Korumar Ephesus Beach and Spa Resort

PROS: The hotel itself is about an hour away from the airport. When we arrived we checked in swiftly and were taken to our swim up room. Our swim up room was sadly on the wrong side of the building for the sun so when booking a swim up room avoid rooms 3000 to 3008. The hotel is immaculate and staff are around all the time cleaning. Toilets are spotless. Rooms are cleaned to a high standard daily. The food was to a very high standard and different themes every night. Entertainment was great and was a variety of adult shows in the evening and kids club were very well catered for. The pool was immense and never had to fight to get a sun lounger. Pool bars you got served quickly. The waiters/waitresses could not do enough to help you and all so friendly. If you get the chance to use the spa do it!! The massages are fantastic and very reasonably priced!!

CONS:

The safe in your room is up VERY high. My husband is 5ft 10 and even he struggled so there was no chance that i (at 5ft 2) was ever going to reach the safe!!

Sunloungers could do with padding as can be quite uncomfortable.

I enquired about a late checkout 3 times at different points of my stay and was always told to come back. We had an evening flight and checkout was at midday. We needed a room for like 4.5 hrs so we could make the most of our last day but were kept being asked to come back and being told different things - will be quieter next week as lots of people are leaving to we dont have any availability. In the end we had to use the showers in the indoor pool area (which was 2 small, wet cubicles to freshen up/change for our long journey home which was not how we wanted to end our experience with this hotel. That was a bit of a let down. Just glad i did not have young kids to deal with in a cubicle with little space and not much privacy as i couldnt have a room extention! All in all the hotel was fantastic. If you do experience any isdues please see the Reservation Manager (desk opposite reception) Mine Ozer. She is so helpful 😊

⭐ Korumar Ephesus Beach & Spa Resort – Honest Family Review

We stayed here for 14 nights with our two young children. I have tried to be fair in this review because there were genuinely some lovely aspects to the hotel, but unfortunately the negatives outweighed the positives for us.

POSITIVE POINTS ⭐

The hotel itself was very clean and the majority of the staff were lovely. The kitchen staff, waiters, pool and pool restaurant staff and entertainment team were particularly friendly.

The photography team were absolutely fantastic – professional, friendly and, importantly, not pushy at all.

Unfortunately, these positives weren't enough to make us want to return.

🥶 THE POOLS – OUR BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

All of the outdoor pools were cold, but the children's pool was the coldest.

Our children couldn't properly enjoy the pool, which had a huge impact on our holiday. They normally don't get bored easily on holiday, but because they couldn't comfortably use the children's pool, they became bored much quicker.

We always book 14-night holidays and this was the FIRST time 14 nights genuinely felt too long. Usually we are sad when it's time to go home. This time, I genuinely couldn't wait to get home.

If you're booking this resort mainly because of the family pools, I would seriously consider this before booking.

🚕 TAXI EXPERIENCE

This was another major issue for us.

My daughter became seriously unwell during the holiday. Due to her additional needs and extremely restricted diet, we urgently needed a particular strawberry yoghurt that she takes her medication with.

We asked the hotel about getting some and ended up taking a taxi. We showed the driver a photograph of the exact yoghurt and he said he knew where to find it. Unfortunately, after driving around, he couldn't find it and returned us to the hotel without it.

The meter showed approximately 2,000 TL, but the driver demanded 3,000 TL, claiming a 50% additional charge.

The hotel later told us that my husband had agreed to €20 each way beforehand and had requested the meter. This is NOT what happened. No €20 price was agreed beforehand and my husband did not request the meter – it was already running.

We later used other yellow taxis for the same journey and paid approximately 740 TL each way without the same additional charge.

We repeatedly asked the hotel to provide documentation supporting their version of events, including the receipt, meter information and evidence of the alleged €20 agreement. These requests were not properly addressed.

This whole experience was extremely disappointing, especially as the taxi was being used because our daughter was unwell and we were trying to obtain something essential for her medication.

🛒 HOTEL SHOP

I understand that resort shops are more expensive, but some of the prices here were completely unreasonable in my opinion.

A snack that cost less than £1 at Migros was around €10 in the hotel shop.

We also bought pull-up nappies from Migros for around 348 TL, while the hotel shop wanted €20 for just 10 pull-ups.

I understand holiday prices, but nappies and basic necessities are things families genuinely need.

🍽️ FOOD

The food was very repetitive throughout our 14-night stay and was often lukewarm.

There were also no proper live cooking stations where you could choose your own ingredients/fillings and have something freshly prepared.

I've stayed at many all-inclusive resorts and this was the first time I experienced such a lack of choice in this respect.

The children's food was also inconsistent. Familiar children's foods weren't available every day, with nuggets only appearing a couple of times during our two weeks.

For families with young children, I think having a few basic familiar foods available every day would make a big difference.

🍴 À-LA-CARTE RESTAURANTS

We were entitled to two à-la-carte meals, one per week, but nobody properly explained at check-in that these needed to be booked or how to book them.

We eventually asked reception and were told to speak to Ebru, but she wasn't there.

By the time we understood how the system worked, it was too late to properly use one of our included meals.

This should really be explained clearly to guests when they arrive.

👩‍💼 CUSTOMER SERVICE

The majority of the general hotel staff were lovely, but I was extremely disappointed with the administration/customer-service side of the hotel.

In particular, I felt our taxi complaint was not handled fairly. Despite repeatedly asking in writing for evidence supporting the hotel's version of events, this was not provided.

I also repeatedly requested that communication remain in writing, but was encouraged to have a face-to-face meeting instead.

For me, good customer service is especially important when a guest has raised a serious complaint, and unfortunately this experience left me very disappointed.

✈️ JET2 REPRESENTATIVE

We were not properly introduced to the Jet2 representative until after I raised a complaint around the second/third day.

Until then, I didn't even know who to contact if we had a problem.

I've travelled with Jet2 before and at previous hotels we were introduced to the representative on the first day, so this was disappointing.

⭐ FINAL VERDICT

There were definitely positives. The hotel was clean and there were many genuinely lovely staff members who worked hard and were friendly throughout our stay.

However, for our family, the negatives unfortunately outweighed the positives.

The cold children's pool and the taxi experience were the two biggest reasons we would not return.

We always take 14-night holidays and this was the FIRST time a 14-night holiday genuinely felt too long.

Usually we're sad to leave.

This time, I genuinely couldn't wait to come home.

For us, we would not return and unfortunately we would not recommend this resort to families.

Excellent hotel, we stayed in a swim up room. Was well worth getting we stayed in room 3030 we got the sun on an afternoon. The overall experience at the hotel was brilliant, really spacious and very clean and tidy. Lots of options for food and drinks. Staff brilliant and work hard to make guests experiences excellent. Can't recommend the hotel highly enough. Easy to get into Kusadasi, we got on the local mini bus, £1.60 per person takes around 20 mins.