Sherwood Exclusive Kemer

A Beautiful Hotel, but Room Cleanliness and Condition Were Disappointing

We stayed at Sherwood Exclusive Kemer with our family and two young children. The hotel itself is beautiful, the grounds are very well maintained, and the staff are friendly, helpful and willing to assist guests.

Unfortunately, our biggest disappointment was the cleanliness and condition of the rooms. We encountered cockroaches in our room, and after being moved to another room, we found several small cockroaches there as well. The floors were not properly cleaned, and we also found a dirty pillow in the new room.

In addition, the rooms are clearly in need of renovation and updating. Their overall condition and the standard of cleanliness did not meet our expectations for a five-star hotel.

We would, however, like to acknowledge the reception team and housekeeping staff for responding to our complaints and trying to help. We genuinely appreciated their efforts. Unfortunately, changing rooms did not resolve the underlying issues with cleanliness and room maintenance.

It is a real shame because the hotel has so much potential. The beautiful grounds, pleasant atmosphere and staff’s efforts create a very positive impression, but the condition and cleanliness of the rooms take away from the overall experience.

For our family, cleanliness and comfort are essential parts of a quality holiday. We hope the hotel management takes this feedback seriously, improves housekeeping standards and invests in renovating the rooms. With better room maintenance and hygiene, this hotel could offer the five-star experience guests expect.

AVOID THIS HOTEL! SEVERE FOOD POISONING RUINED OUR HOLIDAY!

If you don’t want to suffer from severe food poisoning, stay away from this hotel!!!

Initially, I wasn’t planning to write a review because I thought what happened to me was an isolated incident. However, after finding out that all the people who travelled with us on the transfer from this hotel had also suffered from food poisoning, I can no longer stay silent. They all experienced vomiting, diarrhoea and a high fever. What’s more, when I was in hospital receiving IV fluids, there was another guest from the same hotel there with her family, also receiving IV treatment!

I want to emphasise that I did not eat or drink anything outside the hotel, so I have every reason to believe that the problem originated there.

We also informed the hotel about what had happened. In response, as a supposed apology, they sent a small fruit platter, some ayran, and a pre-written apology card to our room. Apparently, they already have these cards prepared for such occasions! 😅 Instead of addressing such a serious situation, the hotel offered a small gesture that felt more like a standard procedure than a sincere apology.

The hospital is also a partner of the hotel, which raises serious concerns about the accuracy of the medical reports. My temperature reached 39.2°C, yet my medical report stated that my temperature was 36°C, which was absolutely not the case. I was told I had an intestinal infection and was prescribed antibiotics, but the medical report stated NON-INFECTIOUS gastroenteritis. This raises serious questions about whether cases like these are being documented accurately to protect the hotel’s statistics and reputation.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the hotel managers themselves ask guests to leave positive reviews. They approached us too, asking us to post a positive review on Google and wanting to take a photo afterwards as proof. Unfortunately for them, they approached us after I had already suffered from food poisoning. I told them I could either leave a one-star review or write my review later myself. The manager tactfully walked away.

There are many families with children staying at this hotel, and I sincerely urge you to choose somewhere else for yourself and your children. I wouldn’t wish the intestinal infection I went through, along with so many other guests, on anyone. No one should have to go through such an experience while on holiday.

I would also like to point out that the hotel seems to cater primarily to Russian-speaking guests. During the live evening music performances, Russian pop music dominates, with English-language songs played only occasionally.

Now, to be fair, there were a few positives:

The hotel grounds are genuinely beautiful, very green and park-like. The entertainment team also deserves praise - the staff are energetic, friendly and really do their jobs well. The Oktoberfest event was fantastic too, and I want to thank the hotel for that. We were genuinely pleasantly surprised by how good it was!

Unfortunately, beautiful grounds and good entertainment cannot make up for such a serious experience with food poisoning. Health and safety should always come first.

Location is excellent, with the setting of the mountains in the distance, forest and the sea on the other side. The hotel is about an hour from the airport but it’s a nice drive down the coast. The hotel is more compact compared to the photos but we found that a good thing as it was easy to access the food, bars and beach. The rooms are blocks of outbuildings and most have access to a separate pool. We had a superior room which was massive. It had a single bed and king size bed, sofa and lots of floor space. It needed some work in places like the seals of the shower and general finish of the rooms could be better but still nice. The facilities are excellent - huge waterpark, large kids club, playground and kids smaller waterpark. Main pool is huge though pools are cold if you are going in cooler months. One of the main pools is meant to be heated but it didn’t feel like it. The mini street with coffee shop, ice cream shop and general shops is lovely. The cocktails and coffee in Herbert’s is the best. The main food buffet is good but not excellent. Food is more local but we like that. The grill is good for grilled fish and grilled meats. We have a son with a milk allergy and it was difficult to find things for him to eat, even when we asked. The main pool snack restaurant is good. Drinks are good - bottles of becks and Budweiser, cocktails with some premium spirits. The hotel caters for Eastern Europeans mainly and we heard a handful of British people. This means that the hotel staff can barely speak English which made it difficult to communicate. The service was ok and needs some improvement. Don’t expect everyone to be polite - some may find them rude. The buffet service to get drinks wasn’t great - they always seemed rushed off their feet. Cleanliness is an issue in the restaurant and communal areas such as seating toilets etc. the overall grounds are nice. We found stains on seating and food on the floors and tables an issue. We have a young son and he likes to sleep in his pushchair int he afternoons - we could find places for him to sleep was easy. We went in late sept/ oct and the weather was a bit wet but we were unlucky as the week after was glorious. Overall this is a hotel with mainly good points and some ok/ bad bits. The hotel was about 60% full where we went so I can imagine it’s a different story in the high season. Kids will love it especially young kids. The entertainment was ok. We paid just under 2.5k for it so for the price point it’s probably about fair without being spectacular. We’ve been to turkey five times at different hotels. The best we stayed at is Barut Hemera. This is on par with Rixos Sungate or Rixos Park Belek.