"We stayed for 2 weeks in October, two adults and a 10 year old. We’ve done all inclusive in Mexico several times but never in Turkey so weren’t sure what to expect.
The hotel was beautiful and the gardens and surroundings really pretty. There are several shops on site that sell the usual snacks, suntan lotion, pool inflatables as well as shoes, handbags, purses, clothing, Turkish delight, tea & souvenirs. There’s a bar open 24/7 and there they had the friendliest staff. The water park was a hit with kids and adults but it closes between noon and 2pm.
Round the pool area there were several broken tiles, one of the female toilets in the pool bar was out of order the whole time we were there. The same toilets regularly ran out of toilet tissue. The floors day and night can be very slippy so beware.
Our room was clean, comfortable and the maid visited daily. The shower was a bit black and mouldy so could’ve been done with being re-grouted. The mini bar was filled daily except on one occasion during our stay. Two requests to reception and it was attended to. We were in the main building and saw reports on Facebook of guests there at the same time being unable to sleep for the noise of the loud music but we never experienced any issues with noise and not being able to sleep because of it.
The main pool was heated which was great. We arrived at the pool between 8am and 8.30am and never had an issue getting sun-beds. Towels were plentiful which meant people left dirty towels on the sun-beds as opposed to returning them to the kiosk so it looked as if there weren’t many free sun-beds when there were actually quite a lot not being utilised. We never witnessed the pool surroundings being cleaned during our stay and it definitely needed it. There was a deflated lilo sat the whole 2 weeks.
The food was good with lots of choice for all tastes. The temperature of the food was lukewarm at best from the buffet. Avoid dinner at 6.30pm if you can, it’s chaos! There’s difficulty in finding a clean table and there were long waits for drinks. There’s an al a carte restaurant outside for lunch, the snack bar, there’s a bbq serving lamb koftas and a little hut serving filled flat bread. There is no information on the food options provided on arrival, you’ve to find these things out for yourself. For dinner there are 4 al a carte restaurants with one visit per trip included in the stay. We went to the Italian and it was lovely. The best meal we had. Our daughter took full advantage of the patisserie, waffles and ice creams! They also provided ice lollies from the outside bars but again we found this out during our stay as they weren’t advertised. There is a food truck near the beach/main pool which serves fresh fruit between 4pm & 6pm. Nothing on the food truck to tell you the opening hours though.
The majority of the guests here were Russian, German and some British. The Russians & Germans on the whole don’t queue. They go straight to the front and skip the line. Plus we’ve never experienced smoking like it with most guests smoking or vaping anywhere and everywhere!
We only ever saw the entertainment team at night. They weren’t round the main pool encouraging guests to join in with the activities. Our daughter was on the verge of being too old for the kids club but she enjoyed the gaming sessions in the evening. There was a show on beside the snack bar after the mini disco. A few evenings there were live singers in the pool bar but the majority of the time it was a DJ. We saw the same act twice!
We found the majority of the staff the biggest let down. They weren’t happy to be there, weren’t friendly nor helpful. We did find we got better service from those we tipped but be prepared to go up to the bar to queue for your drinks, retrieve your own menu in the snack bar and be prepared to wait.
There is a cocktail menu with about 12-16 cocktails on it. Only one member of staff on the pool bar made cocktails at any given time and if he/she couldn’t be bothered they just said no. They didn’t make any other cocktails that weren’t on their list. There were no frozen cocktails nor slushes for the kids. There were 3 types of bottled beers, the wine was good, however premium spirit brands were few and far between which was disappointing and there wasn’t a huge choice of spirts either with some running out during our stay and not being restocked.
Overall we had a great holiday, it’s what you make of it. We’d return to Turkey but wouldn’t go to this hotel again."
