White City Resort

This was our first vacation together with my mom and sister, and it was truly vibrant and action-packed. We chose the "All-Inclusive" package, and everything was excellent: the hotel was clean and well-maintained, and our room was spotless and cozy. There were plenty of spots on the grounds to relax and lounge, the pools were clean with perfect water temperatures, and the bar and restaurant staff were incredibly friendly and cheerful—which was a real delight. The food offered a surprising variety every day; it was always delicious, and we had absolutely no issues. It was evident that the staff took great care of cleanliness, not just inside the hotel but across the entire property—a huge Thanks to everyone for that. It is wonderful when the people around you genuinely strive to make your vacation comfortable. The hotel's spa team deserves special mention: Alexandra, Tatyana, Mehmet, and Soner are true professionals—friendly, attentive, and understanding. Their spa and massage services made our holiday even more enjoyable and relaxing. I also have to mention the diverse daily entertainment program, which included discos, live music, dancing, outdoor movies, and so much more. A HUGE THANKS you to everyone!We will definitely be back. We highly recommend this place to others!

We stayed at White City Resort Hotel as a couple for two weeks and wanted to leave a detailed and honest review. There are some genuinely excellent things about this hotel, particularly the grounds, but unfortunately there were also a lot of issues during our stay that meant, for us, it did not feel like the 5-star experience we expected.

The positives

The hotel grounds are outstanding. Everything is very clean, tidy and well maintained, and the main pool is excellent.

One of the biggest positives was that there were always sunbeds available, regardless of what time of day we went to the pool. There were no sunbed wars or need to get up at ridiculous times to reserve one.

The adults-only pool was also lovely and a little quieter if you wanted a break from the main pool.

The patisserie is amazing and was definitely one of our highlights.

The food overall is good for an all-inclusive. There is a decent variety, with lots of fresh options, fresh bread, deli items, an omelette station, pizza, pasta and different meats. There was generally something available throughout the day.

The drinks were also good, with branded Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, Fanta etc., rather than generic alternatives.

The maid service was good. Towels were changed daily and the bed was made every day.

The communal areas, grounds and pool were all very clean and tidy.

There is also an attempt of entertainment and activities (if enough people want to take part), particularly around the pool during the day. Often the agenda was not followed and many activities did not go ahead.

The animation team were generally bubbly and did try to get people involved, although we did feel that they sometimes seemed quite particular about who they approached and spoke to, and didn’t always make the same effort with everyone (often not the English)

The room – very disappointing

Unfortunately, our room was one of the biggest disappointments.

The room we received was nothing like the room we had booked. The room we stayed in is NOT advertised anywhere on their website or jet2, easyJet etc.

We booked a standard room, expecting a double bed, plus a single, but when we arrived we only had a double bed, the room was much smaller than the other standard rooms within the hotel. The balcony was also extremely disappointing. It had bars/slats across it, and the whole balcony area was covered with glass, meaning the view was very restricted. Even though the view was essentially towards the building site next door, we still expected a balcony that matched what we had booked. Again, this is not advertised on their website , if we had seen this room we would not have booked this hotel.

We were aware before travelling that there was building work taking place next door. Although it was incredibly unsightly, fortunately the building work itself did not really affect us in terms of noise.

The bed was ROCK hard, which made sleeping uncomfortable.

The shower door did not shut properly, and we heard from other guests who had experienced bathrooms flooding because of poor shower doors.

Our air conditioning was noisy which awoke us regularly throughout the night and leaking, which was particularly unpleasant given how hot the hotel was. It also seemed there was no aircon regularly used throughout the building so often corridors and other parts of the hotel felt boiling.

Smoke around the pool

There was a noticeable amount of smoke coming over the pool area on a daily basis from the hotel next door. At times it was strong enough to make our eyes sting, which was particularly unpleasant when trying to relax around the pool. This occurred daily around 4-5pm, covering the whole main pool area with smoke and a stench of burning.

One of the biggest frustrations was that activities advertised on the hotel’s daily schedule often didn’t actually take place. The hotel sends the daily activity diary through WhatsApp every day, so you naturally expect the advertised activities to happen.

For example:

• Cinema nights were listed but often weren’t shown.
• Water polo was listed despite not going ahead.
• Other activities on the daily schedule also did not always happen.

It was frustrating to plan your day around something that had been officially advertised, only to find that it wasn’t actually taking place.

Entertainment and English communication

There is a lot of entertainment, but over a two-week stay we found the evening entertainment quite repetitive.

There were lots of acrobatics and dancing shows. If that’s your thing, you will probably enjoy it, but we personally found the acts quite samey.

If you want a seat for the main evening show, you also need to sit down while the children’s disco is still taking place.

English also seemed to be a minority language at the hotel.

We completely understand that this is an international resort and that guests will speak many different languages. However, there were occasions where information and entertainment were being communicated over the microphone around the pool and English was not spoken at all. Drinks orders were often wrong, for example ordering a beer and a Fanta and receiving a beer mixed with Fanta.

Animation team

The animation team were generally bubbly, friendly and energetic, and for the most part they did make an effort to get people involved.

Table service

The table service was poor.

This was noticeable in the restaurants and particularly disappointing when considering the hotel is marketed as a 5-star resort.

We often found the service lacking in attentiveness and consistency, often finishing our evening meal without having had a drink.

The only positive experience we had was with a member of staff called Maha. His customer service was amazing and nothing was ever too much.

À la carte restaurants

The à la carte experience was particularly disappointing.

The menus were printed on faded pieces of paper which were difficult to read, which didn’t exactly create a premium dining experience. The service was lousy, we were left without cutlery, sat by the kitchen door hearing staff chatting And eating food.

The food itself wasn’t particularly different from what was already available in the main hotel restaurant, so it didn’t really feel like a special or worthwhile dining experience.

One of the strangest parts was that when we arrived, our food was already sitting on the table. We were both incredibly ill from the small amount of food we ate at the Ale carte.

We didn’t have the experience of ordering and having our meal freshly brought out to us. The food was essentially already waiting for us when we arrived. All the tables all had food on prior to guests arriving.

For a 5-star resort offering an à la carte experience, we expected considerably better service and a more special dining experience.

The steak restaurant was also closed during our stay, and no reason was given for why it was closed.

Main restaurant and food

As mentioned, the main all-inclusive food was fairly good overall. Nothing special. Repetitive as any all inclusive is. Themed nights such as Asian, but the only Asian thing on offer is sushi.

However, there were some smaller issues.

At breakfast there were no tea bags and no coffee beans in the machines at times.

The fruit was also inconsistent. Fruit wasn’t always replaced once it had run out. There were also not enough descriptions on many of the foods, particularly desserts and foods containing nuts. Often there were plain looking salads but you would then realise there was walnuts in it, without any signs or warnings. This is especially important for people with allergies.

Beach and beach bar

The beach is small, but it is perfectly fine if you’re not particularly bothered about having a large, traditional beach.

The beach bar is good, we ended up eating here most days for lunch. It serves , pizzas, pasta, wraps, burgers etc. you order via a QR code and found this fairly efficient and never had any issues.

Spa and paid activities

We also felt there was quite a lot of pushy upselling.

The spa was promoted quite heavily, and there was also quite a lot of promotion of paid evening activities such as bingo.

There is nothing wrong with offering optional paid activities, but at times the approach felt quite forceful rather than simply making guests aware of what was available. Sometimes we were asked to purchase the same tickets more than 4 times a day, and then again in the evening.

Reception and customer service

This was probably one of the biggest negatives of our stay.

We found some of the reception staff rude and unprofessional.

Our experience trying to arrange a late room checkout was particularly frustrating.

We were initially told by the hotel to attend reception the day before we left to arrange late checkout. We followed their instructions and went to reception the day before.

However, when we got there, we were then told that late checkout could only be arranged on the actual day of departure.

This seemed completely contradictory. If you’re trying to arrange a late checkout, you need to know in advance so that you can plan your final day, organise your luggage and know when you need to leave your room.

Because of this, we were left unable to properly plan our final day of holiday.

We then had to attend reception more than three times trying to get this sorted.

When we went back on our actual final day, rather than being able to give us a clear answer, we were told to come back in another hour.

We found this ridiculous and extremely frustrating, particularly when we had already followed the hotel’s original instructions and attended reception the day before.

The receptionists we dealt with during this experience were Metin and Oldir. We found their manner towards us incredibly unprofessional.

While we were trying to communicate about the late checkout, they were laughing at us, pointing towards their heads and speaking to each other in their own language, rather than properly explaining the situation to us.

Late checkout was quoted at around €18 per hour.

What should have been a simple request became a major inconvenience and, most importantly, completely spoiled what should have been our final day at the hotel.

Problems with other guests’ room bookings

We also spoke to many other guests during our two-week stay who had experienced major issues with their rooms and bookings.

For example, we spoke to two couples who had arrived at the hotel and were told that their booked rooms were not available.

They were told they had been “upgraded” to family-sized rooms, but then were told they had to:

• Check out of those rooms at 12pm the following day
• Wait until around 1:30pm
• Re-check into their actual booked rooms

From speaking to other guests, this didn’t seem to be an isolated incident. We heard similar complaints from multiple people about room availability and room allocation.

Location

The hotel is quite far out from the main town, so this is something worth considering when booking.

There are many shops near hotel, selling many fakes etc.

Overall atmosphere

This is a very lively and loud hotel.

If you like lots of music, entertainment and activity around the pool during the day, you’ll probably enjoy the atmosphere.

If you’re looking for a peaceful and quiet 5-star resort, it may not be what you’re expecting.

The adults-only pool is a good alternative when you want somewhere quieter.

Overall – does it feel like a 5-star hotel?

For us, it didn’t feel like a 5-star experience.

The facilities and grounds absolutely look impressive. The pool is excellent, the grounds are beautiful, the patisserie is fantastic, the food is tolerable, branded drinks are provided, there are always sunbeds available and the communal areas are generally clean and tidy.

However, a 5-star experience is about much more than the appearance of the facilities. Based on our two-week experience, we would not recommend or return to any White City hotel.

The hotel is lovely, staff are very friendly and helpful. Although a little bit disappointed with the food as not very much variation to choose from, we had a problem in our room and was rectified the same day with a change of rooms