Lake & River Side Hotel & Spa

Review Arrived at 3ish am, check in fairly quickly and staff carried bags to the room. The hotel gave a good first impression and quite a few staff were cleaning. When we arrived to the room, which I would describe as on par to premier inn, we quickly noticed there was a bed missing. The member of staff was apologetic and returned 10 minutes later with an extra bed. Hotel The hotel is large, it has a lovely grand lobby which creates a good first impression. There’s lots of seating in the lobby and a bar plus self serve hot drinks, fruit juice. There’s a lot of floors but luckily a lot of lifts so it was quick to get to where we needed to be. The hotel is clean and staff are always cleaning. The snack bar is next to the pool which is handy and the main restaurant is just along from the snack bar in the basement. In the basement there’s also a little shopping centre. Be warned inflatables are expensive, between 20-50€! There’s also a shop just outside the hotel which sells clothes as well as food/drink etc. There’s a bus that stops at the front of the hotel which goes to Side. Room Basically the same as a premier inn. Very comfortable beds and great aircon. Mini bar is included (we had 4 x fizzy, 2 x beer, 4 x water and 2 fruit juices) and topped up daily. I think our towels were changed every two days. The cleaners weren’t great, I think they just emptied bins, restocked mini bar and changed towels. Saying that the room was still to a decent standard. The only thing I could complain about is hand marks on the mirrored wardrobe when we arrived. Food and drink The snack bar is open when the main restaurant isn’t. They do burgers, pizza, chips, spaghetti with sauce and have a salad bar. There was also someone making some traditional bread? The main restaurant was busy but plenty of seating. There was a massive choice of food and we were always able to find something to eat. Those who have complained about the food being inedible must be out of their british food comfort zone as the food was lovely, yes different as it’s turkey but definitely edible. There were absolutely loads of desserts, fresh fruit etc. Ice cream is available from the snack bar 10-10. The bar in the lobby have crisps and nuts. You can book in to the a la carte restaurant, we went for the Italian and the food was great. I noticed a couple of dirty plates but when you are catering for such a huge amount of people it’s bound to happen. Pool The pool was brilliant, kids loved the slides and the water felt lovely. They had something for everyone. People reserve sunbeds EARLY which is really annoying. They have canopies over the sunbeds which is a great idea. Be aware the floor is very slippery. The pool is open until 7/8 ish. Beach The bus runs from the back of the hotel every half hour or so. It takes 5 mins to get there and the beach is lovely. There’s a bar and restaurant which is included in the all inclusive. There was always loads of sunbeds available. Entertainment In the evenings they had a kids disco which was basically music no interaction, then an act for 30 mins, the ones we watched were good. They then had a terrace party after and there’s a disco which starts late. We only did the kids disco and act and found it ok. I wish we went in to the town one evening. We didn’t really notice the daytime entertainment apart from music playing. Spa Myself and 12 year old son had a Turkish bath package in the hotel. It was brilliant and well worth the money. After the spa I was told I needed three massages to bring me up to health (LOL) I ended up agreeing after bartering. The massages were good and relaxing and the staff did a good job. Every day you collect towels from the spa for the pool and when you return them you get towel vouchers for the next day. Kids club While I had one of my many massages my 3 kids (12/10/8) went in to kids club. They didn’t enjoy it at all, maybe because of their ages? They said there wasn’t really much to do and the worker sat watching tic tok. Staff Overall we found the staff very friendly and helpful. During meal times quite often a member of staff would ask us if we wanted a drink. If they couldn’t understand us they used google translate so they were really making an effort. A couple of brits told me that they found the staff rude and arrogant because ‘ we aren’t Russian so they don’t want to know us’. After hearing how some brits spoke to the staff I wouldn’t blame them for not being overly friendly to those people who seemed to think they needed to be catered for every whim with zero manners. Treat people how you wish to be treated. Overall our experience with the staff was brilliant, regular faces called out hello and made conversation, others were on hand to offer help. Trips We had a rep come to the hotel to sell us trips. We picked the pirate ship and canyon safari with zoo. The pirate ship was brilliant, they had a kids mini disco, foam party, games, we swam in the sea and towards the end stopped at a beach. Food was really good and soft drinks were included. The canyon safari started off with us having to pay 4€ each to hire a water pistol as most of the driving included a water fight. It was really fun and kids absolutely loved it. The driver was fab and added to the fun. The zoo was TERRIBLE, I can’t believe people would pay to hold the lion cubs it’s was so sad. The rest of the zoo was full of very sad, depressed looking animals, I would definitely not visit again. We stopped at various pit stops (to spend money) and stopped at a restaurant for lunch. The lunch was lovely but there were so many people it took ages to be served. We then went on a boat ride and swam in the sea again. Overall We have had a brilliant holiday and the hotel really made it. It’s classed as a 5⭐️ but anyone who knows Turkey should know that 5 ⭐️ in the uk and 5 ⭐️ in Turkey do not correlate. I would put it more at a 3+ ⭐️ if you would compare to the uk. We would definitely come back