"We’ve just returned from a week at Best Semiramis and we are genuinely devastated by how disappointing this holiday was. We saved hard for it and expected a relaxing all inclusive break. Instead, we feel like we’ve been robbed of our holiday.
I’ve stayed in many 5 star hotels and, honestly, this does not feel 5 star. I’ve stayed in better 3 star hotels.
The rooms are huge and the sea views from the higher floors are lovely, but the all-inclusive experience was incredibly restrictive.
Drinks were the biggest issue. This is a huge hotel, yet getting a drink during the day meant a LONG walk across the complex to the pool bar, often involving stairs. Technically having a bar somewhere on the property is not the same as having convenient access to it.
The main bar in the hotel itself didn’t open until 4pm for the whole of our stay. So only option was a long walk to the understaffed pool bar miles away .
We repeatedly saw one person serving at the pool bar, and very few staff around the hotel.
No bottled water in the room. The water dispenser was miles away. We ended up buying our own.
Coffee at lunch? Machines switched off Walk to the pool bar.
Coffee after dinner? Machines switched off walk to the pool bar .
Another drink with dinner? Go and get it yourself.
And then the all inclusive extras.
€6.50 a day for tea and coffee in your room.
Around €12 for drinks in the fridge.
Around €20 for a room-service salad, plus drinks.
€12.50 PER DAY extra for cocktails.
We even witnessed a young couple becoming extremely unhappy when they discovered the cocktail charge.
Pool snacks couldn’t be taken back to your lounger. There was a sign saying “Forbidden to take food and drinks from the restaurant.”
We ended up spending a ridiculous amount of our own money on water, coffee, milk, drinks, snacks and eating outside the hotel. At times it genuinely felt like we were self-catering despite paying for all-inclusive.
There were restrictions everywhere, including no clear allergen information alongside individual dishes, heavily restricted smoking/vaping areas and the obvious difference between standard guests and Saga guests, who had their own lounge and coffee facilities.
There is a sign regarding food allergens saying to ask at reception about it , but I’d like to walk around and make my own choices at a meal . There was NO signs on any food at all !!! We ended up eating out as the other restaurants in the town had decent menus stating allergies etc … plus staff were great there
We also experienced rude and unhelpful reception staff.
And our final day summed it up perfectly. Once our wristband has been taken off , the main bar after a week suddenly opened earlier and we were told the hotel had gone into “October mode”, only for it to close again around 2pm, once everyone had been picked up for their transfers . We were left waiting for our transfer with our luggage, the air conditioning was off and there was still no convenient access to drinks for us to pay for.
This was supposed to be a 5 star all inclusive holiday. It felt anything but.
We saved hard for this holiday and came home feeling angry, disappointed and considerably out of pocket.we have never wanted to leave a hotel and come home as much as we did at this hotel.
I even contacted lone holidays to ask to be moved as I could t get access to basic water and was told that because there WAS a bar offering it then that was ok , it was not ok .
We believe the all inclusive offering was misleading in practice and will be taking this up formally with Loveholidays and seeking compensation for the additional costs and the experience we received.
Would we return? Absolutely not"
