Castival Hotel

Great hotel, clean, very frendly people, great beach, we love it and probably we will come back here🙂

My fiancée and I stayed at Castival Hotel for 12 nights on an all-inclusive package, and overall we had a wonderful holiday in Turkey. However, if I'm reviewing the hotel itself, I want to be as honest and objective as possible because I know how much reviews helped us when choosing where to stay.

I'll start by saying that there are many genuinely great things about this hotel, but there are also areas that, in our opinion, fall well short of what we expected from a hotel advertised as 5 stars.

First of all, I want to give a very special mention to Anzhelika from Guest Relations. She was, without question, the standout member of staff during our entire stay. Before we had even arrived in Turkey, I had been secretly planning my engagement proposal to my now fiancée. Anzhelika helped me organise flowers discreetly, arranged transport to and from the proposal location, answered all my questions, and ensured everything remained a surprise. Throughout our stay she was always kind, professional, approachable and genuinely cared about helping guests. Even on her day off she responded to our requests and assisted us whenever she could. She deserves huge recognition because she played a small but unforgettable part in one of the most important moments of our lives. Thank you, Anzhelika!

Check-in and Staff

Check-in itself was straightforward, and a porter helped us take our luggage to our room. However, one of the biggest difficulties throughout our stay was communication. Many members of staff spoke very limited English, which made even simple conversations quite difficult. We completely understand that not everyone is expected to speak perfect English, but in an international five-star resort we expected communication to be a little easier.

Most staff were polite, but we also experienced one receptionist who came across as quite rude when we raised an issue with our room. Instead of making us feel welcome, the interaction felt dismissive.

The Rooms

This was unfortunately our biggest disappointment.

When we first entered our room, our immediate reaction was that it simply didn't feel like a five-star hotel room.

We found mould in places, limescale in the bathroom, marks on surfaces, dirty mirrors and the floor clearly hadn't been properly cleaned or vacuumed. The furniture looked tired and dated, the television was surprisingly small, and there wasn't even an iron available for clothes, which was disappointing for a hotel of this category.

The biggest issue was the lack of soundproofing.

We could hear people walking through the corridors, conversations from neighbouring rooms, doors constantly closing, and even the plumbing and toilets from other rooms. If you're a light sleeper, this may become frustrating.

The beds were also far less comfortable than expected. Both my fiancée and I returned home with stiff, painful necks after sleeping there for almost two weeks.

To the hotel's credit, after raising our concerns we were moved to another room two days later with the help of Anzhelika. Unfortunately, while we appreciated the effort, the second room was almost identical. That suggested to us that this wasn't a problem with one room, but rather that many rooms throughout the hotel are beginning to show their age and would benefit from refurbishment.

The air conditioning, however, was absolutely excellent. During temperatures of around 40°C it worked perfectly and became one of the best features of the room.

Overall room rating: 3/5

Housekeeping

Housekeeping was inconsistent.

Some days our room wasn't cleaned at all, and we occasionally had to request fresh towels.

When housekeeping did come, they generally made the bed, emptied the bins, replaced towels and cleaned the bathroom, but the floors often remained dirty throughout our stay.

Food and Restaurants

One of the reasons we chose Turkey was because we genuinely love Turkish cuisine.

Unfortunately, the main buffet didn't meet our expectations.

There was plenty of food available and nobody would go hungry, but much of it felt repetitive and lacked the quality we were hoping for. My fiancée especially struggled to find meals she enjoyed, and on several occasions we chose to eat in restaurants outside the hotel instead.

The burgers at the pool snack restaurant were particularly disappointing.

On the other hand, the à la carte restaurants were excellent.

We tried both the Turkish and the Italian restaurants and thoroughly enjoyed both experiences. The food quality there was noticeably better, the atmosphere was more relaxed, and they became highlights of our stay.

Overall food rating: 3/5

Bars

The all-inclusive drinks selection was good, and we appreciated having multiple bars around the resort.

Our only criticism would be that cocktails from the Lobby Bar often felt rushed and lacked consistency compared to what we expected from a five-star hotel.

One uncomfortable experience involved a member of staff serving drinks around the pool, who repeatedly flirted with my fiancée in front of me and laughed while doing so. It made us both feel awkward and was unnecessary.

Bar rating: 4/5

Pools

The pools were excellent.

They were clean, spacious and well maintained, and the water slides were great fun. We genuinely have nothing negative to say about this area.

Our only frustration was finding sunbeds.

If you wanted two sunbeds together by the main pool, you almost had to wake up around 6 a.m. to reserve them with towels. By normal breakfast time, most of the good spots had already been taken. We appreciate this is partly down to guest behaviour rather than the hotel itself, but it did affect our experience.

Pool rating: 5/5

Private Beach

The private beach is probably the hotel's greatest asset.

The shuttle runs frequently and only takes about a minute, although it's also an easy five-minute walk.

Beautiful soft sand, plenty of space, lovely sea views and a relaxing atmosphere made this one of our favourite places to spend time.

Beach rating: 5+/5

Entertainment

Another huge positive.

The animation team worked incredibly hard every day, and the evening shows were genuinely entertaining. There was always something happening, and they created a fun atmosphere without being overbearing.

Entertainment rating: 5/5

Gym

As someone who trains regularly, I was pleasantly surprised by the gym.

Hotel gyms are often an afterthought, but this one had a good selection of equipment and was well maintained. It had everything I needed to continue my workouts while on holiday.

Gym rating: 5/5

Spa

My fiancée treated herself to a spa experience during our stay and overall she enjoyed the treatment itself. However, she felt the experience was somewhat disjointed.

Instead of feeling like a continuous, relaxing spa journey, she was moved between different rooms, and at one point had to walk through the main reception area wearing only a towel. That felt awkward and took away from the peaceful atmosphere you would normally expect from a spa.

She also expected calming background music to create a more relaxing environment, but instead the therapist was humming and playing music from her phone, which made the experience feel less professional.

Finally, although she mentioned several times that the massage pressure was too strong and was causing discomfort, the therapist continued to be quite heavy-handed. A spa treatment should be relaxing, and unfortunately this aspect prevented her from fully enjoying the experience.

The facilities appeared nice, but we were disappointed to learn that the indoor swimming pool is only available during the winter season. We had specifically hoped to use it during our stay.

Overall, she would still rate the spa positively, but there is certainly room for improvement in terms of creating a more seamless and tranquil experience.

Spa rating: 4/5

Wi-Fi

The Wi-Fi was one of the weaker aspects of the hotel.

It frequently disconnected, was often slow, and sometimes stopped working altogether.

Location

The location is excellent.

There are plenty of shops, restaurants and places to explore within walking distance, making it easy to spend time outside the resort if you want a change of scenery.

One Unfortunate Experience

One upsetting incident during our holiday involved another group of guests rather than the hotel itself.

My fiancée is a Black woman, and throughout our stay we sometimes felt that people stared at her more than we expected. On one occasion, another group of guests appeared to be taking photos and videos of her without her consent. When we politely questioned them, they dismissed our concerns and laughed about it.

This was upsetting and made us feel uncomfortable. I want to make it clear that this involved other guests rather than hotel staff, but it unfortunately became one of the memories we took home from our holiday.

Final Thoughts

Would we say we had a great holiday?

Absolutely.

Would we say this is a genuine five-star hotel?

In our opinion, no.

The beach, pools, entertainment, gym, location and especially Anzhelika made our holiday memorable. However, the outdated rooms, poor soundproofing, inconsistent housekeeping, average buffet food, unreliable Wi-Fi and communication difficulties prevented this from feeling like the luxury experience we expected from a five-star resort.

For us, Castival feels much closer to a very good 3.5 to 4-star hotel than a true five-star property.

If the hotel invested in renovating the rooms, improving housekeeping consistency, upgrading the buffet quality and strengthening English communication among staff, it could become an outstanding resort because the foundations are already there.

Thank you again to Anzhelika and to the entertainment team for helping create some wonderful memories during one of the most important holidays of our lives, including the unforgettable moment when I asked my best friend to marry me.

The hotel was honestly amazing until about two years ago, but this year it was a huge disappointment. The rooms were in poor condition, with peeling walls and a strong smell of mold. Even ordering a drink took around 20 minutes because the service was so slow. Unfortunately, there were also people walking around the hotel all the time wearing shirts and trying to approach guests, which made many of us feel uncomfortable. The overall guest quality has also gone down a lot, possibly because there were so many local visitors We definitely won't recommend this hotel anymore, and we won't be coming back for our next vacation. It seems like the change in management has really affected the hotel. We truly miss how it used to be. Sadly, we won't be booking this hotel again. ://