rated the Regal Resort Bodrum as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location |  | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We visited Torba in Turkey on the 13/08/07, and stayed for one week at the 5* Royal Regal Resort, Bodrum.
On arrival we were allocated rooms by the hotel, of which we were informed whilst signing the relevant paperwork, that we would be moved from the following day, due to the fact that the lift was in early stages of installation and access was restricted due to several hundreds of steps.
On arrival at our rooms on the 6th floor, we were greeted with no running water in the toilet of one room, electrical sockets hanging out of walls, unfinished electrical works with wiring exposed etc. We were advised that no other accommodation was available until the next morning and to make the best of a poor situation.
My wife telephoned both Hotels4U and Goldtrail Travel/Great Choice Holidays, to be told by both that nothing could be done, indeed the Holidays4U contact was curt in his reply saying, “ you booked the hotel Mrs, you stay there” and then promptly hung up.
A few days prior to departing on the holiday, we had read poor and shameful reports regarding the hotel on the Internet. On contacting Goldtrail Travel/Great Choice Holidays (07/08/07 – Steven) we were informed that all works were now completed that your representatives had visited personally to check the situation/s reported by the web at the resort, and that we could be guaranteed that works were complete apart from minor painting, which would not affect our stay at the hotel. Were we to encounter a differing situation to that reported by the company on our arrival, we were informed that we would be moved to another hotel by the local representative.
Clearly, on arrival this was not the case, facilities as advertised were not completed or indeed, were not in existence. Facilities such as Ala Carte Restaurant where not completed/operational, no games rooms, no tennis court, no beach, no lifts to upper floors; in addition pathways had poor or no working lighting, loose paving, lack of handrails on walkways, to name just a few Health and Safety issues.
Indeed the whole hotel site area was in a state of chaos, builders were resident in what seemed like shed like shacks at the top end of the complex (floor 9), indeed their presence was more than apparent when they shared the dining areas with residents for their daily meals, one can conclude that these persons were indeed builders due to their general state of attire, and unwashed condition.
On moving accommodation the following afternoon, we were allocated a suite; (rather than the two rooms we had booked and paid for), on the 4th floor, we were also informed that we would be moved the following day to lower more accessible accommodation. We were now in a state of confusion, we had been in the hotel for not more than 48 hrs, had completed two moves of rooms and were now in line for a third move the following day. After agreeing that enough was enough we decided to stay in our now allocated suite, my wife and I had beds and the children were put up on a bed settee – hardly the two 5* accommodation rooms we had booked, but by now we were only glad to be able to call a room our own.
The room had no towels, our baggage was nowhere to be seen, and no bedding was apparent for the children’s put you up bed.
Several hours later these situations were remedied, however we were informed that the cleaning of the room, of which the room was in dyer need of, would not be undertake until the following morning.
We hoped that we could make the most of what remained of our holiday and move on from our recent experiences. However, this was not the case, our new accommodation had a choking sewerage smell which at times was quite overwhelming.
I believe its source became apparent whilst I witnessed hotel staff watering the shrubs in the surrounding borders with what clearly were the contents of the hotels septic tank.
Areas of complaint agreed by the Hotels4U holiday representative Handi at the resort, however we still await any responce from the company regarding compensation claims we have submitted to them,
for a holiday which can only be describe as the TV series “Holiday’s From Hell”
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rated the Regal Resort Bodrum as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location |  | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: The hotel on their website not the same hotel. It is the previously named hotel – The Park Resort which is obviously being refurbished under the new name. It is not ready for holidaymakers and there were many health and safety issues, so huge that a coach load of people with children and/or elderly parents (50 people approx) went to other accommodation on the first night.
We all attended the Rep’s Welcome Meeting and it was like a scene from Holidays from Hell – the poor fellow never stood a chance and was shouted at as soon as he opened his mouth! It wasn’t his fault and he tried his best for everyone.
On the Monday evening, we had to go to our room in the pouring of rain, huge puddles everywhere and no lighting on slippery outside staircase with missing handrail guides. We felt like two old ladies climbing a treacherous mountain!
The following amenities were not ready to be opened or just not there:
Kids Play Garden
Olympic Swimming Pool with slides
Animation Shows
Entertainment (only our own!)
Turkish Baths,
Sauna Room
Massage Area
Gym –
these were just an empty shells with the builders still on site.
Games Room – as above
No A La Carte Restaurant – just a room with some tables in!
No Umbrellas at all and very little shade around either pool
Aqua slides not all working – also site failed to tell clients that you would have to climb over 300 steep steps and cross a road to access these in the Olympic Pool
No Tennis Courts or Basketball Courts ready – these were accessed by walking up 569 steps!
No mini bar in rooms (our fridge was broken and not replaced although requested)
No hot water for 4 days
No TV Room – TV only available in reception area
TVs in rooms not all working and no Sky TV as advertised
Night Club – couldn’t find this at all.
Aqua sports by the pool
Room Service – how do you get this when your phone is not connected?
There is a great deal of building going on all the time whilst we were there. There are no lifts. One is currently under construction to access from the upper road (third floor) to the level where the Olympic Pool, Games Room, Kids Play area, Gym and Sauna etc are (well, will be when finished). This lift shaft was left uncovered, without railings – waiting for an accident to happen, any inquisitive child/adult even could have easily gone over the edge to a 20ft drop to a concrete base. Another guest piled sunloungers across the opening to try to prevent this happening.
There were also many tall windows opening out from the floor level – adults or children could have stepped out and fell at least 20ft to ground level.
There was absolutely no information posted anyway in the hotel reception or rooms informing guests about the local area or what facilities were available. You asked for a sheet at reception (see enclosed)
From Website (http://www.regalresortbodrum.com): You are going to decide when and what to eat and drink from our prepared international kitchen's menu open all day long – not true! There were set times for meals, if you were late for breakfast (and a lot of people were as they came in late flights) you were unable to get anything to eat until lunchtime at 12.30. Snacks as advertised from 12.00 – 17.00 just did not happen. You suddenly got a beefburger griddle open for about 2 hrs max in the afternoon after lunch – this was actually closed down at the latter part of the week – we think due to some guests having to see the on site paramedic with stomach problems, one person actually was treated at the clinic and diagnosed with a bacterial infection!
Drinks – not all drinks available at all times (we do not expect the same variety/brands as in an English Pub). They run out of lemonade, beer and even water on several occasions and these were not available for at least 1-2 hours at a time. How can you run out of coffee at breakfast time (plus other times during the day)? Sometimes overnight before restocked – this is not acceptable on an All Inclusive Deal. How on earth will they manage when the hotel is full or even if the 60-70 people that moved out during the week had of stayed? We had to request that Brandy was available in both bars – for some reason they expected guests to pay for this drink in one bar and not the other. It was the same local brand. Every night at 10.45pm the bar staff would disappear so that you could not get your free AI drinks before the 11pm cut off time. They would walk back out at 11pm and say “finished you pay now”.
Not many of the staff could speak/understand English which was just as frustrating for them as us. A lot of the staff were probably students and had no training whatsoever. A Head Waiter was employed towards the end of the week and quickly started to sort out the staff – actually employed one that could understand English, although he himself spoke German as well as Turkish – can’t possibly imagine German holidaymakers going there.
No entertainment available unless you call the same 2 CDs being played over and over around the first floor pool! The so called animation team actually arrived and greeted us one night as we entered the dining room – then most of them appeared to be sacked by the owner the next day as we never saw them again. Then one of the two remaining was marched off the premises the next evening for allegedly inappropriately touching a female guest! The other guy remained and just stayed around the bar with his CD Case in his hands!
We had to access our rooms from the reception area up a flight of unlit stairs which led out to poolside (the deep end), if you turned right at the top of the stairs you were straight in the water! We actually took the pillar which should have been fixed to the banister at the top of the stairs down to the Rep after reporting that it was loose three times. Anyone could have slipped and grabbed this loose handrail and taken it with them thereby falling down the stairs.
There is no mention on the website about access problems and the number of stone steps you have to climb to reach your rooms and the facilities on offer (when they are ready for use) – we really think you should know about this and not send people there who have a disability. People were arriving with walking sticks and young families.
Going back to the pool – there are no clear depth markings around the pool. Floors were very slippery and need some kind of matting or anti slip tiles around pool areas.
When we looked at the website and saw the variety of food available from the Chef we thought we were going to be in heaven – not so. None of the advertised food or waiter service is on offer anywhere whatsoever! Certainly not the lovely fish/seafood which we were all gagging for!
The Rep refused to believe me when I said we had no hot water – he insisted on me proving it and came to our room with his boss and run the hot water tap in the sink for a long while (it remained cold) and then did the same with the shower (which was broken and kept falling out the wall socket) with the same result – no hot water! He also disbelieved that the fridge was not working and got down on his hands and knees to check the interior of the fridge!
There were many electric boxes with wiring just handing out. The air con unit in our room had the control just hanging loose from the ceiling on a long lead!
When I completed the Complaints form which he said he had to read and sign, he made the comment as to why we wanted a Kids Club/Games room to which I replied that we would have liked to play pool or darts. He became verbally aggressive and shouted at me in the reception area and said that he was fed up with his job/and people complaining to him. We stayed there at this hotel to support him, we did not scream, shout and demand things from him and I really objected to his comments and having to prove that things were not working. He was rarely to be seen and we could not book trips or ask him anything. He was, quite rightly so, upset with people’s attitudes but also bearing in mind some families had paid a considerable amount of money and this half term week abroad may have been the only holiday they got this year.
We think he should have been around more, checking on things for us, or even just asking how we were. He told us he actually lived at this hotel but we only saw him fleetingly.
The views from the hotel were absolutely stunning and the weather was fantastic but the Regal Resort really should not be open yet for holidaymakers to stay in. They have at least another 4 weeks solid building work to do. A lot of the rooms on the higher levels are just shells. As you walk around the complex you find baths under trees, old furniture and mattresses strewn around – it’s not a very nice sight and reminds you of a rubbish tip.
I must admit when we saw the other guests who had moved to another 5 * AI hotel on the transfer coach back to the Airport on Sunday evening, we felt cheated as they said they had had a fantastic time in the Hotel Isis in Gumbet. We thought that it was better to stay so that families with young children should be moved and we did not want to deprive them of a safe and secure holiday. We were also at a loss to understand how so many people could be accommodated in another hotel at such short notice.
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Paul Hogan from Grimsby travelled to Regal Resort Bodrum with
Goldtrail
on a friends holiday.