"Selene Beach & Spa Hotel, Alanya, Turkey
Holiday Dates: 5 July – 19 July
We selected this hotel because we expected the higher standards associated with the Platinum Plus collection. Whilst there were a small number of positive aspects to our stay, the overall holiday fell significantly below the standard advertised.
The interior of the hotel was generally well maintained, and our room was cleaned daily to an excellent standard by the housekeeping staff. Unfortunately, these positives were outweighed by numerous issues that affected our holiday from beginning to end.
Food and Dining
The food was our greatest disappointment. We found the selection extremely limited and it appeared to cater primarily for Russian, German and Turkish guests, with very little variety suitable for our tastes. During our fourteen-day stay we found ourselves eating largely eggs, chicken, bread and soup because there was very little else we enjoyed.
The restaurant was also extremely busy, making it difficult to find a table on many occasions. Because of both the poor quality of the food and the overcrowding, we ate outside the hotel several times at our own expense. We do not believe guests paying for a Platinum Plus all-inclusive holiday should feel compelled to pay for meals elsewhere.
À La Carte Restaurant
Our holiday entitled us to dine in the à la carte restaurant on two occasions. We booked both reservations in advance.
Whilst the setting and atmosphere were pleasant, the food was extremely disappointing. By the time our meals arrived, much of the food was cold. One of the carrots was so hard that it could not be cut with a knife, and the potatoes were also cold.
My wife ordered the tenderloin, which was so tough and poorly prepared that it was largely inedible. I ordered the salmon, which was dry and served cold.
Following this disappointing experience, we cancelled our second reservation because we had no confidence that the standard of food would improve. As a result, we were unable to enjoy one of the benefits included within the holiday we had paid for.
Restaurant Dress Code
Each evening we made the effort to dress appropriately for dinner. However, every night we observed guests entering the restaurant wearing swim shorts, vests, flip-flops and sliders. There appeared to be no enforcement of any evening dress code, which detracted from what should have been a premium dining experience.
Drinks and Hygiene
The quality of the drinks throughout the hotel was disappointing and below what we expected from a Platinum Plus resort.
The outdoor drinks bar was housed in a wooden shack which appeared dirty and poorly maintained. On one occasion the bar top was covered in live ants. When this was brought to the attention of the bartender, he simply shrugged his shoulders and laughed, making no attempt to clean the area or address the issue. We found this unacceptable from both a hygiene and customer service perspective.
The beach snack bar serving burgers, chips and hot dogs also appeared dirty and poorly maintained, giving us little confidence in the hygiene standards being maintained.
Sunbed Reservations
Sun loungers were being reserved daily from approximately 6:30 a.m. using towels.
On one occasion I counted 36 sunbeds reserved while only three people were actually using them. This made it extremely difficult for other guests to find available loungers despite many remaining unused for long periods.
Condition of the Hotel Grounds
The condition of parts of the hotel grounds was unacceptable. Guests were required to walk through muddy areas to reach the pool, sun loungers, the ice cream station and the waffle area. These conditions remained throughout our stay and did not reflect the standard expected of a Platinum Plus resort.
Beach and Sea Conditions
The sea itself was disappointing, with plastic waste and what appeared to be human waste visible in the water during our stay. This made swimming unpleasant and raised concerns regarding cleanliness.
Smoking
There were no clearly designated smoking areas.
Guests smoked throughout the resort, including whilst dining and whilst lying beside other guests around the swimming pool. As non-smokers we found this unpleasant and believe designated smoking areas should have been provided and enforced.
Health and Safety Concerns
One of our most serious concerns related to health and safety around the main swimming pool.
We regularly observed staff transporting large quantities of beer and spirits from the main hotel to the pool and beach bars using overloaded trolleys.
On one occasion an overloaded trolley struck a plastic drainage cover beside the swimming pool, causing it to split in two. At the same time, one of the bottles of spirits fell from the trolley and smashed on the tiled area next to the pool.
Broken glass was scattered across the walkway and underneath several sun loungers, creating a serious risk to guests walking barefoot. We were also concerned that fragments of glass could have entered the swimming pool.
Approximately thirty minutes later, only the larger pieces of glass were swept away. Numerous smaller fragments remained on the ground and became more visible as the surface dried.
My wife and I removed several pieces of glass ourselves because we were genuinely concerned that another guest, could suffer an injury.
I also placed a wet floor sign over the damaged drainage cover to prevent someone stepping into it. Unfortunately another guest, unaware of why it had been placed there, moved it aside, leaving the damaged area exposed once again.
We should never have been placed in a position where we felt responsible for addressing obvious safety hazards.
Reporting the Issue
We reported the damaged drainage cover and broken glass incident to customer relations which in turn logged the fault in a book at reception on the Monday of the second week of our holiday.
Despite reporting this as a serious health and safety concern, nothing was done during the remainder of our stay. The damaged area remained unrepaired for the rest of our holiday.
Because we no longer felt comfortable using the main swimming pool, we chose to use the hotel’s spa facilities for the following three days. Whilst we paid separately for spa treatments, this gave us access to the rooftop spa pool and allowed us to avoid the unresolved safety concerns around the main pool.
Spa Facilities
Having paid additional money to use the spa, we expected it to offer a noticeably more premium experience.
However, the sunbeds around the spa pool were identical to those around the main pool. They appeared well-used, of basic quality and did not reflect what we would expect from a Platinum Plus resort.
Overall, the quality of the sunbeds throughout the hotel was disappointing.
Overall Experience
Throughout our holiday we experienced poor food quality, overcrowding, poor hygiene standards, inadequate enforcement of hotel policies, unacceptable health and safety concerns, poor maintenance and facilities that simply did not reflect the premium holiday that had been advertised.
We booked this holiday in good faith based on TUI’s Platinum Plus description. Unfortunately, in our opinion, the hotel failed to deliver the standard promised.
We have extensive photographic to support the concerns raised including:
Food quality.
À la carte meal.
Guests reserving sunbeds.
Muddy hotel grounds.
Ants on the outdoor bar.
The beach snack bar.
The damaged drainage cover.
Broken glass beside the pool.
Sea conditions.
General cleanliness and maintenance throughout the holiday."
