We have just returned from a week at the Moevenpick Hotel in Bitez, Turkey. We booked this hotel direct only a couple of days before we went, and from the Moevenpick website we were promised luxury at this 5 star hotel. There are some great things about this hotel, but also some not so great things too. Please read on.
Firstly, we arrived in the early hours of the morning and shown to our room. We booked a standard room and seemed initially to get a good deal. Our room was situated at the back of the hotel, with mountain views from our balcony. The view was fine, providing you didn't look down (we were on the first floor). The staff quarters and delivery area at the hotel was directly behind us. I must say this was quite annoying. It was noisey, day and night (often keeing us awake), and the bins were directly below us, which you can imagine at times didn't smell too good. The room itself was lovely and spacious. We complained about the noise and smell and asked to be moved, but was told we would have to pay extra to move and we weren't prepared to do this. My advice would be to pay for a superior or deluxe room if you stay here (if you can afford it!). We had a few other problems with the service of our room. On two occasions it wasn't cleaned and our towels were not changed. We complained about this and towels were brought to our room. I found this unacceptable for a 5 star hotel, but still the staff just smiled and said sorry. So, we had a few problems whilst staying there.
Some good points: the hotel is new, clean, modern, quiet and has two great swimming pools. Some days we were the only people around the pool. It seems most people staying there went out for the day, probably because it was expensive to eat/drink at the hotel (£5 for a local beer, £10 for a sandwich), but I suppose it is a 5 star hotel so it aint going to be cheap. The location is good in that it is up a very steap hill in a quiet area with fantastic views, but don't be expecting to walk to a bar. We had to get taxis everynight into bitez which is a lovely little place. To be fair the taxis are cheap, about £3 each way into bitez. There is no beach nearby, regardless of what the hotels website says. They run a free shuttle bus to four beaches, but be warned you have to pay 30 lira to use the beach clubs you are taken to. Plus, don't expect to see any sand at these beach clubs, they just have a jetty that goes into the sea and decked areas where you sunbathe.
Our advice about the area is avoid Gumbet, it's horrible, don't use the shuttle bus because the beaches are not beaches and they are quite crowded, go into bitez, you will get a good meal at a good price.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay, apart from some service problems. They may say it's 5 star, but certain things let it down, maybe because it is quite a new hotel. In my opinion it's a decent 4 star. Just one more thing, the food at the hotel is fantastic, breakfast lunch and dinner, although they could do with a bit more choice on the daytime menu. We would stay again.
