Hoteles en Side (Antalya)

Ventajas: Most of all, what I did like was the excellent cleanliness everywhere, the room, the hallways, the territory and the restaurants are tidy to extreme levels, every now and then there's a person who cleans the door handles or every corner with disinfection solutions. No bad smells anywhere, the territory full of plants and flowers. The shower is good, though no rainshower, as you might expect from a 5-star hotel. The bed is ok. The food is terrific and very assorted, at least 50 dessert varieties for the dinner, same with other foods. The sea is close, just a minute walk from the territory. The pools are clean, and the evening show programme is basic but good. We had 2 special evenings during our 10 day stay when the restaurant is being decorated and they add some special food like caviar or some liquor to the menu. Also, there's an ice-cream cake for kids to enjoy these evenings. The ala carte restaurants were good, but the food didn't like too special from what we could eat regularly downstairs. Except it took longer to wait. The self-served BBQ evening was delicious, even as we had no idea of how to barbeque (not our habit) the cook helped us through the whole evening.

Desventajas: The biggest turn-off was the indoor pool, which was supposed to be heated but was cold for the kids, not more than 23-24 C. We had a visit at the beginning of May and even the sea was somehow warmer than the pools. Next thing, the noise amount is high to relax in the room. Was nearly impossible to sleep in the daytime, as the staff was cleaning the rooms with the vc all the time, screaming to each other constantly. A couple of times staff knocked not noticing the "Do not disturb" sign, and the mini-bar refill guy (pretty limited with just a can of beer and 3 cans of soda) knocked or came inside while we were asleep, not waiting long enough for us to wake up and let him in. The animation at some point got money-draining, as some activities required kids to pay. The water slides work a couple hours a day, and kids were unhappy with that. And the last thing, the personnel has really poor command of English, even though they fluently talk German and basic Russian, there were moments we couldn't understand each other, especially in the bars/restaurants. 3 of 5 times the bartenders didn't understand what I wanted. The cocktails in the pool bar are mediocre. No usual stuff like Mojito or Pina Coladas. The bartenders tried to help with that, but the results were wrong. So, let's break it down - Water Temperature, staff knocking, paid animation actvities, poor communication with personnel, bad cocktails.