Grand Kaptan

It was my first time visiting Turkey and having googled ‘why do so many average hotels in Turkey have 5*’ I have learnt that in Turkey 5* is NOT reflective of quality but instead the scale of the hotel so keep that in mind. Definitely not a 5 star hotel, probably closer to a 3.5… the pictures are deceiving too. The food is ok and there’s a lot of options and the salad bar is very good, but as far as 5 star… this hotel does not even come close. The staff are friendly but communications are poor and all inclusive options are limited. We booked this as a last minute trip so assumed that’s why the price was lower- let’s just say it was cheap for a reason. Full review on individual elements below:

Rooms - The rooms are very dated, they have extremely small bathrooms and the hair dryer looks like something straight from the 90s! We had a shower bath and the actual shower fitting was broken meaning you had to hold the shower which was just inconvenient. The towels provided are clean but show clear signs of age. The wall surrounding the aircon in the room has mould creeping through the wallpaper. The beds are ok, but the linen itself is very thin and you have to pay for extra pillows and quilts… €2 per day per item. For a 5* hotel, in fact for any hotel, this is absolutely backwards!! The hotel is very noisey, we could hear neighbours kids crying next door, chairs scraping the floor upstairs and people walking past- not great for sleep quality.

Pool/Beach - The pool area is kept clean which is good, but the sun-beds are clearly very old and have past their prime. We stayed in mid-September and there was always plenty of sunbeds available by the pool, the beach was always very busy with no sunbeds free from 10am. The sea is lovely and clear and there are toilets and showers on the beach for hotel guests.

Food/Drink - ‘All inclusive premium’ is the package we had booked but in all honesty there is nothing premium about the overall experience. They do not offer any sparkling wine/prosecco, there is 1 dry white wine and 1 red wine. There are only 4 cocktails and 1 mocktail on the menu. I would note there is branded spirits available but a few nice cocktails on holidays would be the bare minimum. By the pools there is a ‘snack bar’ that offers food on selected hours, and an ice cream freezer with strawberry, chocolate or vanilla soft serve and a desert bar that serves cakes. By the beach there is a restaurant that you can order food at over the allocated lunch hours and there is a freezer of branded ice creams that you can pay for (defeats the point ‘all inclusive premium’ but oh well…)

Facilities - there is a semi-outdoor gym at the hotel, it has a good range of equipment and overlooks the sea. The gym was normally very quiet with no more than 1/2 people in at a time. The spa was nice enough - slightly dingy on first approach but the ladies working there are lovely and very good at what they do. The hotel offers a bus that runs to the city centre of Alanya (~10min drive) which is handy as it’s a bit of a walk to get there. There is also entertainment and games throughout the day which are run by the entertainment team.

The overall experience is hindered by the lack of communications provided. When you arrive at the dinner buffet there is no one to tell you whether drinks are table service or not. There is no clear menu to show the drinks on offer. The snack bar is confusing as there is certain foods available through the whole day as opposed to just in lunch hours but we only discovered this through seeing others eating. This is basic all inclusive service, communicating properly with guests is fundamental to their experience. Overall the hotel is fine but do not expect anything special.

This hotel really stood out to us from the start from an extensive search for the one for our first trip to Turkiye so we looked no more. The Bell Boy who helped with our luggage telling us there was food available for us to help ourselves to hot soup, a large selection of bread, olives , cheese, salad and lots more as our flight had been delayed by 3 hours and we had missed dinner - we were very grateful for this.. The hotel has soft lighting, plenty of places to visit all over from the lobby, the beach and pier, to the roof top bar etc... makes this resort a real treat. It's spacious, clean and welcoming as are all the staff in all areas. The food is so fresh and there's an abundance of choice of both something to eat and drink all over this tidy, clean and efficient hotel.. Beds comfy, plenty of hot water, house keeping exemplary. I have had lots of massages before but not a Turkish Bath (Hammam) The Massuese I had was Aiman - highly commendable she is very professional and skilled in her job the whole experience was superb. The Turkish meal we had in the restaurant was delicious and beautiful seated outside with the musicians playing for us all there was really special..We missed the Turkish night as our stay did not include the evening it was on so we were disappointed about that we enjoyed the African Acrobats the other evenings had singers and classical musicians. We had a great time.. I always think a hotel or anywhere is only as good as the staff it employs. All the staff we encountered are a credit to The Grand Kaptan Hotel and I do hope they get praised by the owners accordingly.

The hotel was clean and service really good , some of the staff need to smile more and the animation team more friendly chat to everyone not just people of there age entertainment could be better , and transfer really bad , massage amazing a lady named era is really good , taking her time and making you feel well relaxed, a really good idea of tunnel under the road to the beach