Hi Mel, how's things?

We stayed at the L'etoile a few years ago and we found it OK. Mostly older people, and a lot of foreign ones. The location is good, but no entertainment to call anything.
Food was OK too - nothing to write home about, but edible. Rooms are comfortable, but the air con was not very good, especially if you get a hot spell.

We found the Oylum Hotel - which we stayed at 2 or 3 years ago - to be better in some ways. Not as up-market as the L'etoile, but very comfortable and friendly.

Sorry I can't give you any recent reports.

Bye for now.

Marn.

Hi Marn
Hope you and hubby are keeping well. Have you been to good ol Bitez lately?
Thanks, the girls are settling on Blue rainbow hotel now after speaking to John toohey who was brilliant at Icmeler online , i'd recommend him to anyone
Mel

My sister-in-law and her husband stayed here last year and thought it was great. They are in there 50's but said the rooms and food were excellent. It is in an excellent location and there are plenty of music bars nearby and steps away from the beach. If your looking for somewhere with a decent standard of food, which can be a bit hit and miss in Turkey, then you won't be disappointed. Di.

Just booked this hotel on AI for July this year. Has anyone stayed there recently? What is the food like? Are there bars/shops locally? First time we have done AI so don't really know what to expect. Please help. Thanks

Merged with existing topic. Dazbo HT Mod

brd,

I've stayed at the L'etoile 6 times over the last 7 years so know it pretty well!! You might find members reviews on the Hotel Reviews section useful. Food is average. There's normally plenty of selection and it's much better than it was a couple of years ago, but it's nothing special in my opinion. It gets a little repetative after the first week but there's always something to have. the salad bar is pretty good though. You'll always have chicken or turkey and two of pork, beef or lamb. They're mainly done as stews. There's then a selection of potatoes (one of roast or mash) and chips, and a selection of veg. deserts are normally small cakes with ice cream once a week. There's a selection of shops just at the front door and as many restaurants and bars as you want. The big advantage of this hotel is it's location; 30 seconds from the prom and beach and close to the main nightlife but not too close to be disturbed by it. Location wise, it's spot on (the reason I stay there). There are a couple of things that let this hotel down though. One is the air conditioning that is innefective in the hotter months, the other being the average food. Icmeler has some excelent restaurauts and it's cheap to eat. The good thing with AI is you have the best of both worlds; if you don't fancy the menu you've plenty of other cheap options. Apart from that's it's a good 4 star hotel. Staff are excellent. Evening entertainment is worth missing most nights but again, it's a big improvement on a couple of years ago now it's under new management. I'll post you some photos if you'd like.

Darren

EDIT: The date of my previous post below was changed during merging for some reason and was originally posted in Feb 2009

crockergirl,

I've stayed at the L'Etoile 4 times and i'm going back for my 5th visit in September! The L'etoile ticks all the boxes. It's a decent enough 4* hotel in a great location. It's right on the front so easy access to the beach, far enough away from the resort centre to get away from things but also 2 minutes from the nightlife if you want it. You can't fault the place in that respect. Now it's under new management, things have improved. Food quality is average to good, and the refurbished rooms comfy. The staff are excellent, especially the love birds Mahmet and Lilly. I don't have a say in our September holiday, I choose the March one but we have 15 friends that all meet up at the L'etoile every September for 2 weeks. It's like a British invasion! Evening entertainment is a vast improvement on what it used to be (still below average though!) and the air conditionaing in most of the rooms i've stayed in innefective. When it's over 40 degrees during the day and rarely below 28 at night (in September), it's my biggest gripe about the hotel. That said, it's not to everyone's taste and it has it's faults, but it's a good base and you get value for money. We always have a good laught. As it's pretty much booked up through the season by Thomas Cook, you get a range of nationalities which makes the daily water polo session interesting as it normally ends up England V rest of the world! I hope Selma is back for the 2009 season (poolside entertainment), she's great and was forever wanting me to go out to a club with her!

There's plenty of reviews on the hotel review section. I'll post a few photos if you want.

Darren

Darren

Thanks for the info, could I just ask a few questions please. I have a 15 year old son, and two girls 16 and 18. Is there any entertainment around the pool during the day? like darts, water polo etc. Does the pool get very busy, can you get sunbeds? and is the pool deep? Looking at the reviews it would seem that the hotel is normally booked for older couples, not families with teenagers. I am having some doubts now! Thanks for your help. Bev

brd,

Entertainment around the pool is available every day. There's darts, table tennis, pool and the entertainment team lead by Selma (she proposed to me last year!) will be on hand with water polo and other games. Daytime entertainment is nothing special, but there's plenty to keep you occupied if you want. The Pool at the L'etoile is pretty big, 20m square with a shallow section about half the surface area (waist height) sloping down to a deeper section (about 1.75m), the other half. I do a lot of swimming and happily did my 60-100 lengths 4 times a week, normally when everyone was at lunch and I had the pool to myself. As with most AI's, you get cycles when things are busy and quiet based around meal times. It can get very hot around the pool as it's sheltered from the sea breeze. You've got drinks on tap though so you can keep well hydrated. You'll generally find half the people prefer the beach (for the cooling breeze) and half the pool, and the number of sunbeds reflects that. It can sometimes be hard to find a sunbed if you're not down around the pool before 9.30am, but that's not much diffrent than most hotels. Because of the shape of the hotel, the poolside towards the reception area is less crowded with sunbeds as you start to get a shaddow in the middle of the afternoon so most sunbeds are towards the beach side of the hotel. They're crammed in but still enough room. There's plenty of parasols if you want some shade. In all the times I've been, I would say the clientel is mixed. There are plenty of older people using the hotel, but there are younger ones and familes as well. I'm on the younger side (just!) and don't find it a problem. Because it's a Thomas Cook exlusive hotel, you get TCX guests from around europe so there's mixed nationalities, and you get plenty of Turks staying too. I think that's a good thing.


View of the hotel from the beach. It's only a stones throw away. 2 minutes to the right of this photo is the canal where there's plenty of night life if you want it.


Around the pool looking towards reception


Around the pool looking towards the beach


Around the pool from the bar side


The main bar through the day and at night


Poolside at night afrer the evening entertainment. A lot go out as it's quite low key


Lobby area. It's actually changed slightly now with a new computer room for internet and Tv

Darren

Thanks for the photos Darren. Just as I remember it.

Just a pity about the Air Conditioning.

Have you decided yet Mel.?

Marn and Mike.

Hi All,we're going in August so should be really hot,is the air con really bad,do you think we should change hotels.Your advice will be appreciated,T.

If you look at the reports of the hotel, the only thing which lets it down is the air conditioning.
We were there in May, and it was not cool in the room. So I can't imagine was it will be like in August.

Marn and Mike.

Thanks,I'll wait until this years reviews start in the hope that it may have been sorted over the winter,do you think we could get a fan and if so would it help.The hotel seems quite nice and we loved the resort when we visited in October.T.

The air conditioning is average to poor when they switch it on. The trouble is, management at the hotel have always chosen to only allow it at certain times of the day. The rest of the time, it's just a fan. They normally switch it on for a couple of hours in the morning, and a 3-4 hours in the evening which is pretty useless really leaving rooms quite hot most of the time. The exception is rooms in the annex (family rooms) where the air conditioning units are independant and not part of the central hotel system so you can switch it on and off as you like, and are far more effective. With being a frequent user of the hotel, the management know us and allow us to pick and choose our room in advance of travelling so we always go for an annex room now, simply because the air conditioning works in those rooms. The air conditioning is the biggest thing that lets this hotel down.

Darren

Hi, we've booked this hotel through Thomas Cook and it states they are available but somebody has told me that there are no fridges in the rooms,does anyone know differently,please.I know that we are AI but I still like to have cold drinks in the room.Thanks,T.

OSCARBEN,

I've stayed at the hotel 6 times. There are fridges in the rooms, but they aren't stocked with anything.

Darren

Hi can anyone tell me please if the pool has a shallow end, my friend and I are not confident swimmers,and we would like to know what to expect.Thanks for any help,T.

Hi its been a few years ago we stayed here in Icmeler has far as i can remember it has .

Thanks Celine,another hotel we've picked that you have been to.T.

OSCARBEN,

The pool is quite large (20m x 20m) and has a shallow and deep end. The shallow end is waist height, about 1.0m (on an average height adult!) and the other half slopes down to 2.0m. There's a seperate childrens splash pool 0.3m deep. Photos for you:







The shallower side is on the road side, oposite the hotel buildings.

Darren