"Our experience to start with was not the best as the airline lost my suitcase. Not the fault of the hotel of course, but the loss made our holiday experience totally different to what it could have been. Staff said it would turn up in a day or so but in fact it didn’t turn up at all throughout our seven days there.
Onto the hotel, first impressions of the foyer were good although we were very tired after the four+ hour flight, waiting 1.5 hours for our suitcase not to arrive and then two hours drive to hotel. Shout out to Certan the porter who assisted us to our room. Apologies if we looked miserable on checking in, but we were miserable and very tired.
I had seen photos of the room online so was expecting the dark and traditional furniture but it didn’t really wow me. We had a partial seafront view and a view of what I would call the main pool area. I had asked for a quiet room and it was nice being on the top floor (5th) on the same level as the Moon Bar. Getting into bed the first night, we saw there was no top sheet on the bed, only a waffle type cover that was a little scratchy. We asked the following morning for a top sheet but it didn’t seem to fit along the length or width of the bed. Towels were pretty threadbare if I’m honest. Definitely not five star quality. Otherwise the room was large enough and adequate.
The buffet was pretty much a nightmare for us but we learned to get there early before the majority of guests arrived. There was plenty of food on offer but very limited to what we are used to being British. Most mornings we had either an omelette or boiled eggs with toast. Pastries were very dry, no apple or custard fillings. On the couple of occasions we had dinner there, similarly the choices were not what we were used to but I don’t want to appear like we’re the ‘egg and chip’ brigade because we do like other countries cuisine. We were given one night à la carte and we chose the seafood evening and that was lovely. We expected to choose one starter, one main and one dessert. We were startled when the waiters brought dish after dish to our table and we we sampled them all!
Pool and beach area. We found it quite difficult to find a sunbed with people reserving them with towels at the pool. The tunnel down to the beach was great. The private beach was fine if a little rocky and small. We really enjoyed the restaurant down at the beach. We had lunch there most days as I couldn’t face the chaos of the buffet morning, noon and night. Shout outs to waiters - Memed, Osman and Friday. Hope I’ve spelled the names properly! They were all a joy and because of them we enjoyed our visits to the beach restaurant. I know I became a pain constantly asking for ice for my wine. Thank you for all the ice! There was another older man but can’t remember his name. He may have been the manager.
Other shout outs to Ebru the waitress and Ozlam the guest relations lady. Ozlam was really helpful in communicating with Havas in trying to locate my suitcase. Please tell her I did get my my suitcase back but only 13 days later after we returned home to Scotland. It had been mislabelled and been sent to Cyprus in Turkey!
We used the hotel shuttle a couple of times to go into Alanya town to shop for some clothes for me. A great add on.
I don’t know why but for some reason I thought there was a theatre and there would be actual shows in the hotel. If there was, we didn’t come across it. The animation team seemed to get guests going with water polo, kids games etc.
The guest demographic was definitely different to what we are used to. Passing other guests in the corridor or in the lift we would generally say good morning but we found the guests didn’t make eye contact so it was difficult to greet anyone.
Overall we had an ok time - would we return? Probably not. The missing suitcase played a big part in the experience, but also the two hour drive to and from the airport was another factor and a little too far."
