This hotel is a great sunshine holiday destination. I had been very worried about visiting having read some of the reviews on Trip-Advisor. Thankfully my girlfriend and i were presently surprised with what we found and that the dreadful reviews previously posted were not in our view accurate (some reviews seem to be unfairly critical).

On arrival at the hotel we were greeted by a slightly grumpy receptionist who was not as welcoming as perhaps she could have been, but it was late at night and i think she was on her way home. Nevertheless we were checked in fairly quickly and a porter carried our cases to our room and showed us in.

The room was a good side with two double beds pushed together to form a single large bed. The room has an LCD TV that showed BBC World and a number of foreign language channels. The bathroom was equipped with a bath that included a centrally mounted shower. There was plentiful hot water at all times and water pressure was sufficient at all times but did flux slightly occasionally. The room was kept clean by a rather quirky chap but he did provided fresh flowers in the room on most days.

The restaurant offered a great choice of dishes at breakfast, lunch and dinner. The breakfast included freshly cooked eggs/omelettes/crepes which were terrific but sadly it did take time to get served; to remedy this perhaps the hotel could introduce more chefs. Similarly, there were too many guests taking advantage of this provision; ordering multiple eggs and omelettes for family members not in the queue, a limit on this would speed things up.

At the lunch and dinner sittings there was a range of hot and cold dishes, including fresh pizza during the evening service. The food was tasty and hot (i cannot believe that anyone could go hungry with so much choice). The waiting staff were enthusiastic and quickly anticipated my drinks order, serving me without asking each evening. (I didn’t use the poolside or beach cafes so cannot comment on them)

The hotel entertainments team are energetic and seem to work tirelessly. I didn’t get involved in the sports activities but did go to one of their evening shows which was funny in a naff way! There is little to do on an evening but the bar is popular and serves cocktails, beer, spirits and mixers as a part of the all-inclusive offering. The local mixers were a little sweet for me, but soon discovered that they serve diet Coca Cola and Schweppes tonic water which i targeted. The bar staff are a little slow and can be grumpy – more bar tenders needed!

The hotel felt very secure with two sets of steel gates at the front of the hotel. The hotel’s beach was patrolled by police and staff so also felt secure. We did venture outside of the hotel to explore Hammermet but this was a mistake; Hammermet has little going for it and had a threatening feel, as tourists you are a target for aggressive peddlers of low quality goods who do not accept no for an answer! The town is shabby and in need of development; it will be a long time before I return!

In summery: a nice hotel that offers good food and service in a great setting. The local area lets the hotel down – Hammermet cannot be recommended. If this hotel was located in Spain or Italy i’d defiantly go back!!!