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 dont think this is a Turkish holiday problem, we have been to Turkey many times, admittedly not AI, but my parents always use TUI 5* AI, and none of us have encountered the issues that you raise. Infact my parents say there are 2 TUI hotels in Turkey that are the best they have ever used and they travel alot.
Your holiday is quite expensive, and I would ask your rep to move you.

4.9 on TA is pretty good and hard to fake.
One of my criteria on hotels is minimum 4.5 rating. Of course even cheap places can come highly rated if people thing they've had good value.

The bathroom thing is a current fashion in hotels. Why some designer ever thought that guests would want glass doors or wash basins in the bedroom I don't know. Last year in a 5* hotel there was a huge jacuzzi in the bedroom, just inside the door. DH would get in before dinner each night. Unfortunately that coincided with the maid coming to do chocolates and turn down. Both DH and the maid got a bit of a shock when she barged in.
I now look very carefully at bathrooms!

Just had a look at trip advisor and it's quite odd. Almost every review speaks about the gym, fitness and fitness instructor 'Tonga'.
Is there maybe a big German fitness thing going on at the hotel?

And circa 95% from German reviewers?

And picture of food all very German?

And zero mention of subbed wars?

For what you've paid, I would definitely expect a good range of food and decent wifi etc. But the Antalya/Side area of Turkey seems to be the most popular part of the country for German and Russian tourists so a lot of the hotels etc cater for their tastes/language mainly and tourist shops/restaurants tend to display prices in Euros as well as lira. I've found that the area closer to Dalaman airport (marmaris/olu deniz etc) is more aimed at british tourists and has prices in £/lira and all staff speak excellent English. So I think the language etc issue is down to your choice of resort.
Prices of supplies for hotels in Turkey are increasing constantly at the moment, especially alcoholic drinks, and from what I've seen and heard it looks like some places are cutting corners to try to remain profitable, especially all inclusive places. If you're not people who drink much you would have probably been better at a decent B&B as there are loads of really nice restaurants catering to all tastes.
Side harbour/old town is lovely, but I believe most of the all inclusive hotels are quite a way from this. There is a small museum and also a pretty impressive amphitheatre that are definitely worth a visit- you can buy a pass on the door to either that gives you access to both. Both also have cool/shaded areas that are welcome in the heat. As pp said, you can also stroll around the shops and there are plenty of nice places to eat/drink there. Assuming it's still running, there's a small landtrain that will take you from the start of the old town down to the harbour area for a few lira- definitely worth it in the heat.
If you like beach days but sunbeds are a problem at the hotel, there are loads of private beaches near Side that will come and collect you from your hotel for a beach day. They have fantastic shaded areas with fans etc to keep cool if you need some time out of the sun (I'm very pale and worried that a full beach day would be too much but this made it very pleasant). They have nice sunbeds and plenty of them. Obviously you need to pay for your food and drink there but when I've been it's been very good and not too pricey. You can find details on tripadviser/facebook and most are very 'instagramable' which my young adult DC liked. Some have a small entry fee but most just ask you to buy some drinks/food.
You may have to pay out for some excursions/food outside the hotel but I think you can still have an amazing holiday

Where have you been whilst you’ve been banging out these long posts Op?

Your DDs must be wondering what’s going on!

It looks like you’ve relied on jet 2’s description without researching the actual place. Tui is the same, they’re 5 stars but not actually 5 star by any means. Anything below 4.7 on trip advisor isn’t worth your money no matter how much your spending. Having said that, the vast majority of the hotels are a miss with handful that are truly 5 star inclusive such as the Rixos premiums et al, latter being akin to ikos of Greece.

They are mostly German but unfortunately TripAdvisor automatically translates them to English, so if you scroll through the entire review section is in English. There’s a small link at the bottom of each review to show the original, which will change it back to German. Someone quickly skimming through reviews probably wouldn’t even notice.

What about pictures of the food?

I went to an AI hotel couple of years ago in spain for a few days, there were mainly older German couples there as out of term time. Never again. Only one German family- mother and adult daughter- seemed friendly. Would never have gone if I knew it was going to be like that. German food, music and unpleasant German pensioners! Feel your pain op x

Saw this set up on social media recently. Apparently it's the latest trend. Hope it doesn't last, as it looks terrible.

Majority of the reviews on trip advisor are by people who have only ever made 1 review. They all reference a member of staff by name and they all give 5 stars. So I think most of them are AI or fake. It's irritating how much of that there is about - like so many amazon reviews nowadays.

What do the pictures of the food look like?

You just made me think of that Fawlty Towers episode. Lol

We were surrounded by Germans in northern Italy. It was quite funny - I’d gone out of my way to learn Italian and honestly I would have been better off learning German.

“Guten Morgen” was definitely said more than Buorngiorno - even by us 😂

You are in Turkey? Staff speak German and Turkish? Surely that's clearly great already?
Also German food....what's the actual difference to British food all bar possibly a continental style breakfast? Or the usual food you get served for an all inclusive hotel dinner in a hotel in a holiday location?
I mean .....is it all stew and dumplings and sauerkraut?
Sorry....your post doesn't sound real? But that's just me, being German, having lived in UK for 20 years.....off to eat some sauerkraut ...😬

No advice for anything else,n but for the drinks issue could you show a photo of cokes logo, sprites logo, water on your phone just to stop the miscommunication?

You have to be very careful in Turkey to pick the right hotel. Spend as much as you can afford and if you can only afford cheap don’t go to Turkey as the hotel will be full of chavs.
i can recommend Anda Barut and XO Cape Arnna, also heard good things about Maxx Royale and Cullinan. But v pricey!!

Avoid Marmaris and Bodrum.

Our peak season flights to Turkey were £1000pp so you’re essentially expecting a top notch experience for £133 per person per day. £6600 for three adults peak season for 9 days is pretty cheap. The equivalent at a truly luxurious AI in Europe during peak season woulld be more like £12-£15k ++

that said - sun loungers…talk to the hotel manager asap and demand help every day finding you suitable loungers. And the bathroom configuration - you could point out it’s unsuitable when you are with your adult children and ask to be moved to the old/new style or whatever was in the picutures. If the food is not as advertised then the rep may be able to comp you at local restaurants : have you got any of the promotional material to hand that you saw before you booked? Do whatever you can to be the squeaky wheel to get the attention for the quick fixes or the things you might be able to change (loungers, new rooms, comp meals out)

No idea, I didn’t bother scrolling through all the pictures. Let us know if you do though.

What’s the hotel?

Oo we just went to liberty signa this year, anda barut last year and XO is planned for next year! X

Ahh good! We were there last year when it was hitting 47, it wasn’t fun. Let me know what you think!

If you do go shopping, haggle!

And don’t be put off my locals standing outside calling you into their shop/restaurants. A polite no thank you will suffice, although we had many friendly chats with locals without going in! There are lots of little side streets to explore too x

not just the tourists though is it the whole hotel speak only german incuding entertainment whats op supposed to do shazam everything whilst theyre singing

There was this issue on Rip off Britain? Yesterday’s that consumer issue show after the news on the weekday yesterday. Have a look on iplayer when you get home. It was tui not jet2 but same thing