Adalya Artside Hotel

Just returned from an eleven-night stay at the Adalya Artside hotel, two adults and two children. We all had a wonderful time with plenty to keep us busy throughout the day with poolside entertainment including foam parties, aqua gym, water polo, darts, shooting and of course the selection of slides. The pool itself is massive and there were always sunbeds available even if you weren’t up first thing.

Other facilities we used were the games area where there is a small bowling alley and amusement centre, there are number of shops which are handy we purchased some gifts for people at home and inflatables for the pool. The gym is reasonably kitted out although I couldn’t get the aircon to work, it was hot, but the likely to be operator error.

The food was varied, good quality and wasn’t overly repetitive and we always manged to get seated for dinner without too much hassle be that at the pool bar or main restaurant. We ate on evening at the al a cart Chinese restaurant this was probably the only tiny letdown on the whole holiday as the menu was very limited although the food we did get was nice. There was always plenty of food and drink available throughout the day, from chilled water, soft drinks, alcohol, snacks and cakes.

The animation team are fun and friendly, everyone was made to feel welcome, they we always willing to chat and were great with the children. There was plentily evening entertainment, and the hotel makes good use of the amphitheatre and pool bar areas most evenings having a mixture of live music and various other entertainment during our stay. The bars and service areas were well staffed with waiting kept mostly to a minimum; the service staff were exceptionally attentive often bring drinks to the table.

We also made use of the spa that houses a beautiful Turkish hammam, we made serval visits here including a family Turkish bath and spa treatment, we all really enjoyed this. The staff here were wonderful too.

The hotel itself had lovely grounds and looked nice and was in a good state of repair. We found all areas clean and tidy, rooms were cleaned daily and the mini bar was replenished daily too.

We only made use of the hotels beach facilities once, it was only a short walk and everything that is available at the pool bar is available at the beech bar, with plenty of sunbeds on offer too.

This was not a issue for us it is however worth noting that the clientele are predominantly German or Eastern European (we spoke with two other families from the UK during our time there), this can make it more difficult for young ones to mix or if you’re from the UK and looking to make holiday friends its unlikely due to language barriers – this caused us no concern and there certainly wasn’t any problems because of this for ourselves and no need to mark the hotel down in anyway – It’s purely for information.

The hotel is a little further from the beach; you walk downhill to the beach and back up a gentle slope – I’d estimate it takes about five minutes on foot. The hotel has an excellent location, with a dolmus bus stop nearby. The hotel has a beautifully refurbished beach bar, though it’s true that the food menu could be changed more often. The beach is beautiful, sandy and slopes gently into the sea.

Personally, I found the hotel’s interior rather dark and it gave the impression of being a bit dated, unlike the beach bar, which is decorated in fresh, bright colours. Our room was always tidy, and the hotel as a whole gave the impression of being clean. We were given a room without a balcony, but when we asked, they changed it for us without any trouble. During our stay, there were many German pensioners at the hotel, and the entertainment was tailored to them, I don’t consider it a problem, given that we were staying there at the end of September.

The biggest downside of the hotel is the staff; some really work very hard and do their jobs brilliantly, but others hardly do anything at all. During dinner, drinks are served, and on about two occasions nobody came over to ask if we’d like anything to drink, even though we could see that some staff were just pottering about the restaurant – in particular, a short woman with bleached hair, who only occasionally picked up a glass or put down a spoon. It wasn’t fair on her other colleagues, who were really working, and I think the managers could also keep a closer eye on their staff rather than just chatting and staring at their mobiles.

We spent six nights at this hotel and returned home last week; it’s a typical, standard hotel near Side – nothing out of the ordinary, but there were no major issues. Well, we’re not planning to come back here again. If the hotel works on the management of its staff, it has the potential to attract more attention from guests.