Ela Excellence Resort Belek

I had an amazing experience begin Till end, it was such lovely hotel rooms staff and everything was nice

Mustafa did help me great with all my questions and assistence

Beautiful resort with excellent facilities, but not quite the five-star experience we expected

We stayed at Ela Excellence Resort from 2–9 July in a Honeymoon Suite with Sea View to celebrate a special occasion. We chose Ela because of its reputation as a premium ultra all-inclusive five-star resort and were happy to pay a premium price, expecting a luxury experience from start to finish.

There is a great deal to admire about the resort. The grounds are beautifully maintained, the pools and beach are excellent, and the overall design of the hotel creates a relaxing and luxurious atmosphere. The staff we encountered were always polite, friendly and welcoming, and it was clear that everyone worked hard to make guests feel looked after. The kids club was also an excellent amenity and a real highlight for our family, our son absolutely loved spending time there, and it gave us peace of mind knowing he was happy and well cared for about 2 hours per day.

Unfortunately, our experience was affected by a number of service and attention-to-detail issues which, whilst individually quite minor, collectively meant the resort did not consistently meet the standard we have come to expect from comparable five-star luxury resorts.

Our first impression was disappointing. We arrived at approximately 11:45 pm after a long day of travelling with our four-year-old son. Despite our booking clearly including him, our room had not been prepared with a child’s bed. At that time of night, after a tiring journey, we expected the room to be fully prepared for our arrival rather than having to request a bed before our son could settle down to sleep.

At the same time, we discovered that basic bathroom amenities such as shower gel, conditioner, shampoo, hand wash and hand conditioner were all missing. We contacted the guest assistants through the resort app, but these essentials were not fully provided until around 24 hours later. Whilst this issue was limited to the beginning of our stay, it created a poor first impression. At a premium five-star resort, we would expect basic requests such as these to be resolved quickly and proactively.

The dining experience was mixed. The buffet offered a wide variety of dishes, but we felt the overall quality was fairly average and lacked the premium five-star standard we have experienced at other luxury resorts. After the first couple of evenings, we chose to dine almost exclusively in the à la carte restaurants because we found the food there to be significantly better.

The à la carte restaurants were genuinely excellent and became one of the highlights of our holiday.

However, guests should be aware that these came with an additional supplement of at least €10 per adult, depending on the restaurant. Whilst we were happy to pay for the improved dining experience, we felt that the main buffet should have delivered a higher standard as part of an ultra all-inclusive package.

Our Honeymoon Suite with Sea View was another disappointment. Whilst there was technically a view of the sea, it was largely obscured by trees due to the low-level room allocation. Although this may technically satisfy the room category, it was not what we reasonably expected when booking and paying a premium for a sea-view honeymoon suite.

There were also a few maintenance issues, including a broken bed, which again suggested that the room had not been checked as thoroughly as we would have expected before our arrival.

To the hotel’s credit, management met with us after we raised our concerns and listened to our feedback. They kindly offered a 15% discount on a spa treatment as a gesture of goodwill, which we appreciated. However, this was offered towards the end of our stay, by which point we had already had four spa treatments between us. We asked if the discount could be applied retrospectively to one of those treatments, and were told this would be checked, but we never received a follow-up. As a result, we ended up paying the full amount when checking out on 9 July, which was disappointing.

One thing that also felt slightly uncomfortable was being asked to leave a TripAdvisor review during dinner before our holiday had even ended. We believe feedback is most valuable once guests have had the opportunity to reflect on their complete experience.

Overall, we still had a very enjoyable holiday. The resort is beautiful, the facilities are excellent, the staff are friendly, and the à la carte restaurants were outstanding. However, what separates a true luxury five-star resort from a very good one is consistent attention to detail and seamless service. Sadly, those were the areas where Ela Excellence fell short for us.

With improved housekeeping, faster responses to guest requests, stronger quality control of rooms before arrival and an improved buffet offering, this could easily become one of the best resorts in the region. Overall rating: 4/5.