"Our review is based not only on this stay, but also on our experience from spending three consecutive years in different hotels in Side. This year, for the first time, we visited Selectum Family Resort Belek with our two young children.
The hotel is undoubtedly family-friendly and offers many activities for children. However, there are several significant shortcomings that, in our opinion, greatly affect the overall guest experience. For this reason, we do not believe that the current Tripadvisor rating of 4.7 accurately reflects reality.
One of our main concerns was the food. During our 10-day stay (9 nights), the buffet was largely repetitive, with only minor changes from day to day. We expected much greater variety from a hotel of this category.
What surprised us even more was the level of cleanliness in the main restaurant. Tables were often dirty, and children’s high chairs were frequently left uncleaned. We even took photos showing guests wiping tables and high chairs themselves before use, something we have never witnessed in any Turkish hotel we have visited before. We will attach photos to support these observations.
Service was another disappointment. Many staff members spoke very limited English, making even simple communication difficult. For example, ordering a coffee with milk sometimes resulted in receiving Turkish tea instead. It was also uncommon for staff to proactively ask guests what they would like to drink.
In comparison, in hotels where we stayed in Side, staff regularly approached guests, took drink orders promptly, and provided a much more attentive service experience.
Additionally, cutlery was frequently missing from tables, requiring guests to search for it themselves. The overall impression was that the restaurant team was either understaffed or poorly coordinated, although we cannot say with certainty where the underlying issue lies.
On a positive note, the hotel itself is very clean. The rooms were maintained to a high standard, and we would especially like to praise the housekeeping staff, who did an excellent job throughout our stay.
The minibar was surprisingly poor for a family-oriented resort. There were no children’s juice boxes or drinks available, despite the hotel specifically targeting families. In fact, several non-family hotels we stayed at previously offered a much better minibar selection for children.
The resort grounds are beautiful, well-maintained, and visually impressive. We would also like to highly praise the Kids Club team. The staff were exceptionally friendly, professional, and genuinely cared about the children. Our kids thoroughly enjoyed their time there, and the team deserves recognition for their excellent work.
The beach itself is attractive, but entering and exiting the sea was quite uncomfortable due to the large number of stones. It almost felt as if the beach had been artificially created without sufficient attention to guest comfort.
Another issue was the noise level throughout the resort. Considering that this is a family-focused hotel where many guests stay with babies and young children, we found certain areas and activities unnecessarily loud.
The children’s mini disco was enjoyable and well-organized. However, during our 10-day stay, the program was exactly the same every evening without any variation, which became repetitive for both children and parents.
While the hotel has several strengths, particularly its clean rooms, beautiful grounds, and outstanding Kids Club, the issues related to restaurant cleanliness, repetitive food, minibar selection, service quality, and overall organization significantly impacted our experience. Based on our previous stays in Turkish resorts, we believe there are several areas that require improvement before this hotel can truly justify its current rating.
Based on our overall experience, we would personally rate this hotel 4.0 out of 5 rather than the current 4.7 rating shown on Tripadvisor. While the resort certainly has some strong points, particularly for families with children, we feel that the shortcomings regarding food variety, restaurant cleanliness, service consistency, minibar selection, and beach access prevent it from reaching the higher rating currently reflected by many reviews.
We say this because we have stayed at several hotels in Turkey that, in our opinion, offered a significantly better overall experience, yet currently have lower ratings on Tripadvisor. Therefore, we believe the current rating of this hotel may not fully reflect the experience that some guests can expect. This is simply our honest opinion based on our stay and our previous experiences at other resorts in the region."
