Club Grand Aqua

We were accommodated in a family room with small children. Suggestion for improvement: non-functioning reservation form on the hotel's website, the hotel does not respond to emails, very weak WIFI connection, there was none in the room, ice cream only from 1-5 p.m., popsicles were not part of the all inclusive and were for an extra charge, the football field was not modified, although they tried to water the grass, the evening shows were moderated in German (it would be appropriate to moderate these events in English as well), the train to the beach only ran 3 times a day. Lack of sunbeds at the Club grand side pool. The water attractions were limited in time. Positive feedback: Cleanliness, daily cleaned rooms. Restaurant clean, plenty of staff. Plenty of very good food and drink. The family room is big. Plenty of sunbeds by the pool in Club grand aqua and on the beach. The social facilities on the beach are perfect. The beach is beautiful, clean and tidy. Great activities for children - climbing frames, toboggans... The staff was very friendly. We will definitely be back.

Excellent hotel. Cleanless at top level. Beautifull beach with a full service. Friendly personnel. A lot to do for children. Amazing garden, rivers, waterfalls, slides.. Great drinks consisted of imported alcohol in inclusive option. I am impressed and can recommend Club Grand Side &Aqua to everyone. You Won't be regret. Only small con - stuff don't speak English well, only German.. Ps. The biggest pros is no RU there ':)

A deeply disappointing stay – nowhere near a premium 5-star hotel

We are extremely disappointed with our stay at Club Grand Aqua Side. We returned home today.

Apart from the rooms, which were actually quite nice — we had a swim-up room — everything else was far below what we had expected.

It started on the evening of our arrival. We arrived at around midnight and were taken to the restaurant, where we were given plates that had already been prepared with what appeared to be leftovers from dinner. There was literally one large spoonful of cheese, a small portion of some courgette dish and one or two other things. There was no choice whatsoever. You either ate what was put in front of you or went to bed hungry.

The next surprise was the minibar, which contained two bottles of Coca-Cola, two bottles of Fanta and two bottles of water.

The bathroom was even more disappointing: there were absolutely no toiletries or bathroom amenities whatsoever. For a supposedly five-star hotel, this is completely unacceptable. In other, less expensive hotels in Turkey, we have had Bvlgari shower gels, shampoos and conditioners. Even in Egypt, the hotels provided pleasantly scented shower gels, shampoos and conditioners.

And here? There was an ordinary, watered-down liquid soap in the shower dispenser. Over the following days, it became clear that whenever the dispenser was “refilled” — which did not always happen, as we were left without any soap at all on one occasion — water seemed to be added rather than actual soap or shower gel.

Food

Before travelling, we had read numerous reviews describing the food as varied, excellent, delicious and plentiful.

The reality was very different. Lunch consisted of approximately 10 hot-food trays, while dinner had around 13. At dinner, there were an additional four stations outside: three grilling stations serving chicken or lamb, fish and occasionally kebab, plus one station with sweet snacks such as frozen churros or frozen fried ice cream.

The food was practically the same every single day. There were two themed evenings — one Mexican and one Asian — but apart from that, the selection was repetitive: chicken in mushroom sauce, various vegetable mushes, roasted red cabbage served as a separate dish rather than a side, spaghetti, chips, potato croquettes, sometimes nuggets and occasionally some type of kebab.

As far as taste was concerned, the food was well below our expectations. I would rate it around 5/10.

Snacks between meals

There were effectively no snacks available outside the main restaurant opening hours.

Technically, snacks were available, but only until 3:00 p.m. and only at the neighbouring hotel, Club Grand Side. There was nothing available at Club Grand Aqua itself. Occasionally, some leftovers from breakfast were left at the lobby bar.

And yes — snack service ended at 3:00 p.m.

Breakfast finished at 10:00 a.m., lunch was served from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m., snacks ended at 3:00 p.m., and dinner did not begin until 7:00 p.m. Who thought it was a good idea to leave guests with nothing proper to eat for four hours in the afternoon?

We have never encountered anything like this before.

To be fair, ice cream and fruit were available from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., although the fruit was once again only available at Club Grand Side.

Swimming pools and water park

The pools at Club Grand Aqua were fine — ordinary hotel pools.

However, we were shocked to discover that all water attractions were switched off from 12:00 to 2:30 p.m. During that time, children could not use any of the slides because everything was simply shut down.

The attractions reopened at 2:30 p.m. and operated only until 5:00 p.m.

We therefore decided to visit the larger water park at Club Grand Side, only to discover exactly the same situation. Everything was switched off between 12:00 and 2:30 p.m. and closed completely at 5:00 p.m., despite the sign above the entrance clearly stating that the water park was open until 6:00 p.m.

That information was simply untrue. At 5:00 p.m., everything was turned off.

The Crazy River, supposedly one of the main attractions, operated only twice a day for 30 minutes each time. Good luck trying to use it — the queue was enormous.

At the bar near the water park, the only alcoholic drink available was beer. You could not get a cocktail or any other alcoholic drink and had to walk to another bar.

On two occasions, the juice dispensers ran out and nobody refilled them. Whenever the children wanted something to drink, we had to go to another bar.

All bars apart from the lobby bar were also closed during lunch.

Alcohol

Even when your package supposedly includes imported alcohol, the staff serve local substitutes by default. You have to insist quite firmly before they will give you an imported brand.

Cleanliness

Empty plastic cups and glasses were left scattered around the hotel, and nobody seemed to be taking proper responsibility for clearing them away.

Tables were merely wiped over, which often meant that the previous dirt and spills were simply smeared across the surface.

We also saw cleaners washing windows with towels that had been collected from the bathroom floor.

There are only three public toilet locations: one in the lobby, one near the main restaurant and another outside next to the lobby bar. The outdoor one is literally an outside toilet.

Children’s entertainment

Activities for children were practically non-existent.

There was supposedly a mini club, but it seemed to be closed most of the time. On one occasion, we saw a member of the mini club staff walking around with four children.

Even when it was open, it operated for only three or four hours per day, divided into two separate sessions.

Evening entertainment

This is marketed as a family hotel, yet only two evening shows during our stay were genuinely aimed at children: a magician and a Paw Patrol performance.

The other evenings consisted of modern dance shows, Turkish dancing, a “most handsome man” competition and a women-versus-men competition.

Most of it was extremely poor. The magician, however, was quite good.

Staff and service

The staff mainly spoke German, and communication was often difficult.

A large proportion of the service staff were older. The average age of the waiters appeared to be around 50, which also led to some misunderstandings.

Most staff members were reasonably helpful, but the standard of service was certainly not what we would expect from a five-star hotel presenting itself as a premium property.

One of the final disappointments was when the cleaner failed to refill the minibar after cleaning the room, leaving us without any drinks.

Beach

The beach itself is pleasant and sandy, although there is an unpleasant smell in the area. We could not identify exactly what it was.

A small, foul-smelling stream also runs across the beach, carrying some extremely unpleasant-looking waste. Where does it come from, and what exactly is in it? We have no idea. It smelled so bad and looked so unpleasant that we did not even want to go near it.

The sea was warm. That is about the only other positive thing we can say about the beach.

Positives There is a water park, even though it is closed for a significant part of the day. The hotel is relatively small, so everything is close by. The hotel is quiet and peaceful. There were always some free sun loungers, both at Club Grand Aqua and Club Grand Side, even near the slides. Apart from the Crazy River, there were generally no queues for the slides.

And that is all.

If you are travelling to this hotel expecting a premium experience, or even anything close to premium, you will be disappointed.

In European terms, this is an ordinary three-star hotel, despite being marketed as a five-star property. Considering the price, guests have every right to expect significantly more.

The children were happy because there was water, there were slides, and there were chips and nuggets. What more does a child need?

The parents, however, were not happy.

I strongly advise against choosing this hotel if you expect anything more than an available sun lounger, mediocre alcohol, mediocre food and mediocre service.