Crystal Tat Beach - Pearl Collection

"I’ve travelled to Turkey many times, and this was my fourth trip to Belek in the last two years. Unfortunately, Crystal Tat is by far the weakest hotel we’ve stayed in locally. The hotel is rated as 5-star, but having stayed at five other 5-star hotels in the area, this visit really showed us just how wide that category can be. Technically they may all sit under the same rating, but the range in quality is extreme. For context, our party was made up of me, a regular traveller to Turkey for work and golf; my wife, who has worked in hotel management, is more forgiving than I am, but also far more eagle-eyed about the little things hotels can do to improve; and our teenage son, who needs his own space, reliable Wi-Fi, and generally eats anything that isn’t nailed down. He’s not a fan of soup, though — apparently nails don’t work there. The rooms are in real need of refurbishment, although credit where it’s due: the beds were lovely and comfortable. Ours had exposed cables, chipped chipboard furniture, and décor that appeared to have had its last strategic review sometime in the 1990s. There were even pencil marks on the wall where the headboards had been fitted, which gave the place a charming “still under construction, but decades ago” feel. The family room was also oddly set up for two people: two glasses, two cups, two balcony chairs, etc. So, if you are bringing children, perhaps tell them that hydration and sitting on the balcony are available on a rota. The air conditioning was hit and miss, and the Wi-Fi had a similar commitment level. The food and drink were probably the biggest disappointment. In previous Turkish hotels we’ve found the food fresh, varied and exciting. Here, it was much more canteen-style, with a lot of dishes cooked and served in large vats. Breakfast also seemed to operate on a fairly strict temperature lottery. Arrive early and the eggs and vegetables were hot; arrive later and they were cold. Everything was laid out on hot plates, but we genuinely weren’t convinced the hot plates were actually on — which does rather limit their career prospects as hot plates. There was a constant BBQ, so some of the meat was freshly prepared, although sometimes it had clearly enjoyed a little too much quality time with the grill. No medium-rare steaks here. If your dream dinner involves onion rings, potato wedges, tripe soup and rice, then good news: you may have found your spiritual home. The drinks were also oddly flat — both the soda and beer seemed to have only a passing acquaintance with bubbles. On the plus side, the savings on CO₂ must be impressive. There were also a few moments that felt slightly lost in translation. I would genuinely love to know what “Turkey Sweat” started out as, and whether it was meant to be eaten, worn, or simply survived. The desserts came in some fascinating colours not commonly found in nature, leading us to wonder how many E-numbers had bravely given their lives in the process. That said, the baklava was amazing — although I suspect it may be illegal to make bad baklava in Turkey. We also discovered that neon purple tastes of coconut, which was unexpected, educational, and possibly a GCSE science question. For fun on the last night, we did a taste test of three different coloured cakes. Despite the impressive range of hues, they all tasted exactly the same and had the same texture: not very much. Or “sadness”, as my wife put it. My wife also looked at the red lentil soup, which was a lovely bright yellow. Admittedly, red and yellow are near each other on the colour wheel, so perhaps we were being picky. Fruit options were limited — no fruit was harmed in the writing of this review. The pool area was actually fine. It was clean, nice enough, and very busy, with the usual Belek sunbed challenge. There was also plenty of EDM playing, just in case you accidentally started to relax. The animation team were full of energy and excitement — possibly a by-product of too many of the neon desserts — and they did a great job of keeping everyone having fun. The pool snack bar, however, was by far the best food we had at the hotel. It was freshly prepared, tasty, and a real bright spot. I mainly stuck to the Turkish snacks, which were genuinely good. My Turkish kebab was lovely, and generally the snack bar was doing some heavy lifting. That said, on day six, the vegetarian in our party waited 30 minutes for a veggie pide, which was the only non-meat option available. We were then told the chef had gone to another part of the hotel and it would be another 45 minutes. In a quick snack bar, that does rather stretch the definition of “quick”. The staff were generally pleasant. We had a couple of chats with guest relations about things like the air conditioning, and they were very helpful. Special mention also to Volkan from guest relations, who was excellent when another guest tried to be intimidating over moved towels from a “reserved” sunbed — not moved by us, I should add. He handled it calmly and professionally, which was very much appreciated. At mealtimes, though, we often had to track staff down for drinks, as they weren’t especially forthcoming. That said, a special shout out to Emre, who really took care of us in the restaurant on day five — much appreciated, and proof that good service does make a real difference. We were also provided with a cabana for a day, and Bekir looked after us brilliantly. He was attentive, helpful, and made sure we were well looked after throughout. Another shining example of the staff being one of the hotel’s real strengths. I should also say that I was genuinely impressed by the staff’s language skills. My Turkish is limited to “thank you”, although I do manage slightly better in a few other languages, so I have real respect for anyone switching between guests all day. It is very much a Russian-first hotel, and we also saw a few German guests, so English often seemed to be one of several languages being juggled rather than the default. I did use Google Translate from English to Russian with a few of the guest relations staff — thank goodness for technology, and for phones with enough battery. That’s not a criticism, just something English-speaking guests may notice. We also tried the Italian à la carte, which got off to a slightly frosty start. The gentleman seating us gave the impression that our arrival had disrupted an otherwise perfectly good evening. No welcome, no “how many are you?” — just vibes. The recipes were unusual, although the food itself was not bad. The vegetarian in our party ordered the Alfredo, which unexpectedly came with meat. Initially there was a “no substitutions” approach, but once we explained that the person eating it was vegetarian — and, professionally, knows her way around a kitchen — a Neapolitan option was provided. I’m sure the hotel may wonder why we didn’t raise more of this during our stay, but most of it didn’t feel like a quick-fix issue. We did speak to guest relations about things like the air conditioning, and they were helpful. The bigger problem was more fundamental: tired rooms, inconsistent food, and a general feeling that the hotel needs investment rather than just a minor tweak here and there. Overall, Crystal Tat wasn’t awful, and there were positives: the beds were comfortable, the pool was clean, the pool snack bar was genuinely good, the Turkish snacks were decent, the baklava was excellent, guest relations were helpful, Volkan handled a difficult situation well, Emre was great, Bekir looked after us brilliantly in the cabana, the animation team kept everyone entertained, and the staff clearly work hard across several languages. Without those staff members, this would have been very difficult to rate above 2/5. They easily pull it up to a 3, but the food and rooms are such a let-down that it couldn’t go any higher. Compared with other hotels we’ve stayed at in Belek, it felt tired, inconsistent, and some way below the 5-star standard we’ve experienced locally. A 3/5 from us: saved by the staff, but not one we’d rush back to."

"After arrival to the hotel there was only 1 receptionist who didn´t speak english or german. We didn´t get any informations, we didn´t get the key from the room so we waitted for 40 mins for porter who took us to our room. The room wasn´t the spacious room we paid for. We booked the spacious room with balcony/terrace and we didn´t get any of it. The other day the problem was solved and we could move to the bigger room with terrace. The room was ok, but the furniture was very old. Bed was comfortable. Food : food is very tasty. You can choose from 4 ala carte restaurants which are delicious (sea food, grill, turkish, italian). Food in the main restaurant was also very good. The restaurant is crowded at lunchtime and dinnertime and sometimes there was no free table. Ala carte restaurants were a great option for us almost every day. This hotel has also a coffee corner, sweet shop, beach bar, street buffet for quick lunch (especially for kids), irish bar for evening relax, bottles of water everywhere. We were really happy about this. Hotel cleanliness : Constantly there was someone cleaning at this hotel and at beach as well. There was plenty of staff everywhere looking after cleanliness. Very unusual and very much appreciated. Pool & kids pool : kids pool is nice but very small. There were lots of families with small kids and it was quite crowded. Only 10 sund lougers arount this small pool. There are 2 pools. One is for adults only and the bigger one for everybody. The main pool is also not enough for full hotel. The pool was crowded from noon till evening, the water was very warm and sun beds were booked with towels from 5 am so when we came to pool around 9, there was no free sun bed at all. The hotel tries to do something with this by putting information leaflet on each sun bed but it doesn´t work at all. Entertainment : There are several places for the evening entertainment. There is entertainment for kids in the amphitheatre from 20:30 - 21:15 cca, kids disco. Every day is a little bit different entertainment. Then there is live acustic music from cca 21 at the terrace and usually around 22 stars disco which is too loud. The scenery is beautiful, but the music is dance disco and usually ends around midnight. It is too loud, it´s not possible to sleep as the eardrums vibrate. We chose this hotel as we were told it´s family friendly hotel. Not during the evening and night really. It´s really disturbing. Final evaluation : This hotel has great food & drinks, ice-cream, coffee, beach bar, pool bar, irish pub also very good. The beach is clean with gradual entry into the sea and clean sand. Sunbeds at the beach are ok but too close to each other. There is not enough sunbeds by the pools and are booked from very early morning. Hotel is clean, rooms have old furniture but still ok. Too loud disco every night. Well-kept outside area of this large hotel complex."

"Negatives: *We were served raw chicken from the street food buffet. I don’t believe our concerns were taken very seriously despite them agreeing it was raw. *There are not enough sunloungers for the size of the hotel in peak season. It is impossible to find any sun loungers past 8am in the morning. Despite signs put out saying that reserving sunbed’s is forbidden, these are ignored. The most frustrating thing was that beds would be reserved by people who would then not use them until later in the afternoon! We witnessed at one point someone stealing people’s beds and arguments breaking out which wasn’t pleasant. *Not enough staff on outside pool bar, so queues could be very long at times. *Lift frequently broke *Pool size is small for hotel size, so could feel very crowded at times. *There are no local shops/amenities to walk to so be prepared to order Taxi’s to go out to explore Positives *Food selection * Hotel Cleanliness * Room Cleanliness and size, we stayed in Room 3502 which was at the front of the hotel and was lovely and quiet. *Beer and soft drinks stocked daily in room minibar *Lobby/Reception Bar was the best for drinks! *Lovely sandy beach *40 mins from Antalya Airport *10 mins from Land of Legends"