Club Big Blue Suite Hotel

One of the best hotel that we’ve ever stayed at. The staff were amazing, very attentive and welcoming. Shout out to Ismail who selflessly allowed our room to be decorated in honour of my husband’s 50th birthday. They made it so special for him. In general, he was great at coordinating everything during our stay. Huge shout out to Sehabattin for being ever so lovely throughout our stay and a shout out to Osman who kept us entertained and is very friendly and funny, also to Yunus who was very helpful with all our needs. The hotel is very clean and perfect for a family getaway. The location is accessible to malls and close to the beach. Thank you club big blue for making our stay a memorable one. Would 100 % recommend!

If you dream of a stress-free holiday, find another hotel -and perhaps another city. This is going to be a long review, but bear with me.

We were welcomed by a polite receptionist who informed us that the two rooms we had booked were experiencing “technical issues.” We were asked to come back to reception the following day, when we were supposedly going to receive our rooms. That didn’t happen.

Instead, we were given an explanation that turned out not to be true. We were told that the “technical issue” in both rooms was broken shower glass, and that the hotel was waiting for new glass to arrive and be installed that same day. That didn’t happen either.

Eventually, it became clear that the actual problem was simply that the hotel had overbooked the rooms.

As a result, the first two nights of our stay were extremely unpleasant and we were barely able to sleep. The temporary rooms we were given were right next to a corridor. The window above the bed was directly next to a light that switched on every 3-5 seconds. Every time someone walked past the room or used the elevator, we could hear it as if they were standing right next to us.

The compensation offered for those two nights was honestly laughable. We were given the choice between three days of free Wi-Fi in our rooms or sunbeds by the beach for the remainder of our stay. Neither option came close to making up for the inconvenience and stress caused by the hotel’s mistake.

Bar: At the bar, the choice of alcoholic drinks is extremely limited. You get around three alcoholic drinks, one type of beer, three types of spirits, and soft drinks. Other drinks and beer cost around €10.

This is honestly the first time I’ve experienced an “all-inclusive” hotel with such a limited selection of drinks.

Food: The food was okay, but you get tired of it pretty quickly. After around three days, it felt like the leftovers from the previous day were simply being served in a different “version.”

For example, the potato purée had a normal texture the first time. The following day, it looked more like potato cream soup.

The desserts were also basically the same throughout our entire stay. There was a decent variety to choose from, which is true, but unfortunately, only a few of them actually tasted of much.

Entertainment: The animators seem to focus mostly on children and people who are looking to party.

This is definitely not a place where you can simply relax. Every morning at 10 a.m., you could hear “Guten Morgen, Sonnenschein” blasting through the speakers, followed by the same three or four songs being reused throughout the day. After hearing them often enough, you could practically memorize the lyrics.

The evening show was fine on the first night, but after that there wasn't much to look forward to. There was also a mini disco for children at 9 p.m. On the last day, there was a ladies’ competition called “Miss Big Blue.” At one point, the contestants were asked to dance “in a sexy way” around a chair. This was after the children’s mini disco, meaning there were still plenty of children around.

That felt particularly inappropriate and uncomfortable.

Pool: There is information displayed around the outdoor area stating that if sunbeds are reserved with towels but remain unused for two hours, the towels will be removed so that other guests can use the sunbeds. In principle, this is a good rule.

The problem is that there simply aren’t enough sunbeds for the number of hotel guests, so even with this rule in place, finding an available one can be difficult.

Overall: The biggest issue for us wasn't that everything had to be perfect, it was the fact that the hotel wasn't honest with us about the room situation. Being told there were “technical issues” when the rooms had actually been overbooked made the whole experience even more frustrating. For us, this is definitely not a hotel we would return to or recommend.