Hotel Marhaba Salem in Sousse (Tunisia)

Impressions of a Tunisian hotel😅👍

I stayed at the Hotel Marhaba Salem in Sousse, Tunisia from April 15th to April 29th, 2023.

The Hotel Marhaba Salem is located next to the Marhaba Royal Salem and is designated as a family hotel. Guests from both hotels can use the facilities and restaurants together during the day. Despite what the name might suggest, many guests from the Marhaba Royal come here because the food, service, and atmosphere at the Marhaba Salem are significantly better...

My subjective assessment:

40% families with children

50% couples of different ages

10% singles

The resort has 2 heated saltwater pools, 1 indoor pool (in the Marhaba Royal), and direct access to the supervised beach. There is an indoor bar, a pool bar, and a beach bar. The entire resort is secured by security staff.

Generally, when evaluating a hotel, one should not apply Western standards and always keep the (low) price of the overnight stay in mind!

The food and the variety of the buffet leave nothing to be desired. Every time, there was something new to discover, there was always something for everyone - even though the quality of the dishes corresponded to solid home cooking and not gourmet cuisine according to German standards. There were countless salads, soups, 3-4 meat dishes, at least 1 fish dish, various side dishes, vegetables, pizza & co, and plenty of desserts every day - for a daily rate starting from 35 euros (depending on the arrival time) for all-inclusive, that's okay!

If you just want to "slow down", this is the right place because the clocks run a bit slower in Tunisia! Anyone looking for peace and quiet might be in the wrong place, especially due to families and the massive influx of British and Russian tourists from the end of April onwards - unfortunately, the battle at the buffet and for a free table as well! While my first week of travel was relaxed and restful, it got busier from the second week onwards...

Cleanliness, service, and the hotel's location directly on the beach with the spacious well-kept grounds deserve a very good rating of 4 out of 5 points! Only the outdated furnishings of many rooms and extremely sloppy tile work in the bathrooms deserve a deduction in points. The food also deserves a fair rating of 4 out of 5 points (I only deduct points because the sausage here doesn't taste like sausage, the selection of cheese is limited, and there always seems to be a shortage of spoons).

The free Wi-Fi earns a paltry 1 out of 5 points - when the hotel is full, it doesn't work anymore! Be careful when using your mobile phone because of high follow-up costs due to roaming (we are not in Europe!)

Summary: The hotel is generally considered one of the hotels with the best price-performance ratio in Tunisia! I can confirm that. Those who are looking for relaxation should choose the quieter months from November to mid-April! After that, the hotel apparently shares the fate of other hotels and turns into mass tourism... I deduct one point for the poor organization of table reservations when the hotel is full! There were unpleasant discussions between guests and staff regarding the lack of tables in the last days of my stay!

A big praise for the dedicated service staff and the hardworking cleaning staff who were omnipresent!!

(Due to the low wages, please remember to tip!)

By the way, I was able to ratify my statements through conversations and experiences of other guests present.

+ Food

+ Location

+ Cleanliness

+ Service

+ Comparatively acceptable water quality

- Organization

- Wi-Fi

- Some aging furnishings

Enjoy your vacation!!

Best regards

Michael