Aydinbey Queens Palace and Spa

My family and I have just returned from this hotel and had a lovely time . Location was a little further away than expected but we did have access to Land of Legends which was just around the corner , which was great for an evening out . Food , although plentiful , didn’t really cater Brits and only one main restaurant which was more like a canteen . Food only ever like warm at best . We also went to the Chinese restaurant onsite which was 2/10 for food but 9/10 for service . The staff in this hotel are hardworking , kind and friendly . The animation team during the day were brilliant . Not much for over 10s on the evening . Limited drink choices on the all inclusive too . Rooms were great as was the pool and slide areas.This is such a mixed review as I believe the hotel was value for money but some tweaks to the night time entertainment and food and drinks options would be desirable .

Let me give you my honest review of this hotel after staying here for 10 days.

We actually got back home yesterday, and before we came I had read a lot of mixed reviews, especially about the food. So I wanted to share my own experience.

We landed on Sunday night at around 11:30pm and checked into the hotel. At reception they asked if anyone had any allergies, and I explained that both my partner and my son have severe nut allergies. They were both given blue wristbands to identify their allergies, which I thought was a really good idea.

However, after checking in, we asked if someone could help us with our luggage. There were four of us, four large suitcases and four cabin cases. We were told there wasn’t anyone available because they were too busy, so we had to take everything to the room ourselves. That wasn’t the best first impression.

The next issue was the room. We’d paid for two adults and two children, but our room only had one double bed and one single bed. We were travelling with friends who were two adults and one child, had paid less than us, and they had exactly the same size room.

Considering it was almost midnight and we had two tired children, we had to go back to reception and ask for another bed. Around an hour later, after the children had already fallen asleep, someone knocked on the door with a pull-out bed. Personally, after paying a lot of money for this holiday, I didn’t expect one of my children to be sleeping on a pull-out bed.

Now let’s talk about the biggest issue… the food.

This hotel is advertised as five-star, but in my opinion, the food really doesn’t reflect that.

My partner and son both have severe nut allergies, and my son is also a very fussy eater. I’m vegetarian myself, so I eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, but we really struggled.

Almost everything contained nuts or had nuts sprinkled on as decoration. Even simple things like slices of cheese had walnuts on them. The broccoli had almonds. Desserts contained nuts, and so many dishes weren’t labelled correctly. Sometimes the labels weren’t even next to the correct food.

Cross-contamination was probably my biggest concern. Staff were using the same serving spoons between dishes containing nuts and dishes without. Even at the ice cream station, they were using the same scoop for pistachio and vanilla ice cream.

When you have someone carrying an EpiPen because of a life-threatening allergy, that’s incredibly worrying.

Despite the allergy wristbands, it honestly felt like they made very little difference. We spoke to the chefs multiple times and also spoke to Guest Services. The lady we spoke to actually had a nut allergy herself and understood how serious it is. She apologised and said they were trying to improve things, but unfortunately it didn’t change our experience.

There were several occasions where we actually left the hotel just to find somewhere safe to eat because we simply couldn’t trust the food.

We also booked the à la carte restaurant one evening, hoping it would be better, but sadly it was probably one of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had.

Despite knowing about the allergies, they served my son an ice cream containing nuts, and we had to point it out ourselves. The response was simply, “Sorry.” I never even received my starter because the service was so slow and disorganised that I eventually just walked out.

Now, the hotel itself wasn’t all bad.

The rooms were clean, and the cleaners worked really hard. There were a couple of occasions where we had to ask for fresh towels and for the minibar to be restocked, but generally the hotel was kept clean.

If you want a sunbed by the pool, though, you’ll need to be up very early because they get taken quickly.

One other downside was the constant pressure from the spa staff. We actually planned to have massages during our holiday, but the sales approach completely put us off. We were repeatedly told that if we didn’t pay within two hours, we wouldn’t be able to book. We just wanted to relax by the pool first and get our money from the room later, but they kept pushing us so much that we eventually decided not to bother.

Overall, we still had a lovely holiday because we made the most of our time away together as a family.

But for me, the biggest letdown was definitely the food and the complete lack of proper allergy management. When you’re dealing with life-threatening allergies, food labelling and preventing cross-contamination aren’t optional—they’re essential.

If the hotel improved its food, allergy procedures and stopped guests feeling pressured by some of the sales staff, I genuinely think it would be a much better place to stay.

Unfortunately, based on our experience, it’s not a hotel I would return to.