My husband and I stayed at the hotel Marillia in October 06 for a week, with our two children.

On arrival to Tunisia there was no welcome party by the transport company, after asking around a taxi driver said he was our transport, and took us to our hotel. We were a bit worried we were going to get charged for this journey, as he was a taxi however he did have a document which had our hotel name on, and luckily we arrived at our hotel, and were not charged. Make sure your transport has your details before going with them, as there are many taxi drivers at the airport who are happy to take you, and charge you extra. We had to fight people off taking our bags.

On arrival at the Marillia we were told there were no rooms available, and we had to stay in another hotel. The only benefit from this change was our half board status was upgraded to all-inclusive. But this was only available at the Marillia, which we had to travel to and from the alternative hotel, this was a good 5 - 10 minute walk every journey, which we could have done with out with two young children. We later found out there were another two families from England (we were the only 3 English families staying at the hotel, the other guest were either German or French) who also got transferred for two days.

The hotel itself was over all clean and tidy, and was cleaned regularly, however it is a bit shabby around the edges, and could do with a good refurbishment, so as to meet its so called 4* status. I would say when it was first built it was a 4*, but I would only give it a 3* now.

The food was ok; luckily my kids will eat all most anything, but the German sausage in everything, got a bit too much by the end of the week. The menu was designed with the German diet in mind, so watch out if you like a simple English dish, because you

We were due to stay at this hotel in August 2005. However, Thomas Cook have informed us that they have moved us to another hotel and are moving all other guests out, due to hygiene problems!

We went to the Marillia, though to read the other reviews you wouldn't believe it.

Our rooms were cleaned and sheets changed every day, people working on reception spoke English quite well as did most of the bar and restaurant staff. There have been many comments about rude staff that did not want to understand, have you thought that you didn't try to help them? Our waiter was Sahib, and he was fantastic. He knew we sat in the same place and actually stopped the table from being used one evening when we were late, he knew what we were all dinking and glasses were refilled as soon as they were empty, and any used plates cleared as we put the knife and fork down.

English is not the main language here, but it is my only one, I found that I could make any requests understood just fine.

I will say that there were times that I was ashamed to be English in Tunisia, many complaints about the food, that was excellent, if you want English food, don't go to Africa! I was asked if there was a McDonalds in the town by one couple!

Everyone was friendly and pleasant if you gave them a chance to be.

I haven't scored the entertainment as my little one is two and so too young to join in the day stuff and in bed by seven so I didn't get to see the evening stuff.

As to upset stomachs, if you read other postings there is a laxative in the bottled water apparently.

I would also like to mention Martin, the Thomas COok Rep. The poor guy was hounded by complainers who seemed to be more interested in how much money they could get back than in having problems rectified. He remained calm and professional at all time, with a smile and a good word for everyone.

We will be returning to Tunisia when baby is older as I so wanted to go on the Sahara trip but thought that it would be too much for him.

Come here, with a little patince with the people who may not get what you mean immediatly you will love it, if you really don't like foriegn food don't go all inclusive, eat out where the fare will be cooked plain as you like it, and above all remember it is Africa, not Spain.

My wife and I along with our two children (3yrs and 1yr) travelled with two other families both with children the same age.

The tour operator sold the hotel as the ideal location for our children allowing us to have a two week break. Please note that, as stated by the Manager, the hotel does not cater for children under 4 years old. Please also note that in small print at the rear of the Thomas Cook brochure they state that, despite temperatures still being in the mid 30's the hotel air conditioning is turned off at the end of September.

For parents of children please be aware of: many plug sockets including those in the kids club and games area are hanging from the wall exposing live electrics, the kids club is vitually non-existant with the cupboards falling down (although the manager has promised to fix these), through out the lobby and family bar area are floor to ceiling windows which lead to a 10 - 15 foot drop onto a marble stairwell.

The hotel suffered from numberous power cuts involving my wife being trapped in the lifts on many an occasion, we had three room transfers due to rat droppings on the balconies and in one case in the room, the cot supplied for our baby offered no safety rail resulting in one of our parties babies falling to the marble floor.

The swing facilities are in a state of disrepair with sharp rusting bars at head hight for children. Additionally we found rat droppings in the indoor pool (ever hear of Weils disease?) and many of the pool side tiles are missing.

Other points for parents are: in the kiddies pool there is a silver metal filter plate which is not scured and on occasion will stick up which you won't notice until you stand on it.

The pool bar does not serve food until 18:00 as stated - we had running arguements with staff to try and order foof from 17:00. The food choice is geared to the Germans - young English children will struggle to find any choice if at all.

Please also be aware that of all the rooms we moved to (with no help from the hotel staff) the balconies are all loose. Light switches in the rooms at low level are often broken and expose more wiring - a nighmare for youngsters.

Thomas Cook booked all three famailies into 'twin' rooms- we then had to push the two single beds together and argue for a bed for our 3 year old then a cot for our baby ( the same for all the families ) All the beds only just fit into the room. Please ensure you clarify exactly what you want from your travel agent and ensure they make a note of it.


Hotel staff were either ignorant or desperate to help. If a tour operator in the UK states Ramadan will not make a big difference to your holiday this is not true - it does. Despite our efforts to get home early we spent two weeks trying to ensure our children ate properly, didn't become bored due to lack of activities and avoided the child dangers of the Marillia Hotel.

All of our party suffered from tummy upset including the kids despite only using bottled water etc. Please think long and hard before taking young children (under fours) to this hotel.

1st room issued was a state with light hanging off wall and puddle at fridge but complained straight away and got moved to far better room.

We felt the hotel catered for Germans in restaurant and struggled some nights to eat anything except pizza, chips & salad.

Go to Carthage land nearby it is fab for all the family and cheap to get into.

Some of the waiter staff at pool bar where very ignorant but walking by us to serve Germans first gets on your nerves!!_

The pools are good sizes and very clean and the maid service is fantastic with clean towels every day and laundry service very cheap as well.

The entertainment team were fab, the day time activities are good fun and we joined in and we ranged from ages 4-55 and all had fun. Kids disco for 1/2 hour at night and them adult show for approx 1-1/2 hours which were really good fun.

The only fault we had was the food and the water they give you in bottles contains a laxative (it tells you on the label but in French) so we had dodgy tummies drinking them all the time. The kids club could do with being given some funds from hotel to give the kids better toys and the team better equipment to entertain your kids, they only had face paints and some old toys most of them broken when we were there but my wee girl (4) went everyday and loved it and the girl Dahilia who ran it.

We had a good time overall and both the entertainment team and us were crying saying goodbyes.

The hotel is mostly German visitors whilst we were there but we did meet a few English couples who made our holiday better by being part of it with us. If you go join in the fun with the entertainment team and go to Carthage land.

The Hotel Marillia was the worst hotel we have ever had the misfortune to stay in. The problems we had were too numerous to mention but briefly in our weeks stay my husband was ill for 3 days due to drinking the bottled water - even though the Thomas Cook Rep said there was nothing wrong with it. The food was absolutely awful. I lived on Rice and Chips for pretty much the entire week.

This is not a 4 Star hotel, nor even a 3 Star hotel. If you are going to this hotel with any sort of expectations you are in for a terrible disappointment.

It is hard to know where to start when describing the hotel Marilia which has to be the worst hotel we have ever stayed in.

The food was terrible, the staff ignorant and unhelpful the rooms poorly furnished (even though the maid service was good). We also had a lot of safety concerns including exposed wiring and exposed and sharp metal umbrella stands.

The staff did seem to give better service to the Germans which the hotel was clearly catering for.

We wrote to Thomas Cook listing nearly thirty separate complaints about the hotel and received a large refund and was also informed that this hotel would not be offered by them next year to uk guests.

If someone tells you that the Marilia is a good hotel have them certified immediately and do not go there please for your own sake.

Don't go!

The bottled water has laxative in it, which your rep knows about...but forgets to mention! The hotel is geared to serve German guests and the English will often be the ones left waiting at the bar.

The selection of food was very poor, We have stayed in many parts of Africa on an all inclusive basis before and this had to be the poorest attempt at all inclusive we had ever seen. Not only was there lack of choice but also lack of quantity with many foods been cleared very quickly not to be replaced, so unless you wanted to get up at 6:00am with the Germans to reserve your sun bed and get a early breakfast you were left with little to chose from.

We also booked a superior room, which we got without a fridge, without a hair dryer and with a faulty TV - leaving little difference (actually no difference) between ours and a standard room. The staff were unhelpful and after speaking to the manager we eventually got a very old fridge which was not fit for anything and made an extremely loud buzzing noise (All night!)

Our rooms were often not cleaned until early evening, by which time we were wanting to come back and have a shower and get changed for the evening etc. We also had a leaking toilet with was initially fixed by them wrapping loo roll around it and later by a towel been wrapped around it!

This really was one of those holidays where you were glad to be home and all other guests on the same holiday as us agreed.

On the plus side you have plenty of opportunity to meet your fellow travellers whist waiting to complain to the rep. Don't be put off the lovely resort or country, just don't stay here!

Well what can we say if your going to this hotel & your english be prepared for early mornings to get sunbeds.We had to get up every morning at 6am because the french & germans had all there towels on most of them by then.The kids club was not for english children,our 5 year old went once but got frustrated because they didnt speak our language & they didnt understand him.All we can say for entertainment is why bother.If you like to experiment with food you'll be ok but if you dont & you like to know what your eating then forget it.Kids can eat pizza & chips everyday because thats all that was on offer for them.There was two things that we couldnt fault about the holiday & they are the hotel cleanliness because that was unbelievable it was immaculate definately give that five stars & the weather was scorching hot for the whole of the two weeks we were there.Maybe in five years we'd consider returning to tunisia if we knew it would be better for the english.

What a bitter disappointment.

The lobby and pool area were fantastic, but it was clear that these were the only areas any money or care had been spent on.

The food was dire, just like school dinners, with one small table supposedly with 'Tunisian specialties' Fruit on offer consisted solely of brown watermelon. Tables are never cleared and you are forced to eat with previous diner's plates stacked next to you. Everybody had a dodgy tummy.

Staff are invasive and aggressive, refusing to understand English.

The drinks and two bars are terrible in equal measure with most people spending their evenings sitting in the lobby with a syrupy 'house cocktail'.

Threadbare towels, no sheet changes, entertainment suitable for the under 5's only.

If you wanted a quiet, sophisticated couples resort you're in for a nasty shock.

Stay at the gorgeous Holiday Inn across the road instead.