Disappointed by Turkey hotel

[Missmydog20]

Currently doing my first Turkey holiday with my two young adult DC. Backstory- we usually do Greece self catering but I wanted something different and more luxurious and relaxing as they’ve both just finished exams. And perhaps a bit busier than quiet backstreet Greece as we are alone and usually go with family. I was told Turkey 5 star was amazing. Booked through Jet2 (we are UK based) and paid £6600 for 9 days AI at a 5 star beachfront hotel. And I’m really disappointed.

Hotel is at least 95% German. Food is pretty much all German. Entertainment is mostly just in German. Staff speak German - they can’t understand us and we are wasting drinks due to communication problems (and I’m only asking for coke, sprite, and water). Now I don’t like the Brits abroad hotels, I love multi national but if I wanted to be this immersed in German I’d have gone to Germany.

There are other issues. Sunbeds!!! There are not enough. I’m up at 8 to get ones. The bathroom is open plan - the wash hand basin is off the DCs room so I’m teeth brushing by torch light at 7.45 so we are not all up at that time. The shower and toilet are only separated from communal room areas by frosted (but still slightly see through) glass doors so privacy isn’t great. The WiFi is really poor (I know I know but it’s the DC’s holiday too and they want to watch stuff like today’s F1 race).

I have gone to one other AI in Cape Verde which I love. Amazing food. Plenty of sunbeds. Animation staff speak an amazing variety of languages. All nationalities there. WiFi reaches all over the resort. It’s cheaper than this holiday.

Advice please from those who go to Turkey. AIBU to be disappointed in this for my money? Were my expectations too high?

Did you research the hotel properly? Seems like issue that would’ve been highlighted on trip advisor, YouTube reviews and hotel facebook groups. I honestly think this is your error, there’s plenty of fantastic hotels in Turkey without there issues

The Turkey AI i went to wasn't like this and was all nationalities with sunbeds and decent WiFi, I think you are unlucky

It’s shame the place is not what you expected but did you not do any research?
Trip advisor reviews? You tube reviews. You can usually find out all of the things you’ve discovered before you go nowadays.
Did The hotel website not show you what the inside of the rooms looked like so you could see the bathroom situation before you chose it?

Have you contacted your rep about your concerns? You can also ask if there are other rooms available that might offer more privacy?

i would rise your concerns with the rep re language and privacy issues.
is there no Turkish food?

I don’t think anyone is going to call you racist for not wanting to be surrounded by Germans when you go to Turkey. Interesting, really.

That is really disappointing. Such a lot of money to not be happy. Definitely try and find your rep (I just googled if Jet2 have them as I wasn’t sure, but it says they do.) I think I’d try and move to a different hotel if possible.

At least it will be clean and well run, Germans don’t put up with low hygiene standards IME.

Trip advisor reviews were excellent. They still are except for The last four reviews quoting similar issues. And the hotel was suggested by the travel agent so I perhaps didn’t check as thoroughly as I might have if I was booking independently.

Do they really not serve Turkish food? Like others, I would have thought the issues you’ve raised would have been flagged up by Tripasvisor reviews, particularly the sunbed issue.

For that amount of money, I would have read the Tripadvisor reviews very carefully- mind you they might be translations from lots of very hapoy Germans.
I hate this trend of non enclosed bathrooms. No one ever - except maybe for some particularly weird fetishists - have said they want to see their DP/friends/DCs perform their ablutions, plus as you say it brightens the room up if they switch on the lights. But again it’s something I would check very carefully for before booking, especially if sharing a room with adult DCs.

And the bathroom in the online jet 2 photos is totally differentz 😬

That was my current thoughts about the excellent trip advisor reviews

You get a lot of Germans in clusters in various resorts. We’ve been to the Canaries a few times and there’s always loads of Germans, one hotel the staff would always open speaking in German to us and then switching to English (although I do speak German reasonably well so it was maybe a bit less of a deal for us). I’ve always found it interesting!

Maybe the hotel has only just come onto the books of a German travel company- hence only the recent reviews mention similar issues?

Several friends go to Turkey annually and have never mentioned their hotels being overrun with Germans, so it sounds like its just that hotel.

Thank you. That’s really what I wanted to know.

What hotel is it? I have been a couple of times to Turkey and it was not like this. Excellent food, great evening entertainment and plenty of sunbeds. Staff spoke good English (as well as German and Russian!) Think you have been unlucky.

The bathroom issue I think is a valid concern and agree with you it is not something you should expect. Personally I take all reviews with a pinch of salt (or larger one).

Perhaps make it your only ever holiday in Turkey. Like one of the other people to comment, I do not go there quite intentionally because of the government there and the sleazy men (first hand accounts from others).

I wanted to check if my concerns were valid first- hence posting here.

Having lived in Germany for 25 years I'm curious about what you mean by German food? Because so many people here eat loads of Turkish food? What sort of food were you expecting?

How long have you been there?
There are some things you can do - if the room isn’t what was shown in the brochure, speak to a rep and see about getting it changed to something more suitable.
Secondly, maybe buy an online sim for Turkey so that you have good 4/5g, the kids can connect to your phone. That’ll help your wifi issue (although sometimes the wifi is better in the lobby area so maybe they can watch sport in there)
Thirdly, download google translate on your phone which will help with communication issues.

I love it when ignorant people spout nonsense on MN

some truly luxurious resorts in Turkey. I doubt you could afford them

Thank you. I think I was aiming at one of them - well not the top luxurious, but fairly high up. Unsure if I’ve just not paid enough or am unlucky.

You can’t really hold the high ground when you counter ignorance with rudeness. How do you know what anyone can afford?