|
|
| Submission date: 2007-07-07 - Date of Stay: August 2006 |
| Submitted by: Artesi - From: Turkey |
| Type of Traveller: Young & Single - Age Group: 26 - 30 |
|
| THIS REVIEW WILL SAVE YOUR HOLIDAY !!! |
| I am one of the ‘victims’ of this so-called resort. Yes I say ‘victim’, because it was indeed a disastrous experience from the start to the very end. I am also a ‘fool’, I say fool, because I believed every positive review I read about this hotel and ignored the few negative ones. In my humble opinion those ‘wonderful’ reviews were actually written by the marketing team of this hotel in order to attract more fools like me.
I am a Turkish PhD student, studying in London. Last summer I decided to invite four of my college mates from the UK for a two weeks holiday in Istanbul (my hometown), Antalya and Bodrum. So I – the fool, went on to travel websites and tried to find the best looking hotel out there. As every Turk, we are proud people and we will do everything to promote our country at the best possible level, so that’s why I decided to empty my pocket to impress my friends who have never been to Turkey before. And I saw (unfortunately) WOW Topkapi Palace, went to their homepage, looked at the ‘wonderful’ photos and read the ‘wonderful’ reviews AND concluded that this was going to be a ‘wonderful’ holiday for all of us and booked two rooms one of them being 2+1.
I don’t know where to start to be honest: food, service, rooms, sea, weather…….. it goes on and on, because not a single thing can be described as ‘wonderful’ in this hotel. While checked in I asked the receptionist, whether the rooms have a good sea view as requested. He said we have a great view of the swimming pool of the hotel next to us. This was the first sign of how this holiday was going to be ‘wonderful’. Well we went up to the rooms and found out that we actually see the wall of the hotel next to us and not the swimming pool but the screams from that very swimming pool. The rooms we nothing close to a five-star resort, and everything in the room was ordinary and simple. I was staying in 2+1 room me being the +1 had to sleep on the extra bed which they called it ‘bed’, but I couldn’t – coz it was one of those adjustable junks you won’t even get in B&Bs. The bathroom was filthy and damaged, the towels and duvets were full of stains and plus the ‘wonderful’ view, I felt like I had to go and complain. So I did. It didn’t change anything much. The receptionist, comfort with the fact that we paid every penny in advance, was rude enough to tell us to go to another hotel if we were not happy.
And of course there is the food! Lets me put it this way: as someone study and live in England, I used to think the food in here was rubbish, but after this hotel, I found the English cuisine like a heaven food. Yes it was that horrible. And the worst part is; in order to avoid the even worse food of the open buffet – kind of food I wouldn’t even give to my dog – I had to wake up before 9am to make reservation for the a’lacarte restaurants. Making reservation might me something easy to do, but not in this hotel. The lines for booking opens at exactly 9am and all tables would be fully booked by 9:02am, off course if you ever manage to get a free line to make the booking in these two minutes. So I found out getting a table would be impossible in these restaurants and decided to behave just like a Turk. I literally bribed the waiters to get a table and had an argument with the receptionist – putting my complaints forward and started bargaining for a table. It actually worked; both the waiters were happy filling their pockets and the receptionist to get rid of me. And off course us, for eating more eatable food.
I think they gave a good name for it: World of Wonders, because this hotel will certainly make you wonder where those wonders really are. But I can assure you, you won’t be able to find them in this place. And DO NOT be stupid to go to Antalya in mid summer, it’s boiling not only the high temperature but also the high levels of humidity, which feels like being in a sauna. I can assure you, there are much better places to go in Turkey and certainly this is probably the last place to go.
|
| Was this review helpful? Yes - No |
35 out of 37 readers found this review helpful |
|
|
|
