A copy of the e-mail I recived...Important news about a change to your holiday

Dear Mr,

RE: Your holiday to: Tunisia Departure date 31/07/2011
Reference Number:
We need to tell you about some news regarding your holiday at the Marhaba Salem in Tunisia

During the winter the hotel took the opportunity to refurbish some areas of the hotel and bedrooms. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, this work has overrun and rooms within the Marhaba Salem section of the complex will not be available during the summer season.

Rest assured that no work will be taking place during your stay at the Marhaba Salem, however, as the restaurant and hotel rooms in this section are not quite ready to use you will be allocated into the Garden Salem section of the hotel. The Garden Salem is on the same complex to the Marhaba Salem and therefore all the hotel's facilities will be available as usual.

In addition, we would also like to confirm that arrangements have been made for all your meals to be taken in the Royal Salem restaurant within the hotel complex or if you'd prefer you are also able to use the snack bar which will provide a late breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. Due to the size of the complex and the facilities available to you, we're sure this advice won't affect your overall holiday enjoyment

Naturally, it's really important that we let you know about the hotel's plan, so we hope we've explained everything clearly. If you have any queries or you're unsure about something, please give us a call on the number below or contact your travel agent.

I hope you have a great holiday.
Yours sincerely,
The team at Thomson
Please do not reply to this email - we're unable to respond - please call us on the number below

Hi we are staying at the marhaba salem from 18 september for one week,or I should say were staying there!I had the same e mail as you and phoned them yesterday morning as I couldnt find any info about garden salem.I had researched where i wanted to stay and the marhaba is on the beach while the royal is 250metres away from beach and I was just thinking we could end up walking miles for meals and to the beach!I have been told that the garden salem is a long block next to the marhaba salem.The person who answered at thompsons didnt know where it was and had to get the info before she could tell me.She said its right near the beach and only 100m from the Royal where we will eat.I waited 20 minutes for the call to be taken then another 10 spent on the phone!Maybe you could post on here when you get back so we know what to expect!Julie

Here is the reply I got from the Hotel group yesterday....


Thank you for your query.

The Salem Garden in an internal name of an accommodation building part of the Salem hotel located on the same ground, the building itself has a fully refurbished nice rooms.

Kind regards,

Sami Akri

Direction Marketing

Marhaba Hotels

Thanks makes sense.Hope you enjoy it!

Hi all, new to this site and this is my first post

I too had the letter from Thomsons re the Marhaba Salem and the Garden Salem, went to the travel agents this lunchtime and after them making phone calls for me, they have reassured me that the rooms in the garden are of the same standard as the marhaba salem, it is next door to the Royal so no treking miles for meals and that it is also on the beach the same as the Marhaba Salem.
I found this website through the Travel Agents as they had a look on here as well as they could not find anything on their site!! Jo

Welcome to HT Jo

Glad we could be of some help to reassure you about your hotel, if you have any questions please feel free to ask as we are a very friendly and helpful bunch on here.

Graham

Pa38 am wondering how you got on? Would be great to hear about it and how it all worked for you re meals in royal and what the garden salem was like?

Mmmm where do I begin.... The hotel and rooms are clean and kept that way, but it was our first trip to Tunisia we usualy holiday in Turkey (diff resorts each year)
The resteraunt was a nightmare, because with it being double busy, some people had bribed waiters to reserve tables for them. Some waiters where very rude and even shouting at clients to protect "their" tables.
But the big one was the man cooking raw chicken on a griddle with his blue latex gloves (so far so good) then moved to the cooked meat counter and sliced and served cooked meat with the same gloved hands
I reported this to the resteraunt manager and he said it should not happen (an understatement) and he would sort it, but he never went to the griddle postition when we where there that night...
Quite a few people ouselves included had stomach cramps and the trotts, my wife is still not 100% and we have been back a week!!
In the first choice advertising blurb it states "candle lit tunisian evening" is included in your all inclusive package, some one should tell the hotel they charge 20 tunisian dinar for the pleasure.
I have complained to Thomson about the hotel and about their brochure not being correct, let's see what they have to say..
Sorry if this put's you off the Salem's but the food hygene needs sorting ASAP

Thanks for that.....sounds dreadful but at least if we are aware then we can watch and report it straight away!I did wonder how the restaurant would cope having all the extra people, seems obvious that they wouldnt be able to .Hopefully will not be so busy when we go as the schools are all back.Was there a bar in the garden salem or did you have to go to the Royal for that? Did you use the snack bars at all?Sorry for the 20 questions but it is so helpful to be warned in advance!We also go to Turkey and had two weeks in June in Icmeler.Went to Tunisia last year but stayed at Abou Sofiane and was October half term week and weather wasnt very good.Hope you wife is 100% soon and thanks again.

The "Garden Salem" is actually just a block of rooms in the grounds all the Maharba's share.
There is nothing but rooms in the block, but the other bars aren't too far away there is a snack bar next to the block where you can get drinks from, also a late breakfast from 10am, and in the evening you can get Pizza, Pasta, and Chips from there (trust me you will be sick of Pizza, Pasta, and Chips) by the end of your stay.
I hope I haven't posted a too negative view because the beach and the new beach bar (where you can get lunch) where fine, as where the pools so although there where one or two problems we still had a good time, but obverse we will not be returning"¦"¦
One useful tip is to use the restaurant near where the slides are, it never gets as busy as the others and offers a different choice of dishes.

Thanks very much.We dont go for a while but will post about it when we get back. We hope to use the beach most of the time so good to know thats ok! At least we are going armed with a bit of knowledge!Thanks again.

Thanks pa38 we do not go until 12th Oct so has been handy to read ur comments Jo

I have had a phone call today from thompsons saying that my friend and I will be staying in the Garden Hotel as they are doing work on the hotel Marhaba Salem and that we will be eating in the Royal Salem,is it far and what is it like too. We are not travelling until Feb, but would like some views of others that have experienced what I have

I'm just wondering how long the work at the Salem is actually going to take because it has been going on for over a year now! It sounds as though the Garden Salem is where they tried to put me in October 2010, though I had been told I would be in the Royal. I must admit I took one look and insisted on being moved. The room they were offering me was on the ground floor with doors opening direct onto the grounds which didn't seem particularly safe, particularly as I travel alone. Even the member of staff who had taken me there agreed with me and I was moved to the main hotel where I had stayed previously with absolutely no problems.