Concorde De Luxe Resort — Hotel in Aksu

Honest Review: UK Family Stay at Concord Hotel

My wife, our 4-year-old son, and I just returned from a 7-night stay at the Concord Hotel, and I wanted to share our thoughts. While we had a decent time overall, it’s safe to say the hotel didn’t quite live up to our expectations of a 5-star experience. Here’s a breakdown of the key points from our stay:

Hotel Quality & Room Condition:

Not Quite 5-Star: From the moment we walked in, it was clear that this hotel was not a 5-star establishment. I’d rate it more like a 3 or 4-star at best. Aged and Outdated: The hotel hasn’t seen any major updates in almost 20 years. You can really feel the age — there’s that old, musty smell in the air, which is hard to ignore. Room Condition: We stayed on the 7th floor, and the room, like the rest of the building, was showing its age. The furniture was chipped, the air conditioning was temperamental, and the same old smell lingered in the room. The room however was clean and this remained throughout our stay Loud Music: If you an early sleeper you’re out of luck as loud music plays from the hotel shows/parties usually until around 12am The View: On the plus side, the view from our room of the sea and pool was really beautiful.

Food & Dining:

Food Quality: The food was actually great! It truly lived up to the "all-inclusive" promise, with plenty of variety throughout the day. You could always find something good to eat. All-Inclusive Drinks: Drinks were also included, including alcoholic beverages, though we don’t drink, so we didn’t explore that side of things. Free Ice Cream: A nice touch was the ice creams that were freely available in freezers. You could just grab one whenever you wanted, which was a hit with our son!

Staff & Service:

Politeness with a Language Barrier: The staff were generally polite, though a few had trouble with English, which was surprising for a supposed 5-star hotel. Push for Positive Reviews: One thing that really bothered us was the constant pressure from staff to write positive reviews. It got to the point where a family we met had a staff member write a review for them on their phone! That just felt unprofessional. Lack of Health Support: I picked up a bug during our stay, and when my wife asked reception for help, they were pretty unhelpful. They just told her where the nearest pharmacy was (a 15-minute walk away) without offering much else. They didn’t mention that there was a doctor on-site, which we found out later on our own. On a positive note, when we highlighted some of our concerns, Bouchra from Guest Relations was very understanding and was kind enough to accommodate us with some complimentary services and also a late check out which was much appreciated

Kids’ Facilities:

Kids Club & Activities: For families, there’s a kids club that’s open from morning until 11 pm, which was great for us. There’s also a small park and a baby pool. Limited Pool Slides: The hotel only had three slides, and they were better suited for older kids. Our son was a bit too young for them, so he just stuck to swimming in the pool. It would have been nice to see more variety for younger children.

Value for Money:

Overpriced: We paid around £2,800 for 7 nights, and while I know it’s cheaper compared to school holiday time, it still felt way too expensive for what we got. Hotel Needs Updating: The place is in serious need of a facelift. It feels like the hotel is stuck in the early 2000s, and the staff could really benefit from more training, especially in dealing with guests.

Conclusion:

Overall, our son had fun, which is the most important thing, but for the price, this hotel did not deliver what we were expecting. Between the outdated facilities, pushy staff, and lack of proper guest support, I wouldn’t recommend Concord Hotel for couples or families with older kids. If you’re traveling with young children, it might work, but for the money, I believe you can find much better...

The hotel is one we visited in 2023. Just myself and my son. We chose the hotel based on the day time schedule and volume/ variety of activities. We were not disappointed in 2023 and so decided to come back as a family of 4 for the same experience. ||What did we find was just as good ?|Grounds - immaculate|Pool - excellent |Service pool / dinner hall and bars - excellent |Beach - excellent facilities |Beach bar - excellent service |Food - excellent |Pathways / lifts - excellent |Skater staff - Kaan was exceptional |Guest relations - attentive / prepared to listen and willing to support / resolve |Rooms - very clean and well equipped ||What was different? |The entertainment during the day this time was not as well organised or as smooth running. The team were lovely but they just were not as effective as the previous team in 2023. They were understaffed and hence this meant they were cutting some of the activities and cutting short the ones they ran to be able to cover the next one. |The hotel was not full so getting guests to participate was hard for the staff and that’s not their fault however the way they did this was very passive and at times they didn’t engage with guests to get them interested in an activity. They also failed to turn up for some activities such as football despite my husband and son waiting.|It did improve after we spoke to the animation manager who was apologetic and did want to make sure it improved however for the first two days we were left feeling disappointed and had to try and rally other guests to participate ourselves to ensure water polo happened on two occasions. ||The check in process was hugely disappointing. The front desk were simply immovable when it came to us asking them to consider a twin v a double room for my 18 year old son and 13 year old daughter. They advised us the twin was not guaranteed and therefore they wouid provide a put up bed instead. The bed was a good size however the kids had a room with two beds pushed together and we were asking if we could have two singles instead. They refused. The children were okay in the end as they had a large king bed but if they hadn’t had a bed that size it would have been really difficult as the standard doubles are much smaller. We got a single duvet and the kids were fine. This wasn’t a great start and the desk staff were simply not prepared to offer solutions it was a hard no and we can’t help. No rooms free ( but the hotel wasn’t fully booked) it was far from capacity. The offer of the bed was appreciated but would have left no floor space for them and so wasn’t a practical option. When you pay for beds you want beds not put up beds. ||The decking around the pool needs attention and the adult pool needs to be repairs - paint is peeling. ||There is so much to love about this hotel but I think the booking needs to make it clearer that twin isn’t guaranteed, the entertainment staff need more hands on deck and they need to be more proactive at encouraging guests to participate and have reasonable ways of doing that as part of the approach. ||Would we go back? After two visits the contrast between the two means not soon. There is some improvements that need to be done to the decking Ns adult pool paint work, the entertainment team, the reception for the price I think all the other elements are well justified but those elements are below expectation and very different to...

From start to finish I honestly can say I have not got one complaint. The place has absolutely everything you could possibly need or want from a holiday.

Food, exceptional. The A la Carte restaurants are a must! The buffet has a wide variety and every night is a different theme but they always cater to everyone, basics always stay the same pizza, pasta, chips, salads and cheeses etc so even the fussiest of eaters can always find something delicious to eat!

Breakfast was also lovely, a must when you stay is to try the A la carte breakfast at the Turkish restaurant. You get table service and a large array of options, I highly recommend the eggs Benedict. No charge for a la carte restaurants at lunchtime or in the morning only in the evening but prices was very reasonable for evening meals, I think around 20 euros a person.

Staff, overwhelmingly lovely! A special mention to guest relations member Elmira Khaksar.. what an absolutely beautiful person inside and out. She truly made our holiday special and we could not ask for more from her. If you decide to stay here you must find her at the front desk next to reception immediately!!

The roller skaters delivering drinks was also a very nice touch, we had someone come over at least once every half an hour to see what we wanted. Constantly making sure you are happy, I don’t know how they manage to stay on the skates all day… very impressive!

Fun Makers, what a great effort they make everyday to keep everyone happy and entertained! We have stayed at many all inclusives in Lara over the years and they really topped all our expectations. What a lovely team they all make. Such a great effort how they work as many hours as they do baffles me.. but well done to them for keeping up the energy!

Kids, what a great effort for the little ones! Slides was amazing .. not just for the kids! They even had a funfair on with different activities, the moppets kids club was great with different activities daily, I didn’t want to leave my little on as she’s only 4 but lots of parents did and they safety for them was incredible all staff seemed very aware and observant of all the little ones. If my little girl was braver I would have been happy to leave her with the staff. Staff come round in the day to let you know what’s on for the kids that day and are very welcoming! Top effort all round.

Cleanliness, the hotel was immaculate constant work being done. Even someone on the roof painting fresh for the season. The rooms was immaculate and cleaned to a very high standard every day, the emanates that they leave in the room was everything you could possibly have forgotten! Including hair straighteners which I personally thought was a lovely touch for us girls!

Evening entertainment, every night something different. Starting with the kids, paw patrol, shrek, Robots show all amazing. Followed by main stage show which kids was allowed to attend too, always amazing especially the motorbike ones! Then that was followed by live band or a dJ night both equally great to finish the night.. we also had a couple of night in the club, this was open every night after the entertainment and a great end to the evening! They also did a big party once a week which was really fun and a great touch.

All I can say is Thank you to everyone at the Concorde. If you are thinking of booking this hotel please do you will...