Flora Garden Beach Side

Money and time off work can be hard to come by, don’t waste either by coming here. We’ve been to Turkey many times (I think around a dozen) but we’ve always been to Bodrum and fancied a change. After our visit to this hotel we will no longer be coming to Turkey. What an awful place, I’m not sure where to start. The check in was a joke, greeted by a guy who ordered us to sit down, was looking past us waffling about the hotel but nothing specific, threw a pen down for us to fill the check in form, then left us stood in reception not knowing what we were supposed to do, he was already off dealing with another group so any questions we had never got answered. Next, the walk to the room. The air con wasn’t switched on so the room was stuffy and didn’t appear as ready for guests. We booked the “romantic pool” room which is the furthest away from the main buildings, the bell boy said the route was the only way to and from the restaurant etc, it wasn’t but anyone with mobility issues will struggle with this room, a long walk to anywhere, there is a metal ladder into the pool so no easy way to get in and out, also steps up to the room and the door is not wide enough for a wheelchair. The room has absolutely no storage, other than 2 tiny drawers either side of the bed and the wardrobe with hanging space and a tiny shelf due to the safe taking up so much room, we had to live out of our cases which isn’t great. The bath has fancy jets but it was dirty so we never used it, full of hair and dust I think they only get cleaned when they’re used but to use them they need cleaning…? The cleaner is the most hard working member of staff though, lovely lady works very hard and is very polite so not a personal dig at her, the other staff however - a different story. They are ignorant, lazy and seem more interested in flirting with one another than serving, the main dining room don’t expect to be acknowledged, you have to get your own drinks unless you’re extremely lucky and someone does it for you (once for us in the whole 10 days) they don’t clear tables, will look at plates etc and carry on walking. The food. It’s awful and catered for Turkish, Russian and Germans (as usual) most nights all we could eat was bread and uncooked chips, they do not know how to cook chips at all. Meats were covered in strange sauces and mostly spice which is no good if you don’t like spicy food, only finding out it’s chilli when eating it. The breakfast option is awful too, none of the usual items and the scrambled egg is the worst I’ve ever had, the server put a new batch into the pot and it was stone cold! Like it had come out of a fridge. Cheeses and meats are only available at breakfast. The best place to eat is the snack bar (near the “Zen” centre) pizza and fish and chips are lovely, the pool bar doesn’t do chips and the menu is rubbish, also the staff again are ignorant, we waited over 40 mins for a hot dog which never came so we left. One thing to note as this is apparently “all inclusive” you cannot get any premium drinks unless you pay, no bourbons, Baileys anything brand named you have to pay and most are at least €7, never known a place like it, instead of Jim Beam we were offered scotch! Men are banned from entering the main restaurant for evening dinner in open toe sandals etc, so many poor men turned away yet some were allowed in with “Jesus sandals” some had socks so maybe there’s something in that but otherwise make sure you bring proper shoes or you might have a long walk back to your room to change. Such an unnecessary rule not sure why it makes a difference as female guests are allowed in with open sandals even flip flops. The cleaners spent more time hiding in their store cupboard than they did actually cleaning, only appearing with a mop if a small wet spot appeared otherwise they were just wandering around the dining room doing nothing. The guest relations desk is rarely occupied and is busy when it is due to everyone rushing to speak to them, we booked for the “steakhouse” which only has rib steak on offer so is nothing close to a steak house, not sure why it’s listed as such. You have to book in advance and also choose your meal so if you’re booking days in advance you need to know what you want to eat, never known anything like that and why do they need the choices in advance. The beach is very shingle and like quick sand so any mobility issues you may need some support walking down to the sea. The walkways are very uneven, mainly where the paths to the beach and rooms - not the main level those are tiled which are slippery when wet, the broken tile design may look ok but is unpractical especially for someone with walking issues, there are a lot of raised edges to trip on - which one of us did and fell to the ground hard, luckily without major injury but could’ve been different. The walk to the better snack bar is where it’s really bad along the sea edge, very uneven and wooden which is apparently suitable for wheelchairs, it’s not. There is also a very steep edge at the beginning of the path to be aware of. You are only issued with one room card which is odd as we’ve stayed in hotels all over the world and always been given at least two, again not sure of the reason for this. I’m really disappointed to have to write such a review, but paying what we did we could’ve gone to Florida and had a much better time. I 100% do not recommend this place and whoever graded it 5 stars needs to be investigated as it’s barely a 3. Just as a side note, we bring cash for tips as on previous holidays to Bodrum the staff have gone above and beyond to make our stay great. For the 10 days we were here we tipped one member of wait staff in the main restaurant, for the whole 10 days which just shows how bad the service was. Outside of this we only tipped the cleaner and the snack bar staff as they were the complete opposite to the main restaurant. This is a review of our stay what we experienced etc, nothing has been exaggerated it’s just been a very poor experience.

Was a lovely stay here only thing I will say is the drinks in the rooms dont get filled up the entertainment was brilliant and the animation team was brilliant we loved the water polo so much would come back again also the staff are lovely!