El Hana International

To be fair, the staff were nice, probably because Tunisians are so hospitable in general. The building itself felt like a remake of The Shinning. Three quarters of the floors seemed abandoned, with unhooked doors and cigarette butts everywhere. Our room windows didn't close properly and made a creepy sound whenever the wind hit the building. The room hadn't been cleaned: the sheets, towels, and bathroom floor were dirty, and the balcony was covered in cigarette butts too.

For Tunisian standards, you get what you'd expect from a three-star hotel, though elsewhere it would barely be two stars. The TV only had three very fuzzy Arabic channels, and the air conditioning didn't work. The Wi-Fi was down for all ten days of my stay, with a different excuse each day. Most of the staff were very polite, except for one woman at reception who was quite rude.

The view from the roof is great, though the hotel staff can't take credit for that. We visited the rooftop bar after iftar during Ramadan, on a Saturday night close to Eid, and it was almost empty even as the streets below were bustling. A keyboard player started up when we arrived, but there was no atmosphere, so we skipped drinks. When we asked about cocktails, the miserable bar staff just listed “gin, whiskey or vodka.” Reception were extremely laid back and vaguely pointed us toward the lift. There are only two moderately sized lifts for this huge old hotel on the main drag, and they move painfully slowly. The whole place brought to mind a Soviet hotel, with all the expected lack of frills. I was very glad we weren't staying there.

The escalators shake so badly that they're scary to use. The rooms were dirty, with broken lights, a broken bathroom, and grime in a corner of the floor that looked as if it had never been cleaned. The staff don't speak English. At breakfast, the coffee milk wasn't fresh, and the kitchen trolley looked filthy and long uncleaned. Avoid this place, there are much better hotels nearby.