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?

i love Turkey we have had some lovely holidays there …

You need to research your hotel though …

We were at the Barut Hemera, absolutely loved it, great food/drinks/staff/entertainment.

to be honest, £244 a day per person, including flights, all inclusive, is not going to get you a very high standard of hotel, in this part of the world, in high season.

Turkey is also in the middle of a financial crisis and has seen incredibly high inflation in recent years meaning the costs of things locally have shot up, so it also represents much less good value than it used to, unfortunately.

oh so would I. Much better here than say Benidorm (apologies to those that love Benidorm). But for £6,600 I kinda hoped for perfect. Benidorm would have been much cheaper.

Side is one of my favourite places to go! We go to Turkey quite often. I’m sorry to hear of your experience.

If you are going into Side, go late afternoon and find a spot near the harbour to watch the sunset. It’s stunningly beautiful.

There are lots of lovely bars and restaurants, the shops are open all evening and you could maybe have a look at some excursions they run from the harbour? We’ve done a few boat trips and really enjoyed them all.

I am so sorry you are not enjoying your hotel.
Chalk this up to experience @Missmydog20 next time come on here and ask before you book, there are bound to be others who can give you honest answers about the hotel you are thinking about going to . Good luck next time .

In my experience hotels frequented by mostly Germans tend to be much nicer all round. Can you not use Google translate to help with the language barrier?

F me 6k???
Jesus wept that's daylight robbery. You've been better off in puglia or sicily fot that money. Look at Simpson travel next time. 6k for a shit bathroom is unbelievable.
There's a reason why I never trust a package hol.

To those saying I should have researched. Yes I should, yes I did. Trip advisor screen shot is attached (might take a while to upload). I didn’t delve too much after this, although clearly I should have. I am very happy to take some responsibility, I just wanted to know if this is the norm or not. And no I don’t dislike Germans, but yes I do prefer to be multi national rather than with any one nationality, including British, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and anything else

The problem with mass tourism is that you get mass tourists from various nationalities in popular summer destinations on the continent. Specially if they are all inclusive.

I'm sorry you've found in Turkey what many Swedish, Germans and Dutch nationals find when they go an "exclusive" hotel in Spain full of British people. The reality is that booking an AI holiday is rarely going to give you what you expect unless you want to get shitfaced with alcohol or don't care if the hotel is full of other European nationalities.

I'm a Spaniard and would never recommend paying the money you've paid, specially as you were all adults. Find a good apartment, not necessarily Airbnb, with a functional kitchen, get information of local supermarkets, restaurants, low cost places to eat and bars. Then go to the website of the town/city you are visiting and check what's on the days you are staying (most websites have the option of several languages), and enjoy what's on, specially in the evenings, for free.

I'm a Spaniard and there is no way in hell I'd ever go to an AI resort in the Balearics, Catalunya, Costa del Sol or Costa Blanca in summer in Spain. Too many British, German, Dutch, etc etc. No thanks.

Thank you so much. We are planning it from tomorrow, when the temperature starts with a 3 😊

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

I can't improve on PPs' advice about the holiday, @Missmydog20, but think yourself lucky on the above

Pre-cruise I stayed at the Village Hotel in Eastleight near Southampton, and the bathroom walls are completely clear glass ... whoever designed the place must have been either a fetishist or just plain insane

Tangent disposed of and back with yours, I wonder if the % of Germans reflects a new holiday provider they've signed up with?

God I hear you. I went on holiday and was just surrounded by a swarm of English people abroad and all the staff just seemed to speak English. Nightmare! Not that I a few English people. They are not all awful. Just not that many at once ruining my holiday with their Englishness and English language.

@Missmydog20 I feel for you. There are some bad reviews on there now from the last few days, but too late for you now. Could you use a translation app to order drinks?

In a more positive light, you wont be forced into making holiday 'friends' if they're all German

I’d definitely give feedback to the travel agents. Years ago a travel agent helped us book a holiday in Australia and recommended a certain car hire company. They were terrible and it annoys me to this day I didn’t give them feedback!

Came to say exactly this. If it is as you describe I doubt nobody else mentioned this on TripAdvisor

IME plenty of “five star” hotels in Turkey aren’t actually five star, well not compared to other countries anyway. I’ve been a couple of times and tbh wouldn’t rush back.

Im sorry your holiday isn’t going well x

I don’t think you’re going to get perfect for £6k in peak summer. We did Ikos for £10k for 10 days in a half term for 4 and it was a lovely holiday but still some niggles if I’m honest.

Turkish hotels can have many different room styles and layouts all within the one building, so you could ask for something with a different layout if you explain it is not working.

The bars ime always have printed drinks menus behind the counter if you ask - so you could point to what you want on their list, take a photo of it (or use Bing translate on your phone?).

The Jet 2 Rep should be able to offer you another hotel if you don’t have success, have always found Jet 2 to be exceptionally helpful.

Jet 2 are mass market tour operators. You are not going to get a luxury experience, you haven't paid a lot for peak period so I think your expectations are probably off if I am honest. Speaking as a travel agent for two decades but a long time ago.

This happened to us but in Greece and it was French hotel. Didn’t mind at all, tbh we went to watch the entertainment and just laughed along (I can speak very basic french! But not when they speak fast 😂). However we knew beforehand it was French TUI hotel, we weren’t fussed about the entertainment and the staff spoke some very basic English. I would have been more annoyed if I didn’t know and I’d paid nearly 7 grand though!

We have been to some amazing hotels in Turkey, multi national however we always book with TUI (who are German)

We go to Turkey and loveeee our hotels, we usually stay at well known, good standard hotels such as liberty hotels, Barut hotel but they come with a higher price tag.
My sister goes to Turkey and doesn't do a lot of research, as long as its a big beach front hotel with reasonable reviews she books it.
We have very different experiences, if you go with a higher standard brand then you get the much better service, sunbeds etc.

Just enjoy it, boat trips are lovely in Turkey if you want a day away and I would suggest going with a good brand of hotel in future (if you haven't already) x