My family and me decided to come to Turkey for a winter hoilday becuz in the past we have been to Egypt twice and enjoyed it so much becuz its a muslim country and we are muslims so people in the Muslim world are very friendly so we thought this hoilday would be a blast.... so my story begins.....

ahhhhh- where should i beginning, ok ok i start off from the start of my hoilday with my family and my baby...first of all when we arrived at the hotel we thought ''WOW'' what a great hotel, the lights was on outside and many decorations it was really nice, we just come out of the van and nobody was there to collect our bags and luggages, we were standing there kind of lost at the front of the hotel then my brother suggested we go to reception as we walking through to the reception area then the guy went to collect our bags and stuff.

At Reception we thought we would have a big HELLO and a free drink by the reception staff [as we did in Egypt] but all we had was a moody looking receptionist woman who is supposed to be employee of the month!!!![its on the wall and most surprisingly this lady was smiling in the photo]me and my younger sister wore Nikabs [Veils over our faces we was smiling with our eyes] she looked at us weirdly and mostly surprisingly she is muslim too.They got our rooms wrong becuz my bro and sister in-law wanted a room for themselves and they refused to give us one room and the rude lady with the glasses told the male receptionist not to give us a separate room in turkish [but we are not that dumb we understood what she said], she didnt even smile at my baby not even a Hello HOW RUDE!She given us some blue bands [back at Egypt we didnt need any bands and so on, it felt uncomfortable around our wrist].ok we was shown to our rooms after wearing the bands....

Our room was on the first floor with no balcony area, the corridor was ok but smelt of bleach alot from the swimming pool area downstairs......we was imagining a big room with a big bathroom but we got a cubical instead with a used and unclean bathroom, my younger sister needed to freshen up but instead she found a big plop surprise in the toilet so she flushed it and she was screaming,to be honest it looked like someone has just checked out of the room and they just cleaned the beds [not even changing the sheets], my baby's bed was pink even though he is a boy but the sheets also looked like they didnt change it at all...
late night snack at the canteen area downstairs,,,, there was only noodles and some red tomato sauce and water with some vegatables available [we was very disappointed with the late night snack we thought there be more food available as we travelled far to get to the hotel]

ok next day,,,,BREAKFAST...it wasnt all that great we found that the hotel kept giving us the same breakfast again and again over the 7 days we spent there..i ate some chicken slices and i vomitted afterwards becuz the food was so raw...the breakfast time was between 7am -8.30am...they served eggs and pancakes but the time was very short, it was hard enough from travelling from uk to turkey but also getting up so so early to find eggs [meaning round eggs not boiled eggs] and pancakes this was difficult for me and my family...there was a late breakfast available but it was so so simple food it didnt seem like it was 5 star quality food it felt like the food we can get at Pavillions in Birmingham city centre in the food court area!
Lunch time- me and my younger sister had very bad stares becuz we were the only ones in a headscraf and wearing a veil on...by the way there wasnt any tables in private so it was uncomfortable for us to eat as everyone including staff was staring at us...BUT there was 1 staff member that was so nice to me and my family he told us that we can have a private table in the corner so we can eat properly without anyone one looking at our faces..his name was HUSSAIN, he served us with style and he respected our wishes and greeted us so nicely....
dinnertime- the dinners was all the same throughout the week staying at the hotel...its the same old vegges and pastries and all cakes for dessert taste the same,,,it is very sicking at times...
Overal the times for eating was so short and near to each other...we bearly ate anything its like 'we came in hungry and left starving lol' becuz the same old foods.

after two days at the hotel its felt a little bit boring as there isnt much to do around the hotel, especially me with my baby, we were told there be a kids club for babies under 0- 5yrs but there wasnt any club available so me and my baby boy was very bored through-out our stay becuz all we could do is walk around the hotel and outside and stay in the lobby area...oh yeah there was a playground outside but its was infested by insects and wasnt suitable for my 4months old baby....my younger sister, mother and sister-in-;law tried the sauna it was great but it was mixed they said it was kind of wierd sitting next to an sweaty guy and also there was a naked turkish woman lying there and given my family dirty looks as they was covered with their clothes and she was not....but thats another story.....my family used the pool and they said said it was ok but the jacuzzi was so cold they didnt like it, it felt like they was turning into ice cubes!!!the hotel should have sorted it out but they didnt.....
lobby area... big hall, nice looking but bit boring,,,there wasnt any waiter/waitresses to come and take our orders for soft drinks we had to get up and go to the bar to get our drinks [in Egypt there was many waiters and waitresses that would come to us and bring our drinks to us,] As me and my family are Muslim we found it uncomfortable going to the bar to get our drinks,,,again me and my younger sister got disapproval stares...we ordered hot chocolate but we got cold chocolate instead..in the evening there wasnt much entertainment and the animation team didnt do much to entertain us only they would do activities which would last up to 20-30mins.....

The staff,...staff people wasnt so friendly at first, they wasnt welcoming either, me and my younger sister had to keep on talking to them until they became friendly with us.. they didnt look happy working at this hotel...the only person i could say that was friendly was HUSSAIN that worked at the canteen area!In our hotel room there is a big window, we found it hard to get changed into other clothes becuz we would see a chubby man walk pass our window continuously...we had no private changing space and kept closing the curtain becuz we was afraid that man would see us change.....also on the day we was leaving the staff seemed for happy and friendly towards us especially the moody receptionist woman!!!no good-byes, no come back soon, no eye contact, no nothing...

Water bottles...there was a limited water bottles available, in our room we get 1 bottle of water a day and so i can wash my baby's bottles when we requested for some more we had to give an big explanation to staff why we need the water bottles each time...there was a microwave available for us at the bar area to sterilise my baby's bottles but again we had to keep explaining what is a microwave becuz some staff dont know english properly...my younger sister had to keep using her hands like the game 'sherades' to explain what this a microwave!

Room Toilets and other toilets around the hotel...As a muslim within our religion we have to wash ourselves after using the toilet...we found it differcult to clean ourselves becuz there wasnt any bottles with in the toilet area...there was only tissues there, my younger sister was so desperate to clean herself she used the flower vase to put water in it and use it LOL!!!!!

Shop at the front of the hotel.....where should i start with this????ok i know the shops are very expensive, there wasnt much soverniors on sale only bags, pack of crisps make-up and children toys...a few magnits with Turkey written on it but not much stuff for tourist to take back,,to be honest i could find this stuff back in the UK...it wasnt much of an challenge to bargain...there was a shop next to this one that sells headscrafs but the old man was so testy he wouldnt give us any bargains, his headscarfs was so expensive and it was old fashioned ....again i could find better headscrafs at Small Heath on Coventry Road,UK.....There was an jewellery shop but its was never opened, it was like a museum on display only!!!how disappointing!!!

so to Conclude, Turkey is a beautiful country with beautiful scenery..but what let it down was the people who lives here...Turkey is supposed to be a Muslim country [in the Muslim world, we muslims are very friendly and give high hospitality to visitors] Turkey wasnt so hospitable towards us...there wasnt even a warmth of friendliness in the air...I can not say that me and my family would even consider to come back again to this country.....The Turkish people need to get their priorty straight...they are Muslims and should live in a modest way not so open like the western countries...... as Turkey is in between Europe and Middle -east they the people should have a unique culture not same culture as the west have!!!!

Written by 2 Ninjas sister from the UK........

Staying at the Surmeli hotel was and enjoyable and unforgettable experience, For the price of the holiday i have no complaints only words of praise. The room was large enough and was cleaned regularly and bed sheets changed very often. The food was nice, there was enough to choose from and the bar areas were good to chill and have a drink. The animation team were great, being a young couple on holiday it was nice to feel welcome and the animation team really do make you feel welcome. The shows they put on are very entertaining, and bingo and karaoke at the lobby bar with Kevin ( part of the animation team) was fun. Kevin was excellent, and him alone made my holiday one to remember. The area of kusadasi is beautiful and would love to go again.

We stayed at the Surmeli Efes in May for two weeks, when we arrived we were shown to our room which had a shower over a bathtub (after requesting a walk in shower), we were moved to an apartment in the grounds away from the main building, the room was nice but the cleaning of the rooms was very shoddy and not what you would expect, after complaining about the cleaning (or lack of cleaning) the supervisor came and cleaned our room herself.As for the food it was same,same,same - hardly any variety and for a country that grows buckets full of fruit NO fresh fruit? - Beautiful location,nice staff but disappointing overall .

We are staying in the hotel at the moment, with two kids. And it's just horrible comparing with other stays in Turkey. Firstly there are repairs going on - and it's absolutley impossible to put the baby to sleep as it from 10a.m to 5p.m. We have to spend this time somewhere else, as the noise is appaling - we were shocked by that, especially that the receptionist said it's normal and she can't do anything to help us. The staff is overall friendly except for the reception. The food is not bad, but it definitely not 5 star hotel food. The rooms on the 2nd floor are very old and everything is ruined - especially furniture, and there is a bad smell of old carperts on the floor. You should keep that in mind when you book - because there are some new rooms on the top floors. The only plus so far is a big looby - and sea view. We stayed in many hotels in Side and other places and they were much better that. We definitely do not recommend that hotel for family stay.