Arnor De Luxe Hotel and Spa

Me and my family recently spent a week in Turkey at the Arnor Deluxe Hotel in Side. The hotel was fantastic. Very clean and modern. Great food and plenty of it. Really nice little shops, spa and gym on the lower floors. Great pool and bar. Special mention to the ice-cream/ milkshake/ ice coffee place (extra cost) but worth every penny. 5 minutes drive to the old town which is stunning. I would highly recommend this hotel. The hotel staff were all great and nothing was too much trouble. Shout out to Talha Duzgun and Onur Demir (absolute gentlemen) and a credit to the hotel/ company. See you again.

The Hotel: 7/10 All in all, a very nice, tidy, and clean hotel. The restrooms smell good and are consistently clean and well-maintained—something I really value. The rooms were perfectly fine; nothing overly flashy, but decent. The only real downside was the recent renovation of the shower and toilet area. They had separated the toilet and the shower, which made the space feel cramped and unnecessary. There was no ventilation fan in either the toilet or the shower area, leading to lingering odors and very stuffy air in the shower room—conditions that will almost certainly cause moisture issues over time. The tiling work was also absolutely terrible. What was meant to look aesthetically pleasing after the renovation instead looks unprofessional and hastily thrown together. Another source of frustration was that the AC would turn off every time the balcony door was opened; there really should have been a simpler, more effective solution, given that you often step in and out of the balcony frequently in a short span of time.

Spa: 10/10 Fantastic! A stunningly beautiful area with everything you could imagine. There are various types of saunas and a Hammam spa featuring lovely staff who perform the ritual as well as truly fantastic massages of different kinds. I had two deep-tissue massages during my one-week stay, and my wife had a pregnancy massage. Mark, the spa sales representative, is a wonderful guy; he goes around ensuring you get a tailored experience. He has a gentle approach, so you never feel pressured to make a purchase. You can also have a friendly chat about the price if you book multiple treatments.

Pool: 3/10 The pool is heavily chlorinated. There are no signs advising guests to shower before swimming, which is very noticeable in the water quality; the water actually feels nauseating. There are far too few sunbeds for the hotel guests, creating a culture of reserving loungers—something the hotel tries to prevent, yet guests do it anyway. Rules exist, but they are enforced in a very poor manner. We never managed to get a sunbed, which was incredibly frustrating. The area really needs to be expanded to accommodate more loungers. There were children well under the age of 16 in the "16+" pool area; the fact that they fail to enforce this age limit while strictly regulating sunbed reservations smacks of hypocrisy.

Buffet/All-Inclusive experience: 6/10 The food and buffet setup at this hotel are quite good. There is a wide selection, and the opening hours mean you can get something to eat almost around the clock—even 24/7—whether at the beach, in the main buffet area, or at other smaller food outlets on the property. The most impressive feature has to be the late-night buffet, which is open from midnight to 6:00 AM. So, for those of you arriving in the middle of the night: fear not. You can get items like pasta, pizza, burgers, or hot dogs. The drinks served by the hotel are among the worst I have ever tasted. The beer is perfectly fine, while the soft drinks and the like taste exactly as you would expect at an all-inclusive resort.

Hotel staff: 4/10 It was a mixed bag. Some staff members smiled and were very welcoming, making you feel truly seen as an individual, while others were cold and felt a bit like extras in a movie. I had several good experiences, but also one very bad one involving a woman who apparently handled more sensitive issues. We ended up in a ridiculous argument regarding sunbeds and the reservation system guests use. There was no attempt to make amends in any way; everything was simply dismissed with excuses. Unfortunately, this really dampened the mood for the week, as securing sunbeds was an incredibly frustrating hassle.

All in all, I was pleased with the stay; there are many nice, convenient shops inside the hotel selling a variety of items. This is handy when you want affordable snacks or the like. The gym is quite good, with a very pleasant temperature compared to other areas of the hotel.

For my part, it was Mark in the spa department who made the stay truly wonderful. Thank you for your service.