Hotel El Amine

Great service and location, and the rooms were clean. I stayed for three nights.

There were several issues that don’t belong in a four-star hotel. The Wi-Fi was disappointingly slow, which can be a problem for people needing to work after their courses. Hot water wasn’t available consistently for showers; it seemed to go only to whoever turned on a shower first. Food choices could run out if you arrived an hour after the restaurant opened, so it’s best to get there early. When guests complained, staff simply said to come earlier. Meals were expensive for their quality, too. The room windows didn’t close all the way, letting outside noise disturb guests and affecting comfort. I also encountered insects, including lizards, in some of our rooms. Guests couldn’t bring food to their rooms or visit friends in theirs. And whenever someone left a room, a staff member inspected everything inside, which felt distrustful. These are just some of the problems.

It’s a newly built hotel, but it’s far from the city and still being finished, so it isn’t fully operational. They’re short staffed, and I wouldn’t expect too much. In general, I don’t recommend it. The new rooms are good quality, but room service is always late, and sometimes they forget to take out the trash or bring fresh towels. Staff seemed unprofessional, never smiled, and didn’t know how to please clients. They were so short staffed that the same person worked reception and the restaurant, and sometimes drove clients to their destinations. At the restaurant, water leaked from the roof. It was the same menu every day, and if you came an hour after opening, there was no food left. The meals were expensive compared with their quality.

The hotel was very clean and modern, with a comfortable bed and shower. I slept great, and there were two pillows per guest. It’s at the end of Boumerdes. Wi-Fi was almost unusable in the evening, when I guess everyone else was using it, and breakfast was basic but okay. A room for two cost 11,000 dinar (€50). They checked our marriage permit, which hadn’t happened anywhere else during our three weeks in Algeria. One of us has a passport from a non-Algerian Muslim country. I’m not sure whether that’s why or whether they require it of all couples.