Aska Lara Resort and Spa

Our 3rd Visit to Aska Lara – Our Best One Yet!

This was our third visit to Aska Lara in three years, which probably says everything about how much we enjoy coming here. We keep returning because the hotel consistently delivers a fantastic holiday, and our girls absolutely love it – from the endless ice cream and Starbucks to the brilliant entertainment programme.

Restaurants

The food has once again been excellent.

A special thank you to Volkan in the main restaurant, who looked after us brilliantly throughout our stay. He's always welcoming, attentive and a pleasure to see.

We also visited the Mandarin Chinese, Mosaic, and Steakhouse à la carte restaurants, and every one of them was superb. The quality of the food and service was outstanding, and we'd happily recommend all three.

Housekeeping

Our room was spotless every single day. The housekeeping team worked incredibly hard and maintained an exceptionally high standard throughout our holiday.

Bars

A huge thank you to Zeynep at the Garden Bar. She always greeted us with a smile and often had my usual drink waiting before I'd even reached the bar. Those little personal touches really do make a holiday extra special.

Guest Services

A special thank you also goes to the Guest Services team. Every interaction we had with them was handled with the utmost professionalism, warmth and efficiency. They were always approachable, polite and genuinely eager to help with any questions or requests, making us feel valued throughout our stay. Their attention to detail and commitment to ensuring guests have the best possible holiday is a real credit to the hotel. They undoubtedly play a huge part in the exceptional service that keeps us coming back year after year.

Entertainment Team

We've always said that one of the biggest reasons we return to Aska Lara is the entertainment team, but this year they somehow managed to raise the bar even higher.

Sedat, one of the Entertainment Chiefs, has now looked after us for all three of our visits, and every year he has been exceptional. He is eager to please, incredibly polite, respectful and genuinely attentive to every guest. Nothing is ever too much trouble, and he constantly checks that everyone is enjoying themselves. His professionalism and genuine care for guests are obvious in everything he does. He leads by example, and you really couldn't wish for a better Entertainment Chief. He is a huge credit to Aska Lara and one of the main reasons we continue to return year after year.

A big thank you also goes to Arda, the Chief of Entertainment. This was our first year meeting him, and he has done a fantastic job leading the entertainment programme. He keeps the team motivated, organised and full of energy while always making time to chat with guests. Together, Arda and Sedat make an outstanding leadership team, and it's clear that their passion and professionalism have helped make this year's entertainment the best we've experienced at Aska Lara.

DJ Arda also deserves recognition. His music throughout the holiday was excellent, especially during the pool parties and evening entertainment. He created an amazing atmosphere and always seemed to know exactly what music would keep the energy high.

The standout members of our holiday, however, have to be Gözde and Zehra.

Gözde has an amazing personality and endless enthusiasm. She's brilliant at encouraging everyone to get involved, whether they're naturally outgoing or a little more reserved. She creates a fun, relaxed atmosphere, makes every activity enjoyable and is constantly interacting with guests. She is an absolute asset to the hotel.

Zehra is simply phenomenal. She may be small, but her fitness, stamina and energy are unbelievable. From Yoga and Pilates to Step and Aqua classes, she excels in everything she does. I've never felt so encouraged or motivated to join in fitness activities while on holiday. I arrived intending to relax, but instead found myself exercising every day—and loving every minute of it. Her coaching, encouragement and ability to motivate people of all ages and abilities are exceptional.

Together, Zehra and Gözde make an outstanding fitness team. Their enthusiasm, knowledge, positivity and genuine passion for helping guests enjoy themselves while staying active are second to none. They made fitness classes something to look forward to every day and were a huge part of what made this holiday so memorable. They deserve enormous recognition for everything they do.

One thing we particularly noticed this year was how much better the entertainment team are making use of the hotel's facilities and space. The new fitness classes led by Gözde and Zehra have really maximised the areas available around the resort, giving guests far more opportunities to get involved throughout the day. The whole entertainment programme feels more varied than in previous years, with activities spread across the resort and making much better use of the hotel's excellent facilities.

I also really enjoyed the Aqua Bike sessions, which were run by an external company. I'd never tried them before, and they were a fantastic introduction to a new way of exercising. They were great fun, well organised and another excellent activity to have available during the holiday.

Taha has been another brilliant addition since our last visit. He's friendly, approachable, always smiling and genuinely enjoys chatting with guests and encouraging people to get involved in activities. He was also fantastic on the mini golf. This was the first year I'd actually played it, and having the entertainment team actively running the mini golf and interacting with guests made it far more enjoyable. It's another great example of how much better the facilities are being used this year.

Murat is an absolute star. Great fun, full of energy and humour, and someone who makes every activity more enjoyable. He always has a smile on his face and helps create a fantastic atmosphere.

The only area where we felt there was room for improvement was with Buket. It actually took us around a week and a half to realise that she worked in the hotel gym, as we rarely saw her interacting with guests around the pool or encouraging people to take part in activities. During the classes we saw, there was very little coaching, motivation or correction of technique. Compared with the enthusiasm, guest interaction and encouragement consistently shown by Zehra and Gözde, the difference was quite noticeable.

It was also obvious that Zehra's and Gözde's yoga and fitness classes were the preferred choice for many guests, with consistently high attendance throughout our stay. Their enthusiasm, encouragement and ability to make everyone feel welcome created an atmosphere that people genuinely wanted to be part of.

In contrast, the classes led by Buket attracted very few participants. On more than one occasion, we saw her waiting at the class area, but when nobody arrived the session simply didn't go ahead. From our perspective, this highlighted just how important guest interaction, encouragement and motivation are in building successful classes. We'd love to see the same energy and guest-focused approach demonstrated by Zehra and Gözde reflected across the whole fitness team, as we believe it would encourage many more guests to get involved.

Overall

Once again, Aska Lara has exceeded our expectations. The hotel is beautifully maintained, the food is excellent, the staff are wonderful and the entertainment is the best we've experienced anywhere.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make our holiday so enjoyable. We'd especially like to thank Volkan, Zeynep, the Guest Services team, Sedat, Arda, DJ Arda, Gözde, Zehra, Taha and Murat for making this our best visit yet.

The girls are already planning visit number four!

I would strongly advise anyone considering staying at Aska Lara to book elsewhere. We arrived at around 9pm and were given our room, only to discover that it was in the annex building, approximately a 4–5 minute walk from the main hotel. I am three months pregnant, and walking back and forth several times a day in 30°C+ heat was simply not suitable. We immediately explained this to reception, and the receptionist assured us that if we returned the following morning, they would move our room to the main building. The next morning, we returned to reception only to be told there were no rooms available. We asked to speak with the manager and were told he wouldn't arrive until after 9am. Throughout the conversation, staff repeatedly insisted that the annex room was "what we booked through Love Holidays." However, Love Holidays does not clearly explain that an annex room is in a completely separate building, and Aska Lara simply blamed Love Holidays instead of taking any responsibility. We were then told that if we wanted to stay in the main building, we would have to pay an additional €50 per night, or alternatively leave the hotel and contact Love Holidays ourselves. I immediately contacted Love Holidays, and the representative I spoke to was incredibly helpful. She explained that they had been trying to contact the hotel, but the hotel was refusing to answer their calls. I returned to reception with Love Holidays on the phone, but the reception staff, the hotel manager, and the Guest Services Manager all refused to speak to them. It made absolutely no sense because Love Holidays needed to speak directly with the hotel to authorise either a room change or a refund. The Guest Services Manager, Cansu Torun, was extremely rude, dismissive and showed absolutely no empathy throughout the entire situation. Rather than trying to resolve a genuine issue, everything escalated because of the way we were treated. After spending over £1,000 on this holiday, we were simply told there was nothing anyone could do. To make matters even worse, the annex room itself was unacceptable. It had a strong smell of sewers, was dirty, had no sink plug, and the air conditioning remote only had one battery, meaning it didn't even work properly. We were then told we had to stay there because the hotel had overbooked. As a pregnant woman, the stress became overwhelming and I started to feel unwell. I informed the hotel that I would be taking legal action because I believed they had completely failed in their duty of care. Around 15 minutes later, while I was still sitting in the lobby speaking to Love Holidays, Cansu Torun came over and informed us that our reservation had been cancelled due to our behaviour. We had nowhere else to stay. She delivered the news and simply walked away. The Love Holidays representative was listening to everything on the phone and witnessed the entire interaction. The situation became even more shocking when Cansu Torun sent an email to Love Holidays claiming that we had been physically and verbally abusive and that she was going to call the police. These allegations were completely false. There was no physical contact, no swearing and no abusive behaviour whatsoever. The Love Holidays representative was in complete disbelief because she had listened to everything herself. Even more concerning, I have evidence that Cansu Torun later admitted that information contained within the email sent to Love Holidays was untrue. We were then told we had until 6pm to leave the hotel. However, at approximately 4:30pm, while Love Holidays was still desperately trying to find us alternative accommodation after we had already spent four hours on the phone, reception called our room demanding that we leave immediately because they wanted to clean it for the next guest. Imagine being three months pregnant, in a foreign country, being thrown out of your hotel with nowhere to go, despite previously being told you could remain until 6pm. The lack of compassion shown towards a pregnant guest was absolutely appalling. Thankfully, the Love Holidays representative went above and beyond. She worked tirelessly to find us another hotel, understood that I was pregnant and under significant stress, and eventually secured us accommodation at a hotel that was ten times better than Aska Lara, at no extra cost. Without her help, I honestly don't know what we would have done. This was my fourth visit to Turkey, and I have always had amazing experiences here. Turkish hospitality is usually second to none, which makes this experience even more disappointing. Aska Lara is, without question, the worst hotel I have ever stayed in during all of my visits to Turkey. Every other hotel has been welcoming, accommodating and professional. This hotel did the complete opposite and completely tarnished what should have been a special holiday during my pregnancy. The customer service at Aska Lara was disgraceful. Staff were arrogant, dismissive, unwilling to help and more interested in passing blame than resolving the problem. Instead of assisting a pregnant guest who simply wanted the room she believed she had booked, they cancelled our reservation, left us effectively homeless in another country and made serious allegations against us that were completely false. Legal proceedings have now been initiated through my solicitor, and all relevant evidence have been preserved. Please think very carefully before booking this hotel. There are far better hotels in Antalya that genuinely care about their guests. I would never return to Aska Lara, nor would I ever recommend it to anyone.

Second trip at this hotel, Good entertainment, very clean, loads of variety of food!