Julian Club

⭐️⭐️ OUR 10 DAYS AT JULIAN CLUB – A FAMILY HOLIDAY WE WON’T FORGET FOR THE WRONG REASONS

I have thought long and hard about whether to write this review, but after spending 10 days at Julian Club with my two children, I feel other families considering this hotel deserve to know what our experience was actually like.

We booked an all-inclusive family holiday because we wanted exactly that — a holiday.

Somewhere we could relax around the pool, let the children have fun, enjoy our meals, have a drink and make memories together.

Instead, I spent far too much of our holiday feeling frustrated, stressed and disappointed.

And honestly, by the time we left, I was relieved to be going home.

5AM FOR A SUNBED 😡

Let’s start with something that I simply cannot understand.

If you want a decent sunbed around the pool, you need to be up at around 5am.

Every morning, the battle for sunbeds was already underway.

I’m on holiday with two children. I shouldn’t have to set my alarm for 5am just to have somewhere to sit by a swimming pool.

And when you finally find a sunbed, don’t expect it to be clean.

We found rubbish, ants and stained cushions.

How difficult is it to properly clean the sunbeds?

🍽️ THIS ISN’T WHAT I EXPECT FROM ALL-INCLUSIVE

The main restaurant doesn’t serve lunch.

Instead, you’re sent to the snack bar.

Now, I will give them credit — there is a reasonable selection of food at the snack bar.

But what is the point of having food available if there aren’t enough tables and chairs for everyone to actually sit down and eat it?

You aren’t allowed to eat at the sunbeds, so you’re left trying to find somewhere to sit with your children.

It’s frustrating, overcrowded and unnecessarily stressful.

⏰ THE RESTAURANT EXPERIENCE

The restaurant opening times were another major issue.

During our stay, the times appeared to change, and we weren’t always made aware of those changes.

One evening we went down for dinner at around 7:45pm, believing the restaurant was open until 9pm.

By approximately 8:15pm, they were already clearing away the desserts.

The main dishes were basically whatever was left.

We hadn’t arrived late.

We hadn’t ignored the advertised times.

We genuinely believed we still had over an hour to eat.

That left me standing there thinking:

“Is this really what I’ve paid for?”

🍹 WANT A DRINK? JOIN THE QUEUE.

There are two bars.

But in the evenings, you could find yourself with one or two overworked members of staff serving huge numbers of people.

The staff were working their socks off, but that doesn’t change the fact that we regularly waited around 20 minutes for drinks.

And the tables and bar were often sticky.

Again, this isn’t the standard I expect from an all-inclusive hotel.

🚨 THE INCIDENT THAT REALLY UPSET ME

One particular incident really stuck with me.

We were sitting on the terrace by the main bar because it gave us a good view of our children in the middle pool.

My child went upstairs to get their towel.

A member of the cleaning team grabbed my child by the arm and stopped them because they were wet.

I was absolutely furious.

If children aren’t allowed upstairs while wet, then PUT UP A SIGN.

Tell parents.

Tell children.

Make the rule clear.

Don’t grab a child by the arm.

That is not acceptable to me.

🎤 ENTERTAINMENT – BUT HOW MUCH EXTRA ARE YOU EXPECTED TO PAY?

The entertainment is something that sounds fantastic when you’re booking a family holiday.

But once you’re there, you quickly discover that a lot of it comes with an additional cost.

Neon disco?

Approximately £10 for a fluorescent top.

Face painting?

Approximately £3 extra.

Kids’ club?

£10 on one evening.

Squid Games?

£10 to enter.

And this one really got to me.

Children paid £10 to enter Squid Games, were given a T-shirt that they didn’t even get to keep, and some children were eliminated within minutes.

There were tears.

I watched children become upset after paying £10 to take part.

Perhaps I’m old-fashioned, but when I’ve already paid for an all-inclusive family holiday, I don’t expect to constantly have to decide which activities my children can afford to participate in.

💔 AND THE ENTERTAINMENT TEAM?

This is particularly disappointing because I genuinely wanted my children to enjoy themselves.

But throughout my entire 10-day stay, I was not approached or spoken to by a member of the entertainment team even once.

They seemed to have their regular customers and focused their attention on them.

As someone spending 10 days at the hotel with children, I expected at least a little effort to make us feel welcome.

We didn’t get that.

🔑 ONE KEY FOR A FAMILY ROOM?

Reception would only issue one room key.

That meant that when we left the room, the electricity and fridge switched off.

So if you’ve got children’s milk or drinks that you want kept cold while you’re out, you’re out of luck.

I honestly don’t understand why a family room can’t have two key cards.

It’s such a simple thing to fix.

☀️ THE POOL AREA

The pool activities were mainly inflatable obstacle courses.

They looked fun, but the queues were huge.

Children were standing around waiting on extremely hot flooring.

Again, it felt like there were simply too many guests competing for the facilities available.

⚠️ SOMETHING I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED AT A FAMILY RESORT

During our 10 days there were several fights and serious arguments within the resort.

There were even fights over water polo.

I’ve been on plenty of holidays.

I’ve stayed in family resorts.

But I have never experienced this level of aggression within a hotel resort before.

It was uncomfortable and completely changed the atmosphere.

👕 THE “FREE” SHOPPING TRANSFER

The clothes shop at the hotel actually had some good-value things.

Then came the offer of a free transfer to a shop in İçmeler.

We went.

Our experience was not good.

Clothes weren’t always the correct size, prices weren’t clearly displayed, discounts we were told we’d receive didn’t happen as expected, and we felt pressured to buy things we didn’t want.

My advice?

Don’t let anyone pressure you into buying anything. Check the prices. Check the sizes. And don’t assume the promised discount will automatically appear.

🩺 AND IF YOU GET ILL…

We were told that seeing a doctor would cost around £70 for a consultation.

Obviously nobody plans on becoming ill on holiday, especially with children.

But it’s something I think families should be aware of.

💔 THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

The hardest part for me is that this wasn’t a cheap family holiday.

We paid to go away and relax.

Instead, I found myself getting up at 5am for sunbeds.

Queuing for drinks.

Searching for somewhere to sit at lunchtime.

Trying to work out restaurant times.

Paying extra for children’s entertainment.

Dealing with overcrowding.

And witnessing fights.

That’s not my idea of a holiday.

👏 CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE

I don’t want this review to unfairly blame individual staff.

There were staff members who worked incredibly hard.

The bar staff were clearly under enormous pressure.

The entertainment team were working hard.

But hardworking employees cannot compensate for poor organisation, overcrowding and decisions made at management level.

❌ WOULD I GO BACK?

No.

And that’s not something I say lightly.

Julian Club clearly has people who love it. There are regular customers who return year after year, and that’s absolutely fine.

But based on our personal experience, I simply don’t understand the hype.

Maybe if you’re a regular guest you receive a different experience.

Maybe we were unlucky.

But I can only review what happened to my family.

And our experience was one of constant frustration rather than relaxation.

We came away with memories, but unfortunately many of them are memories of queues, overcrowding, extra charges, early mornings, arguments and disappointment.

I booked an all-inclusive family holiday because I wanted to make happy memories with my children.

Instead, after 10 days, I was counting down the days until we could go home.

That’s probably the most honest thing I can say about Julian Club.

⭐⭐ 2/5

Would I recommend it to a family looking for a relaxing all-inclusive holiday?

Based on our experience — no.

And if you’re thinking of booking it, please read the reviews carefully and make sure you know exactly what you’re paying for before you do..

I did read reviews but don’t think they gave you an honest review.

Amazing way to spend my 18th! Would recommend to anyone. Food and drinks was good. Entertainment make our holiday especially jay yolo team curly the bestt