"When we arrived late at night, at around 2:00 am, we were greeted by two men at reception who checked us in but did not offer us anything to eat or drink, even though our holiday had officially started the previous day.
One of the staff members offered to carry our luggage and show us to our room. It turned out that the room was located on the other side of a very busy road. Even at 2:00 am there was heavy traffic. Behind a shabby gate with a keypad was our ground-floor room, with bars on the windows and a view of a wall. The room itself was in a terrible condition. The staff member walking with us told us that the hotel was fully booked, but that the room had “very good air conditioning”.
We were extremely disappointed and exhausted, so we decided to get some sleep and deal with the situation in the morning. However, after getting into bed together with our son, who was too frightened to sleep on his own, none of us could fall asleep. The whole place felt like something out of a horror film. Our son was terrified, and the bars on the windows made us feel trapped and claustrophobic.
I eventually went back to reception and demanded that they move us to another room because the situation was completely unacceptable. I was told that the hotel was fully booked, they were sorry, and that nothing could be done until the morning when I could speak to the manager.
After a terrible night’s sleep, all three of us on what barely resembled a mattress, we went back to reception and asked to speak to the manager and requested a different room. Communication had to be done through Google Translate because the staff did not speak English. The receptionist did not bring the manager out. Instead, she went to the back office, returned, and told us that they were sorry but there were no rooms available. She also claimed that we had booked a room with a ankes and that all rooms with aneks were located in that part of the hotel.
I have no idea what Sami Beach Hotel considers to be a aneks, but it certainly isn’t what every other hotel would call one.
At that point I showed the receptionist photos of the room and made it clear that we would not stay there. She took my phone to show the pictures to the manager. Only then did the manager finally come out. He said there were no available rooms in the main hotel building, but offered us another room that could be reached via a bridge over the main road instead of crossing it.
We were shown the new room. The route led across the bridge connecting the buildings, then up some very old, steep stairs to the top floor. The biggest advantage of this room was the sea view. It was better than the previous one, but it was still nowhere near the standard you would expect from a 4-star hotel, or even a decent 3-star hotel.
On our very first day in the new room we had to report that there was no water at all.
The rest of the holiday was acceptable, but the overall experience remained very disappointing.
I had the impression that the hotel mainly catered for local guests, particularly groups of local men. The food was of a very poor standard. It was virtually the same every day throughout the week. Fish was served only once, and it was just some very poor-quality sea bream cut into small fried pieces. The fruit was often far from fresh.
Tables were very often reserved for local guests.
Around the pool, some of the local guests, especially groups of men, behaved in an arrogant and inconsiderate manner.
The dinner we had booked in the hotel’s à la carte restaurant was also very disappointing. We were served exactly the same food that had already been available in the main restaurant at lunchtime.
The entertainment was very poor unless you were from Turkey. It felt as though everything was organised purely for local guests rather than international visitors.
I could write much more about my disappointment, but I think this is enough to warn others about this hotel.
Considering this was by no means a cheap holiday, I will definitely be seeking a full refund and pursuing a formal complaint."
