MinesaGandT

If you have concerns about this hotel write to Portland with copies of the bad reviews you have seen and state that you are accepting the holiday UNDER DURESS.

Read the Safe and Sound booklet available via my signature and it should detail your rights.

luci

Paula, I cant predict whether you will enjoy your stay at the Olu Deniz resort hotel but all I can tell you is that we would have been unaware of any problems if the holiday makers who had stayed there before hadnt said something to us. I do understand that they were disappointed and truly sympathise with them. You book a holiday and to be feeling let down throughout is just rotten. All I can tell you is that we had no previous expectations of the hotel. We were aware that managers were visible and that the bar staff seemed inexperienced but we didnt find that a problem. When we eventually found out that the food was being brought over from sun city we understood that the middle section of food was not boiling hot. I enjoyed the salads at lunchtime and we opted often for the top section at night which was freshly cooked in woks and fried on hotplates. At lunchtime we alternated between soup and salads or sat outside and had burgers, pizza or hotdogs followed by pancakes. If it was busy at the main bar near the pool we would nip inside to the bar to be served. I must admit we didnt think much of entertainment at night although some people thought it was ok. The entertainers tried but it just didnt do it for us. The second week we were there a singer performed in the olive garden, we enjoyed that and felt that the hotel was trying to sort it. There was some problems getting a sunbed and parasol but that is not the hotels fault it happens everywhere. The day after there had been a problem about parasols the pool man did bring some more round the morning after. If you are going with friends you will probably be fine at night but my husband and I had a walk along the beach area and resort. I enjoy watching the kiddies disco, children are so funny doing the dances, I wished my grandchildren has been there i would have had en excuse to dance. We enjoyed it, our room was a nice stroll down garden paths, the grounds are lovely. Just next to the beach the scenery is lovely. My main worry was what the weather was going to be like. It was hot and we loved seeing the sun come over the mountains in the morning. Dull and cool to sunny and hot in the blink of an eye. A beautiful place lovely weather, lots of friendlly people there. Shops to browse. Short trip to Hisaronu, some reasonably priced trips. No one can say really whether you will enjoy it. Just try to relax and if you do great, if not you can vent your frustration on your travel agent and let people know who are thinking of booking or thinking of cancelling. I try to make the best of things but I am used to quality hotels I paid £550 each for 2 weeks, which included flight, hotel foot and drink. I felt that I had value for what I had paid. You can pay a similar amount just for bed and breakfast. I know some guests paid more so ok maybe I may have felt different if I had paid double that. Hope you have a great time.

vrI am so so sad reading the stuff about this hotel on here and the reviews and threads on Trip Advisor and *** ******. I loved this hotel and comments about food being acceptable etc I would repond to by saying that after working hard all year when I go away I don't want acceptable for me the food needs to be excellent as it has been at ODRH for the past six years. Also I go as a single parent taking my children and children I foster so the lovely friendly resteraunt and bar staff who used to be there had got to know all my children and it always felt very safe to let the children have a bit of freedom around the hotel grounds. I know the hotel had many, many repeat guests and is now very quickly losing its reputation - people changing hotels, repeat guests posting reviews saying they won't be going back. The owners need to rethink this renting out move and rinstate the General Manager Mr Onder Aytav
he knew how to run a hotel and he has clearly been a great loss.

As i mentioned earlier in this thread we went to this hotel on may 5th i dont know wether the food was being transported over then or not but i have to agree with sunnisandi the food certainly wasnt bad and there was a good selection of salads freshly cooked foods and burgers and chips etc. The selection of free drinks at the bar was excellent with tea, coffee, hot chocolate and juice available at all times. The hotel was spotless and olu deniz is absolutely beautiful. Although i can understand regulars feeling let down i would stay there again if i wanted to go to olu deniz again. I can understand why people are worried ,i have been in the same situation when i booked a holiday in malta and then discovered holiday truths only to find the rewiews were horrifying all the reviews said it was a cesspit and a ****hole and the food was awful etc etc and i sat and cried. I kept on at JMC and eventually they agreed to let me change it without any charge although i had to pay the difference between the holidays. I too would be worried reading reviews that said things have changed. i suppose people will have to decide wether to take a risk and go to a hotel where the food and the service may not be perfect but the hotel is lovely in a beautiful area.

I feel the same as oludenizdollz.I am also a single parent and the staff at the hotel were great with my daughter knowing her as a baby and seeing her 2 or 3 times a year for six years and I felt it was a very safe place to be with a child in part due to the wonderfull staff.Now I feel I am booked to go to a strange place and am actually dreading it instead of looking forward to my holiday as usual.I usually am booked to go again in October but am afraid to do this and now feel I may have to go elsewhere.

just back on thur 29th. will do a review soon but pls anyone booked dont worry. the hotel is fantastic. would return tommorrow if we could.

Please give me hope!

I have been a little worried (Understatement) about my holiday to Olu Deniz Resort Hotel in July. I have spent a considerable amount of money and my two kids of 12 are not the best food eaters. Please would someone allay my fears and try and input some facts for me against the conflicting information for this hotel and the resort.

Please could someone answer these questions:-

1. Do the hotel provide towels for the pool/beach?
2. Is there a reasonable choice of english food, chips, pizza, burgers etc?
3. Will the kids need beach shoes?
4. Is there a few shops nearby for things like flip flops, t-shirts etc (Want to take as little as possible), also is it reasonable value for money.
5. How far is the Lagoon and wheres is the best place to go?

I would like to thank up front anyone who could provide me with a few facts on the hotel and resort.

I am looking forward to my holiday and hope everything will be OK.

I can help with 3,4 & 5 as I stayed in the hotel next door a couple of years ago.

Re the beach shoes, yes your kids will need them if they go on the main Belcekic Beach as its shingly, but if you only go to the lagoon and round the pool you could probably manage without. I would wait till you are there as you may buy them here and then find you dont need them.

Yes you will be able to buy beach shoes there (we did) and the prices are reasonable, they would probably be even cheaper up in hisoranu but you ahve to factor in the dolmus fare as well.

Parts of the main Lagoon beach can be narrow and if its the height of the season can get crowded, so you will need to have a look around to see what suits you, it is quite deep in other places. I would say its about 10 to 15 mins walk from your hotel.

We prefered Sugar Beach (think it has it's own website) which is one of the private beaches and our hotel would ring for the minibus to come and collect us and it would take us back at about 5pm. For this you are then expected to pay for your sunbeds parasols, lunch & drinks to cover the costs of running the beach and the personalised service of the mini buses.

Our hotel did not have its own private beach, I know Club Sun City did though and as the ODBR has been bought by the same people, perhaps you will now be able to use that. Customers at Club Belcekic Beach couldn't.

HTH's a bit

Doe

The hotel gives towels in the rooms and they're changed every third day. On arrival they give a towel card and with this each day you can get fresh towels for use areound the poool.

There is a snack bar which serves burgers chips and toasted sandwiches etc. The food has always been fantastic there but reports for this year are variable. Even when the food was at its best we had the odd meal out and just outside the hotel torting out there are plenty of resteraunts - check out Spiky doing his trick with the ping pong bats- my kids thought it was hilarious!

The hotel have a bus that takes you down to Suara Beach but to be honest its a nice walk down there and we used to meander down - even my three year old managed it- just make sure you've good beach shoes, sun cream and drinks as my kids got really hot and thirsty.

I think the reviews for the hotel are starting to improve so I guess the hotel are sorting things out.I think you're kids will love it my twelve year old does - cost me a fortune last May coz she had two goes at paragliding !!

hi. in response to your questions.
1- yes towels are provided for both pool and the beach. they give you a card on arrival which you hand in when you pick up the towels and they give back when you return them. we where there for 2 weeks and never had a problem gettin a sunbed and parasol anytime of the day

2- breakfast 7-30 -- 9-30, late breakfast 10 -- 11, lunch 12-30 -- 2, diner 7-30 --9.30. all of which is pretty much as you would expect from a holiday abroad, plenty of choice + chefs cooking fresh meats in the corner.
in addition you can get burgers,hot dogs, pizza and chips in the olive garden 12-4, tea and cakes 4-5 and then freshly made pizza at 6 oclock by the pool. basically you will never go hungry.

3- yes you will need beach shoes for the sea. the beach is very sandy at the top but goes pebbly near the waters edge, the sea is gorgous but does shelve very steeply.

4- yes there are about half a dozen shops right outside the sea gate. all the shop keepers are friendly and not to pushy, we had a good laugh with them every evening on the way into olu deniz.

5- we went to the hotels own pool inside the lagoon once which they share with sun city, they do a free lunch which was chips and ham butties. free half hour sessions on the pedloes and canoes.

all in all a great holiday and would return tommorrow.

any further questions please ask.

completely agree with everything bilko264 wrote, although i would say that with the card towels you get 1 towel per card and some people take a beach towel so that they have 1 to lay on and 1 to dry with otherwise you will stick to the plastic mattresses on the sunbeds !!!

Thanks for all your help, I feel a lot happier. Will feedback on my experience in July.

THANKS

We tend to do that as well when we go to hotels that give out towels (unless space is really tight) We take 4 of our own plus get the hotel ones, it makes it easier to spot your sunbeds if you ahve your own towels on them, also I have never taken an hotels towel to a beach I have only used them at the pool.

Have a brilliant holiday shadowfather. Olu Deniz is a great resort, and I am sure you would enjoy it there whatever hotel you were in. Even if the hotel has changed slightly you will not know what it was like before so I wouldn't worry too much.

We dropped off at the ODBR before we went to the Belcekic Beach and it is certainly a very pretty hotel, covered in flowers and greenery. Also security was good as I tried to get a look round and they saw I was wearing the wrong coloured wrist band and wouldn't let me in.

Doe

Anymore reports for ODRH? this topic has gone really quiet on all the holiday forums. However, the last few comments sound like the hotel has sorted out their 'teething' problems x

Sorry to bother again, more info required.

A little bit of a funny question but can anyone recommend a laundrette that does drop off and pick up in Olu Deniz?

Also in the hotel do they have hairdryer in the room for my wife and daughter, she was not sure whether to take hers or not?

Also does the hotel have a dress code for meals, adults and childeren. We cannot decide how many clothes to take.

Sorry if these questions seem a bit random they are important to us and our holiday.

Thanks for any advice in advance

Stu

Hi shadowfather
sorry cant help with the launderette but i did notice that the hotel do a laundry service i would imagine if you email the hotel they would be able to tell you the prices. Yes there is a hairdyer, in our room it was in the bathroom. There is a sign outside the restaurant saying that men had to wear long trousers although no one seemed to take any notice and lots of people had shorts on. My husband wore smart shorts & a vest and no-one said anything, there was no guide for anyone else. Hope this helps
Katherine

Im fairly sure stu that I have read on HT somewhere before about a drop off laundry service in Olu that was a lot cheaper than the prices the hotels charge. May be a good idea to start a new topic on that to get a wider viewing . Im sure some Olu regulars will be able to help with that.

I am just back from this hotel. All I can say is don't worry. The earlier reviews must have been teething problems or spiteful comments. We had a great time there and any complaints are really splitting hairs. All the people we spoke with there had a great time and many have been there before and say any changes are small and actually improvements this year have made it better. We will return to this hotel in the future and most we spoke to said the same.

I've put a review on trip adviser and holiday watchdog so look out for them for more details.

Welcome to the forums Gilly we too have a hotel review site and would appreciate you leaving a review here for our members as well. http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/reviews/turkey/dalaman-region/olu-deniz/olu-deniz-resort-hotel/

Many thanks