Crystal Sunset - Pearl Collection

"We had an absolutely brilliant stay at Crystal Sunset Hotel & Spa and genuinely cannot understand some of the 1-star reviews we read before coming. Our experience was completely different and we honestly have no complaints about the hotel. Firstly, a special mention has to go to Onur, the Guest Relations Manager, who was extremely helpful. We realised after arriving that our TUI rep didn’t actually visit the hotel, and we wanted some help arranging excursions. Onur was fantastic, took the time to help us and made everything so easy. Another huge thank you to Hussain and Karim in the lobby bar. They were incredibly attentive throughout our stay, but more than that, we genuinely enjoyed chatting to them and getting to know them. There was also another gentleman serving in the lobby bar whose name we unfortunately didn’t get – he always wore an apron – who gave fantastic service and made some amazing cocktails! All of them were such lovely people to have met and even patiently put up with us practising the little bits of Turkish we’d learnt 😂 The pool and beach areas were lovely. We spent most of our time around the adult pool or at the beach and had absolutely no complaints. The main pool did have to be closed for a period on a couple of afternoons due to what we can only assume were children having toilet accidents in the pool. From what we could see, the hotel staff were extremely attentive and dealt with the issue quickly and properly. This is obviously not something we would blame the hotel for, particularly when there is signage displayed around the pool areas regarding the use of swim nappies. Unfortunately, there is only so much the hotel can do if guests choose not to follow the rules. Our room was lovely and cleaned every day, and the minibar was regularly restocked with a good variety of drinks and other items. Cleaning times varied slightly from day to day, but this didn’t bother us in the slightest – we don’t go on holiday to sit in the room all day! We also had absolutely no problems with the food. We ate in the main restaurant several times at different times of day and always found plenty to choose from. The pool and beach snack bars were perfectly adequate when we just wanted something quick in the afternoon. We also tried the Mediterranean and Oriental à la carte restaurants, and both were lovely. It was nice to have something a little different during the holiday. For drinks, the lobby bar was definitely our favourite. It had a fantastic selection of drinks and cocktails, great service and the option to sit outside, so we naturally ended up spending quite a bit of time there! If we had to mention one downside, it would actually be the behaviour of some of the other guests, rather than anything to do with the hotel. We witnessed people being extremely rude to both staff and other guests at times, which was disappointing to see. It did make us wonder when reading some of the very negative reviews whether attitude and the way people speak to staff might sometimes play a part in the experience they receive. Every member of staff we personally dealt with was friendly, helpful and hardworking. The location is fantastic too. The hotel’s beach bus runs roughly every 15 minutes and takes around two minutes to get down to the beach. From there, you can walk all along the beachfront into Side Old Town, with plenty of bars, restaurants and shops along the way. It took us around 45 minutes – although that did include a cocktail stop! 😂🍹 Overall, we had a fantastic holiday. Lovely hotel, great facilities, good food and drinks, brilliant location and, most importantly, some genuinely wonderful staff who helped make our stay memorable. We would absolutely return and couldn’t recommend Crystal Sunset Hotel & Spa more highly. ❤️🇹🇷"

"More of a four star, requires some improvements, too much food available, our 8th time in side so not worst hotel and not best one, not many English, overall not worst hotel,"

"We spent one week at the Crystal Sunset Pearl Collection hotel in Side (August 2026), Turkey. Although it is rated 5 stars, we were unfortunately disappointed. First, almost everyone was smoking almost everywhere. There was no smoke-free zone by the pool, so families with children had to sit next to smokers. It wasn't just a few isolated cases—around 80% of the guests were smoking, including hotel staff. People were even smoking in the dining area, despite clear "No Smoking" signs. We went to guest services to ask if there was a smoke-free or family zone, but they told us nothing was available. Second, 98% of the hotel staff did not speak English; only the reception and guest services teams could communicate in English, which made day-to-day interaction tough. Additionally, the hotel is not directly on the beach—you have to walk about 10 minutes or take a shuttle bus. The beach itself isn't nice; it is small, and there are big rocks both on the shore and in the water. The beach bar is also very limited. By comparison, neighboring hotels have lovely, renovated sandy beaches where the rocks have been removed. On a positive note, the food was good (though repetitive), the air conditioning worked very well, and there is a nice market close to the hotel. Overall, we expected much more from a hotel with this rating. Not recommended"