Washington Resort and Spa

We have just returned from a two-week holiday at Washington Resort Side, and I wanted to share our experience. We are a family of two adults and two children aged 12 and 9.

The hotel itself is beautiful, modern, and very well maintained. We stayed in the renovated building and were pleasantly surprised to receive a family suite consisting of two connecting rooms. Everything was clean, spacious, and comfortable, and we had plenty of room for the whole family.

The hotel's location is excellent, right on the beach. The beach is lovely, with soft sand, plenty of sunbeds, palm trees, and hammocks. There was always enough space to relax. The only downside is that the entrance to the sea becomes deep very quickly, and there are quite a few small stones at the shoreline, which can be uncomfortable.

The food was plentiful and there was a good variety of dishes, including salads, grilled meat, rice, fries, desserts, and soups. I especially enjoyed the pea cream soup. However, after two weeks, we felt that the menu became rather repetitive, with many of the same dishes served every day.

The cocktails were generally very good, although their quality depended on which bartender prepared them. Sometimes the same cocktail would taste completely different. I would especially like to thank Murat and Hussein at the Pool Bar. They were always smiling, friendly, and genuinely welcoming, making every visit enjoyable.

Unfortunately, our biggest disappointment was the staff.

Although the hotel was full of families with children, we often felt that children were not particularly welcome. At the bars, our children were frequently ignored or not served what they asked for, even when requesting something as simple as a glass of milk. They often had to ask us to order drinks for them.

Most of the activities at the pool and on the beach were reserved for adults. My son wanted to participate in darts and volleyball, but he was repeatedly told that he could not join. Even at the hotel's disco, although our children were with us and under our supervision, the security guard asked them to leave and would not allow them to dance with us. Considering it is a small disco inside a family resort, this was very disappointing.

The mini club is mainly suitable for very young children and offers only limited activities. We also noticed that face painting required an additional charge of €10.

Another major disappointment was the attitude of many staff members. Most employees seemed unhappy, unfriendly, and unwilling to help. Instead of feeling welcomed, we often felt as though we were disturbing them whenever we asked for something.

After visiting Turkey several times over the years, this was the first time we felt that the famous Turkish hospitality was missing. We even noticed the same attitude outside the hotel, in shops and bazaars.

The most unpleasant experience involved one of the security guards. During the FIFA Club World Cup Final, several guests were watching the trophy presentation on the television in the hotel's pastry shop. Without saying a word, the security guard simply switched off the TV while people were still watching. When we politely asked him to turn it back on, he refused, repeatedly saying only "kaput" because he could not speak English. We eventually had to return to our room to watch the ceremony. We found this extremely disrespectful.

The entertainment programme was enjoyable, but it was clearly focused more on Turkish guests. Throughout our stay, we often had the impression that local guests received much more attention than international visitors. Since many staff members spoke very little English, communication was sometimes quite difficult.

Overall, Washington Resort Side is a nice hotel with comfortable rooms, a beautiful beach, good food, and excellent facilities. However, the quality of the guest experience depends heavily on the attitude of the staff. A friendlier, more welcoming team and better treatment of international guests and children would greatly improve the overall experience.

For us, the hotel itself deserves 4–5 stars, but unfortunately, the customer service does not yet reach that same standard.

The staff is very nice, all of them. Check in was fast and they gave us some first information of the hotel, Room vas very spacious for two adults and two children. Bus ride from airport Antalia to hotel was two hours The resort is all you need. Beautiful beach. Two pools, animation for kids,our girls really enjoyed. Special thanks for the animation team, they’ve been amazing. The foood…woow, be careful if you don’t want to gain weight. You have to try Gozleme and Kunafa….so tasty It is more than we expected. Hopefully we will be back.