| Holiday-Truth Readers Reports |
s.strandberg from glasgow travelled to Divan Mares Hotel with
thomas cook
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2008 |
rated the Divan Mares Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location |  | | Staff | | | Food |  | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Just arrived back from hotel Divian Mares also goes by the alias Grand Yazici Mares.
If you are booking this hotel on the understanding its a five star it definately is not. Perhaps a five star by turkish standards but by no way u.k. standards.
The hotel is showing signs of wear and tear especially the bedrooms, old dirty carpets, furniture badly marked, and severe water damage to the wood on the bathroom doors due to water escaping over a period of time. Bathrooms are in need of refurbishment.
If you are booking a room that you pay an extra supplement for a seaview please be warned that this is only a partial seaview depending on what level of room you are alocated. Very different from the panoramic picture in the brochure, there is a section of the hotel with full seaviews however these are suites and all Thomas cook guests are kept in one part of the hotel which faces the car park/ hotel entrance the holiday reps get so much ear ache about this from british holiday makers its water off a ducks back.
The food is diabolical this hotel does not cater for british people the food is luke warm and just a mish mash of things put together lying in tin trays. For breakfast it was the same every morning fried eggs or omlette seriously that was the lot apart from the usual bread or curled up cold meats. The hotel caters very much for Russian and German guests. We were all inclusive, what a complete and utter waste of money. All inclusive should mean all inclusive, but you are restricted to certain meal restaurant and bar times.
Childrens ice cream is only available between 1-2pm at a certain location. On display is cart d'or ice-cream so children ask for it and then are charged 4 lire, however its only the plain ice-cream thats free of charge when they say all inclusive they have certain clauses which are not stipulated in the brochure.
Sunbeds are another sore point if you wish to spend the day by the pool you have to get up at 7am and put your towels down I kid you not by 07.30am there is not one sunbed or parasol in sight. We had a baby with us and as you can imagine the heat in august was stiffing, we just had to take a parasol and move it much to the anger of our european guests when they final returned in the afternoon.
The rep advised us at the welcome meeting that if nobody comes along in half an hour just move the towels and tell them they should'ent be reserving beds, hassle you just dont need whilst on holiday!. I read this before we went and I thought surely not but its the truth.
On a positive note the views from the hotel were absoulutley breathtaking sweeping views over the bay of Marmaris and beautiful lush greenery in lovely surroundings. We found the staff to be extremely friendly and made a fuss of the children. On a whole we paid a lot of money for one weeks all inclusive but certainley did not get our moneys worth but would definateley return to Turkey, its a beautiful country.
Click here for more information on this hotel, resort and region
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Douglass from Surrey travelled to Divan Mares Hotel with
Thomas Cook
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2008 |
rated the Divan Mares Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location |  | | Staff | | | Food |  | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: Having been to the Mares 3 years ago we were keen to go back as we were very impressed - how it has changed in that time and unfortunately not for the better! It was very clean and the room we were allocated was spacious and had a beautiful view but the down side was that we felt as a Brit we were not catered for at all.
The hotel was mostly full of either Russians or Ukranians who were not the most friendly or polite. The reception staff were not at all helpful and were at times quite surly when you asked for advice or assistance. Although the food was good, we found it difficult to understand what it was as if it had a sign it was usally wrong. The drinks were very expensive and as they cater for other nationalities that are on all inclusive - the drinks were often not very good - i.e flat and in thick nasty glasses. I also felt that the restaurant had not been updated since the last time we were there so looked very tatty.
The entertainment staff worked very hard and but the area allocated for the nightly show was inadequate. The evening entertainment in the bar was quite good.
Three years ago I wouldn't have hesitated recommending the Mares for a great holiday but now I wouldn't, definately will not be visiting again. It certainly does not warrant four stars.
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butt family from south wales travelled to Divan Mares Hotel with
alpha rooms
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2008 |
rated the Divan Mares Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Just arrived back from the Mares Hotel and well what can I say the previous reviews we had read were great but how things have changed this year there has been a change in management and the hotel is full of Russians most of the staff speak only Russian along with the animation team also, the Russians have paid considerably less to stay at the hotel than the British and also what more for nothing.
The pool well towels are given out at 9.00am if you are British but if you are Russian they are put out on the sunbeds and reserved for you I saw this with my own eyes happen.
The food is good quality but everything you could possibly want, vegetables, salads, meat , pasta, pizzas the food catered for all different types, the only problem was that although dinner finished at 9.30pm if something ran out at say 8.15pm it was tough it had all gone.
Although there are rules about not being allowed to use the pool tables unless with an adult this was totally ignored by the Russians and they would normally be found running around the hotel causing havoc whilst there parents drank in the bars.
Well what more can I say if the hotel was filled iwht all Brits they would possibly be drunk and wanting to fight the world, just a happy medium would have been nice. There are very limited activitied for children above say 9/10 years through to teenagers which is why they possibly behaved like this boredom.
The hotel boasts being a 5 star yet I heard several British people complaining to their rep Thomas Cook saying that it wasnt 5 star but well by Turkey standards it probaly is but if you are comparing it to say Dubai or London then its not.
The views from the restaurants are fanastic, it hotel even has its own helipad and mooring points would I return probably not due to the Russians too many of them there with no manners.
We did meet some lovely English and Dutch poeple whilst we were there.
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Franklin from Staffordshire travelled to Divan Mares Hotel with
Internet
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2007 |
rated the Divan Mares Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Just got back from 1 weeks all inclusive in this hotel.
Hotel fabulous ,very clean not a scrap of litter anywhere,not a dirty table in site.Food very good,good selection something for everyone.
We stayed in a seaview room with panaramic views,we stood on our balcony and could see the 2 hotel pools in front of us and the sea to the left.
Hotel set in a quiet location between the 2 resorts of Marmaris and Icmeler both are 15 min bus ride away,buses run every 10 minutes past the hotel and are 60p wherever and run until 1 am in the morning.
Pools clean ,we prefered the sunbathing on the sea front,no beach as such but there are jetties out to the sea with beds and sunshades in abundance,very nice.Will definately be back to this hotel again in the near future.
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james from lincoln travelled to Divan Mares Hotel with
qwertytravel
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2007 |
rated the Divan Mares Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: we have just got back, booked the holiday 2 days before we went couldn't fault the hotel it's clean and the food is good. our 12 year old had a brilliant time the pools are cleaned every night and the staff were good. one thing if you use the bar watch your tab because you pay at the end of the night, someone we met there was given a bill for drinks he had not had. apart from that couldnt fault, we have never been to turkey before and heard some bad things, not this hotel though its very good. one more thing we went with qwerty travel don't touch them i know we booked last minute but they were a nightmare having said that the hotel made up for it.
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Julie from Sunderland travelled to Divan Mares Hotel with
Thomas Cook
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2006 |
rated the Divan Mares Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Just arrived back from Mares and could`nt fault a thing apart from the luxury villas needed updating,apart from that everything was spot on.
Food was varied, you did`nt feel like you were in one hotel as there was plenty of different places to eat & drink.Nowhere was packed, staff very helpful but not pushy, nice and relaxing no hastle. Views excellent. Would return.
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laura from Leeds travelled to Divan Mares Hotel with
Thomas cook
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2005 |
rated the Divan Mares Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We decided to go all inclusive after another holiday earlier on in the year which was all inc and found the concept a very good idea. At the Mares hotel we found the buffet food to be very varied, almost to the point where you cant select a 'meal' as such, but a mix of anything you can find! There were about 10-15 hot tins of food to choose from, a range of salads and a counter of deserts. We're not fussy eaters at all, but still found it a mission to come back with a full plate, unless we piled it with chips! The salad was very fresh. The deserts...a choice of Turkish delight or Turkish delight! One night they did have a guy stood in the middle of the hall serving ice cream in cones (our only desert through the holiday)
The hotel also has a pizza restaurant, we discovered on the first that depending on your language, depends on how quickly you get served! We ordered drinks and our food about the same time as another family of 4 who weren't English. We waited an hour for two pizzas to be cooked, in which time the family of 4 had eaten and left before ours had arrived! We didn't go back there again! The pizza was nice though.
There is no food served between 5 and 7 so the sandwich counter gets really busy and the 5 sandwiches available often get taken by a big German guy!
The cleanliness of the hotel. Maids come everyday to empty bins and straighten the beds, and the sheets are changed every other day. The sheets are crisp cotton, very nice and fresh, however I got sore dry skin every morning, so something to be careful of if your skins sensitive too. I ended up wearing a teeshirt and shorts in bed! The maids are very friendly.
The rooms are in need of a refit, probably nice about 15 yrs ago but not touched since! There are no lights on the balconies at all either.
We ordered room service twice but both times they got the order completely wrong so one of us had to go without a drink...how can 1 coffee and 1 tea with milk and sugar sound like 1 teapot of tea with 4 cups?! It was quicker to get our own!
The location of the hotel is idea, only 25mins walk from Icmeler and 25 mins walk from Marmaris! Because the hotel is beside the sea too, you can wave a taxi boat down or even ask for your boat day trips to pick you up from there! Taxi boats cost around 7.5 lira (£3 ish) and there are also busses outside the hotel entrance which cost 1.5 lira each (60-70p ish) and they take you to either Icmeler or Marmaris too. Taxis to each resort are very expensive, around 15 lira (£7 but if there are a few of you its cheaper to do this than pay per person by boat!)
The glass elevator is certainly the best feature of the hotel! no matter what time of day it is, it's wonderful to look out over the sea and see the sun or moon shining on the water!
Although we asked for a sea view, there aren't actually any rooms directly overlooking the sea, unless you're in one of the bungalows, where trees are also obstructing the view. The rooms look side ways so the sea can be seen if you stick you head out!
The hotel staff did well, they did what they got paid for and that was it, no charitable customer service but always polite!
The entertainment..well where shall I start! Our first night we heard music but couldn't work out where from and it turned out to be from the bar outside. We went down (taking a coat! it was freezing but to be expected in October!) the live band on were fantastic, playing Eagles and guitar music etc, also did requests! Unfortunately that was the last night they were playing there until next season...and after that night thats where it all went pear shaped!
The brochure advertised a disco bar, it was a guy stood behind a table and beer pump and it was more like a kids disco! Full of teenagers! Besides there there was only the reception area where oldies were playing cards! We couldn't even sit on the balcony to have a few beers because of the lack of light! At night it always seemed to be too cold to drag ourselves out so until our last night we watched DVD's on our DVD player we had bought with us!Oh, there was a Turkish night, which lasted an hour! From 9.30 till 10.30.. Whoopeee!
I wouldn't stay at this hotel again if I was paid! Very disappointed with the quality of decor (needs a handy man to fix skirting boards etc)
The quality of the food and the lack of entertainment. The salty beer wasn't very nice and the Archers tasted like curry!
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Pauline from liverpool travelled to Divan Mares Hotel with
going places
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2004 |
rated the Divan Mares Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The hotel was in the most wonderful settings, pretty hard to beat.
At the time it was half board and has since gone all inclusive. The food in the half board restaurant was not up to much mostly venison dishes. But the other paying restaurants the food was really nice. Lamb chops, chicken, pizza etc, and these restaurants are now included in the all inclusive.
The hotel itself was also very grand in appearance and very clean with excellent gardens flowing down to the sea.
The staff were excellent and very helpful and what entertainment was on was enjoyable.
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