for two friends staying in a Standard Room. At the point of booking there was no explanation of what the difference would be between a Standard Room and a Superior Room. Had we been made aware that the pictures on the website were for the Superior Rooms only, and that the Standard Rooms (that we saw - of which there were many) were in dire need of renovation: - check=in experience was the rudest I’ve ever come across. We were greeted by lovely people on the door but the front of house manager barked at us about seeing our voucher- this hadn’t been made clear to us. He told us he couldn’t check us in without a voucher. Eventually his colleague took pity on us and helped us by giving us an email address to send the confirmation to so she could print off the voucher. - it wasn’t explained to us that we needed a card each for the pool towel hire, we only found this out much later and then front of house told us to come back after 4pm - the towels wouldn’t haven been needed then! - the following days I tried to speak to reception about changing our room, but when I noticed the same front of house manager on reception I stepped away, I knew no good conversation would come out of it. He seemed to resent the clients for bothering him. Rooms: in total we got to see 4 rooms. 1. First one we stayed in for 3 out of 5 nights. The Aircon wasn’t enough, the power sockets were falling off the wall so the plug disconnected. We had requested a twin room as we are friends, not a couple, and were hoping to push the beds apart. Unfortunately the bedside tables are wall mounted so we couldn't push the beds apart, and as the aircon was barely working it was unbearable. The first room however had a single bed (we were somehow allocated a family room) so we took turns sleeping on that. Having approached another Front of House manager who was much more understanding and accommodating, he gave us a few options of rooms to look at, and would do his best to help. Initially he sent two maintenance guys to fix things, which we were more than happy to consider. Within an hour or two, we were told it wasn't fixable, and they would find us another room. 2. On day we were shown another family room - upon arrival to look at it two maintenance guys were there re-fitting the wall hung furniture. The state of the room was worse than our current one, so we declined. 3. The next room we were shown was across from our existing one - great! Except it only had a twin bed in, and the same wall-mounted furniture. When we said it wouldn't be enough for us as we needed to have a single bed in the room (we offered to move it ourselves from the existing room had there been space) we were told "but there's only two of you, why do you need three beds?" 4. Final room was prepared - it was a family room, the aircon had been on full blast for us for a while, and although I could smell mould we decided to accept the move. We were both exhausted (our own doing - the heat and humidity was stifling and nothing to do with the hotel or amenities themselves). We went to put our passports and valuables in the safe, only to find that the code didn't work. A number of staff members came including the restaurant manager, to try to unlock it. In the end, maintenance came, disconnected it and connected a different one. The next morning I saw mould in the bathroom, the water wasn't draining after the shower, and the bathroom bin was full of rice?? This was cleaned later in the day when the cleaning staff worked their magic. FOOD: The food was varied, I love mediterranean cuisine and adore seafood, so it was a great experience. Plenty of choice each mealtime, and even the option to have it freshly cooked in front of you (if you queued). The food hygiene was questionable, as I noticed that the same kitchen utensils would be used for vegetarian and meat options, plus if a chef dropped their utensil on the floor they would pick it back up and continue using it... Nevertheless although I was expecting to get "travellers tummy" (who doesn't?) the Immodium went unused! BARS: We didn't go to the beach bar, only the one by the pool and upstairs in the hotel. The staff was lovely, some tried it on and were overly friendly (asking for whatsapp details / asking to go for a romantic walk along the beach etc) but harmless. A standard thing at all-inclusive hotels I suspect (this was my second ever experience) is that the drinks glasses are small.. But all the more reason to go up to the bartenders and have a chat about their day, and they always greeted you with a smile on their face. AMENITIES: We didn't partake in any of the extra payment activities so I can't comment on them, but we used the pool daily, and went to the beach a couple of times. The beach was beautiful, the sea was breath taking and clean. Personally we decided to stay poolside for the most part due to the struggle of getting a sunbed under a parasol (a common issue, I know) and the sea made our skin sting (first world problem, and not to be taken as a reason not to go for a swim!). The pool was clean and well maintained, and warmer than I'd have thought possible. Again, our issue, not the hotel's. STAFF: The team of animators were amazing, and utterly hilarious. It was great fun getting to know them, and joking around with them. You could tell they really enjoy what they do, and have loads of fun doing it. It was so wonderful to see them in their element! As we didn't have children with us, I can't comment on the animators who ran the childcare but from what I could see the staff were caring and looked after the kids I saw them with. The team of lifeguards around the pool were nice and friendly, but of course after an extra buck if possible. We made the mistake of trusting that one would arrange for us to have sunbeds in exchange for tips, but that did not work out at all as expected.. My advice to anyone staying would be: bring your own towel, wake up at 5am, go down to the pool and grab a sunbed with your towel, and then go back to bed / go for breakfast etc and then you know you've got a sunbed for the day! On our final couple of days we woke at 6am and when we went to the pool even at that time most of the sunbeds were gone.. To summarise: 1. If you are looking to stay here, do not go for a Standard Room as they are in dire need of renovating 2. If you are vegetarian / have food allergies be on alert for cross contamination 3. The pool and sea were stunning and well maintained 4. The animators, bar staff and dining room staff were all wonderful 5. The Front of House manager with glasses (didn't catch his name) wins the award for the rudest greeter I've ever met

I have stayed here for 7 nights with my wife and 2 kids, i came from the UK and i want to leave a realistic and balanced review. We came here in the middle of July in the holiday season and the temperatures were soaring! Upon arrival we were greeted at the door by friendly staff, very professional, drinks on arrival, Note to take here, check in is at 3pm, we arrived on an early morning flight, so we had to wait until 3pm for our room to be ready as the hotel was very busy. The air conditioning in the lobby areas were not cold enough for this extreme heat. The Rooms: We had a family room with sea view, huge room with huge balcony, room consisted of 1 double bed and 2 singles in two seperate bedrooms, however, the room was outdated and the AC in the room wasnt working correctly, not cold enough, maintenance guys came over tried to sort out the problem but still same. There was no kettle in the room, also there were no 3 pin plug sockets, so we suggest you get a travel adapter. We eventually got a better room on the second day, this room was much better, felt like a proper 4star room, we got a queen size bed and 2 singles beds, there was also a kettle. I got an electric shock from the lamp switch, which was very dangerous, exposed wire, the staff immediately rectified the problem. The electrical safety standards are noway near the British Standards. Rooms and toilets were cleaned every day, laundry replaced often, but i found it weird that they enter the room without permission or even if you’re not at the room, they will enter. But fair play nothing was taken or misplaced. The Food: A wide variety of food available, wont get bored as everyday there is something different. I asked the Chef to make me an Indian curry, he agreed to do it for me and my family. The waiters are very helpful, especially Ahmed El Hamdi, and Mehdi, they looked after us all the time. There are queues for some foods but it moves fast, we really enjoyed the hospitality. They also had a live one man band playing the banjo type instrument. The entertainment team: Excellent team, always up for a laugh, always asking how we are, addressing us by our names, they put on amazing shows especially the Michael Jackson show and the fire show, always a different theme, the DJ is Banging! Got the tunes on Lock!! They are a really friendly bunch, and Sunny was a gem! The pool: What an amazing pool, very big, enough space for everyone, adults and children alike. They have decent slides, and the setting of the pool around the palm trees is exceptional. Surrounded by sun-beds, you can take a dip then relax. Due to the busy period, you have to get up early to claim your sunbeds around the pool and beach. However, i noticed some ppl commenting ‘sun bed wars’, theres nothing of the sort, if u want a bed, just wake up early and claim it. There is a small shallow kids poop for the young ones. Beach: The hotel is situated on the beach, white sands and clear beautiful water, private hotel beach area with parasols etc. In this season the blue jellyfishes came out however they have a net on the water that stops them coming into the swim area. Kids activities: Not a huge amount for kids to do, expect for the little ones that can go to the kids club and do colouring etc. However i found that my kids spent the entire day in the pool. They love it. Final thoughts: I would definitely come again, the hotel setting is beautiful, looks really nice. All staff are very friendly and helpful. I think there is a-lot of room for improvement, but this place is well established and recognised. 7 days seem a-bit too long, 5 days is perfect for a short break. I would recommend this place highly!