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 understand op. I worked overseas for years and in particular some German hotels. The issues with the sun beds are real. The food was sausage based, kraut, pickled things. Although most people enjoy experimenting with food it was too much every day. The Germans can be loud. And en masse it can be overbearing.

It is not too much to expect a mix of nationalities. I wouldn’t enjoy an entirely British hotel either.

I would ask to be moved. You lose nothing at all by telling them how unhappy you are. In the meantime go out for days. Book with English speaking companies. Worst case can you afford to research a nearby hotel and spend the last few nights elsewhere if they won’t move you?

Me and dp haven't long come back from Turkey. 4* hotel, amazing food, all the staff spoke English (they also taught us some Turkish), beautiful hotel, plenty of sunbeds, adult only and lots of Btits who were on their 10th, 15th 20th time visiting the hotel. I def think you've been unlucky. Always check out your hotels reviews before going.

On the Tripadvisor site you can tap the review language filter to see the breakdown. This tells you who you will be holidaying with. Your hotel does show German being the dominant language although not exclusively German by any means. See the first screenshot.

The second is an example targeted at Brits.

I still want to know what "German food" is in a Turkish hotel.

@Soulfulunfurling - I never saw Sauerkraut and Sausages in a foreign hotel unless you count Alsace but that's a typical meal there as well.
And if you would go to my home town or DH's you won't see sauerkraut as a choice in a restaurant. It's actually a very local thing in southern Germany or only cooked at home.

It may be served in a restaurant abroad but then you have the full english, fish & chips etc plenty abroad as well.

I had a look at the photos of the food…. Huge range of food on offer from salads to chinese to sushi to nuggets and chips etc etc

We went to side a couple of years ago - stayed at the Paloma Perissia which was lovely. The food was incredible. There are some insanely big hotels along that strip and I don’t remember the one you’re in.

Our hotel was a mix of nationalities - outside the hotel we found the resort German dominated to the point that we spoke to the Turks in shops and in the resort in German most of the time because it was just easier. I quite enjoyed the practice. Dp is fluent and bailed me out when I got stuck.

I wasn’t a massive fan of the Side area and wouldn’t go back - i found it soulless other than the archeological areas - so many tacky shops selling identical fake tat. The beach was nothing special.

if you think it’s amazing there, consider trying Croatia, northern Majorca, the Ionian islands of Greece which are all a whole level up in my view. We also loved the stunning coastline around the Marmaris area of Turkey far more than Side, even though Marmaris is also a tacky nightmare in the centre and you need to be away from the town.

You must know you'll get very few Greeks at a hotel in Turkey!

The faux outrage on this thread is funny. It’s perfectly obvious that food that is prepared with German palates in mind will be different from one with primarily British tourists or a spread of nationalities. I would assume it’s heavy on the meat and veg and light on fish and salads. Not what I am looking for when on a hot beach holiday.

Maybe I am also a bit naive but I would assume £6k for a one bed European 5 star holiday would guarantee some form of luxury. We spent less on two weeks travelling round Costa Rica, and around £1000 per person for 2 bedrooms HB during October break in Tenerife 5 star, so it seems expensive enough to me.

I posted pics of the food

it absolutely isn’t German based.

Loads of different types of food from sushi to Thai or British

Don’t believe the photos,the hotel we stayed at had amazing food photos,masses of seafood,crab,lobster you name it,showed steak,beautiful desserts,we never got any seafood or steak,just chicken in a different sauce every evening.

What was the hotel?

We’re going to Turkey for the 3rd year in a row in a few weeks. You get lots for your money. The 2 we’ve been to so far have had a mixture of all nationalities, mixture of foods and most of the bar staff spoke English, even if only minimal.

Lots of complaints but people haven't named the actual hotel. It's like anything people have a different view of what they find good/bad.

On reading your review I thought I bet they are in Side.
I holiday in Turkey 2 or 3 times a year. Looked at Side for this September and was put off as I was told it was 90% German.
Usually go to Bodrum area and it’s a mix of Brits, Dutch, Scandinavians and Turkish.
Trying Dalyan near Dalaman this September.
Think you were just unlucky. Don’t let it put you off Turkey as it’s a huge beautiful country.

Max Royal and Cullian are both excellent but very expensive in high season. I agree with avoiding Marmaris but the Bodrum peninsular has some lovely resorts. Bitez, Torba, Yalikavak or Gumsuluk to mention a few.

Turkey hotels are unreal! We’ve been going for ten years, the Russians are obviously very frequent travellers and those that do have a lot of money therefore the standard of hotels is extremely high, some of the best you’ll find within 5 hours of UK.
Sounds like you have been really unlucky, Fethiye and Lara Beach have excellent hotels, the Delphins, XO Cape, Liberty chains for example are all really luxurious. I hope you give it another try!

I went to a 5* in Gocek which was like that. After many years in the wonderful Hillside resort I was sooooo disappointed. Most staff were Russian/maybe Ukrain as were many guests. And I did my research on Tripadvisor. The weird thing was there were many nationalities commenting it was so good!! It was awful!! We ate out every night and couldn’t wait to get home.

Having been to Turkey many times, we had exactly this last year, also in Side. So Side is the cheaper version of Belek but they still refer to themselves as 5 Star. The hotel we went was most definitely not 5, a middling 4 I would say. It was also full of Germans (which I don’t mind) and a lot of German Turks. They packed while families into double rooms hence the hotel was very over crowded all the time, both for beds and food. They had quite a lot of staff but they were still overrun and couldn’t cope because of the numbers. We tried to move but couldn’t manage it and Love Holidays were useless. It was a really miserable holiday. But wierdly, the reviews were amazing! People loved it and my bad review would have been quickly swallowed up by all the effusive ones, I still can’t get my head round it! It taught me 2 things: 5 star is not all equal and secondly £6500 - which is what we paid last year - is too cheap and won’t get you a truly 5 star in turkey. For our past great experiences, we have paid a lot more for luxe hotels in Belek and they were amazing -great food, lots of space, staff attentive and not outwardly stressed. So last years in Side won’t mar our experience especially as Belek and other places like Cesme, are amazing. We just won’t go back to that Side end. Btw we had some had some lovely beach front meals in Side, which defeats the point of AI but glad we ventured out. We stuck it out and chalk it down to experience.

That is a crazy amount of money. Always check triple advisor before booking

I find Belek really nice stayed in a golf resort speaking all languages, entertainment in English. for one person in June £4400 per person per week. This Im sure is due to inflation partly. We have had bathrooms as you have described in Turkey, and other countries as well. Hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday.

We also stayed there 2 years ago-about 70% german and 30% British but we loved it-no language issues, entertainment was usually acrobats/dancing sort of things so universal and sunbeds galore. Going to Trendy Lara this October

I know everyone is different but I find that an insane amount of money for a week

So do I and wont be going!!

How much are you spending on XO next year?

This reminds me of when I went on my second holiday to Turkey some 19 years ago. First time went to dalaman area, was great so second time round decided to go to Antalya area as the hotels LOOKED more fancy.

Got there any besides me and my family and one other British Family who was also surprised, the hotel was a dump and of course looked nothing like it’s photos, smoking was permitted everywhere and I mean everywhere even the indoor part of the breakfast room, everyone was German, and staff could only speak German or Turkish same thing regarding entertainment in that all was German, which I don’t particularly care about but my then 9 years old was bored senseless as he couldn’t understand anything or join in and to add to it we were an interracial family so that was met with many dirty looks ( more so directed at me being the only person of color in this huge hotel)

The only nice thing on that particular holiday was the baklava shop I found in the town centre. After that we stuck to dalaman as I later found out that Antalya is predominantly a German holiday hotspot.

These days I wouldn’t even consider any part of Turkey as it’s become expensive and not my vibe.