Ayla By Ekati Mare

"Booked and paid in advance, confirmed in writing, then let down at check-in. Nice facilities, but unprofessional service and rooms that don’t match the website. We stayed as a group of 10 (8 adults, 2 young children) at the end of August, across four rooms: a Premium 2 bedroom apartment, two Premium Triple rooms and a Premium Double. I chose AYLA specifically — and paid in advance — for a genuine Premium two-room apartment layout for our toddler and for quiet. Everything was confirmed in advance directly with the hotel. None of that prepared us for the arrival. The Premium apartment and one of the Premium triples — exactly the rooms for the two families with young children, including one travelling with a 18-month-old baby — were not available. We spent two hours in reception sorting it out. Rather than owning the problem, the front office first tried to move my family into an Ekati Mare maisonette dressed up as an “upgrade.” It could have been an upgrade, if it wouldn’t be so noisy (we could hear the noise from the pool bar; they had shows mid day and each night). I had to decline it because we needed a quiet room for our toddler and a setup with 2 separte bedrooms. After that they told us they’d found our booked rooms — when in fact they had put us in two classic triple rooms at Ekati. So instead of the apartment I paid for, I was given a classic triple. We had to go back to reception ourselves and point out that these were not what we had reserved before they would even acknowledge it — and even then, with no apology and no attempt to fix the mistake. With no other option, the other family with the 18-month-old accepted the classic room, and I took the maisonette for the first night. Making a family with a children settle for the wrong room, with no apology, was the low point. We were moved into our booked categories the next day, and only after a long discussion with the manager, we received a compensation. My impression is that it came only because we pushed hard for it. Zero customer focus, zero empathy, zero professionalism. On the rooms themselves, be aware that they are not consistent with what’s advertised. Of our four rooms, only the Premium Double actually matched the website. Both Premium Triple rooms had dated, worn furniture, and the Premium apartment was the worst of all: old, visibly chipped furniture, no attention to detail, and a bathroom that is clearly outdated and nowhere near a “premium” standard. Worst of all, the shower drain could not cope — every single shower left water pooling in the middle of the bathroom floor (photo attached). For a category sold and priced, as premium, that is simply not acceptable. The shared Ekati Mare facilities across the road are fine — the pool areas, beach and beach lounge are pleasant and suitable for little kids, although the beach is not well maintenened: messy sunbeds, garbages in the sand, algaes on the shore. On the restaurant ceiling there are spiders and cobwebs. The rooms were kept clean and housekeeping was reliable. The food was good, though breakfast was identical every single morning with no variation, which gets tiring over a week. The overall feeling is that we did not receive what we paid for, and that the Premium apartment in particular is not the product promoted on their site. If you book here: confirm in writing exactly which building and room category you’ll be in, keep that confirmation with you, and be ready to stand your ground at check-in. There is a big gap between a 4* category and what you’ll find at Ayla by Ekati Mare."

"Our accommodation that was paid in full in November has just been cancelled 4 days before due to travel. A disgusting unprofessional way to behave. Just an email from booking saying it is no longer available."

"We had booked our family holiday as the pictures of the hotel looked great online. The hotel looked like the pictures on the outside however the rooms did not which was very disappointing. The hotel also has multiple different buildings for the hotel rooms and we were put at a building at the back of the hotel with a horrible view and we had to go around and on the main road anytime we went for our breakfast/dinner. The air con in our room was not working property and would keep turning off and we could not get it to turn back on. This was not fixed during our stay even when we told reception multiple times about this. They would come in to fix it and then the air con would stop working again. They also advised maintenance would come look at it but they never did. This was horrible and unbearable as it would get very hot in the room quick during the day and nigh resulting in horrible broken sleep during the whole stay. The hotel floor was also dirty and not cleaned at all even when we first arrived. The towels also had stains on them even when new ones were provided. The hotel food and beach bar were good however you couldn't even bring your own water with you to the private beach as staff would walk around and tell you off as you could only have food and drinks from the bar which were expensive - 12 euro for one cocktail . Overall I would not come back here."