Ramada Resort by Wyndham Lara — Hotel in Aksu

Unable to edit post, so deleted original post & added resolution update at the end, if you don’t have an issue with payment, don’t bother reading to the end!:||The hotel is amazing! 2 bedroom family suite comfortably sleeps 5. It is very clean & housekeepers visit daily. The air con is great. The shower is great. The beds are comfy. I don’t think you’re meant to flush toilet roll but as there’s a bin next to the loo & signs in the toilets by reception, so could do with a sign in the room. The only complaint I have now is that they allow people to put towels out in the middle of the night. My husband went down at 6am and had to move some to get 3 together (there are 5 of us but we’ll share). I really liked the pool by the beach so I think we’ll spend more time there - arrived at 10am yesterday and no issue at all getting 5 together. + there’s always the beach, which has fixed shade if we want too. Resort is great for young kids with water playground in the beach pool, slides in the hotel pool. Food (at all sites) is INCREDIBLE. I am vegetarian and there is an amazing selection of salads as well as cooked veggie dishes. Sushi night last night - could have done with labels as I couldn’t tell if any was without fish. There is masses of cereal, pastries, fresh fruit, yogurt, as well as cooked breakfast (omelette, fried eggs, sausages, mushrooms etc etc) I wonder if people that complain about it didn’t walk around the corner? It is a massive room. There is no personally made omelette station or pizza station, but they make omelette & pizza & put them out all the time. It is a bit Brit’s Abroad by the pools tbh (think loud music, massive inflatables & ball games in the pool, etc) but I am a Brit and I am abroad, so I really can’t complain about that. At least there’s often some loungers free under the speakers, that can be moved away from them when they come on. And everyone (staff & guests) speaks English. The staff work really hard. We’ve still got 9 nights left but I feel confident that my review won’t change. The room set up is why we chose this hotel, and it’s the best we’ve ever had, and this is the 4th 2 x bed suite we’ve stayed in as a family of 5. I would highly recommend this hotel. ORIGINAL REVIEW:||Only reason for 3 stars, is that on arrival they tried to charge us €880 (£765) because our youngest child is 12, and apparently they deem her an adult, and they are alleging that we only paid for an 11 year old child. I have checked and for the same booking this time next year, it is £130 difference for a 12 year old. I am sure I booked her as 12, but even if I didn't, £765 seems a little steep!|We refused to pay anything and said we would speak with the Loveholidays rep, they tried to make us pay a deposit, but wouldn't take our Halifax credit card (or any card at all) and told us we had to get cash out of the cash point.|We refused as were only willing to use the card on my phone, so can't use a cashpoint, so they kept her passport and reluctantly allowed us to go for dinner, which was closing in 20 minutes (we were all starving). Suite of 2 rooms is amazing and big, beds comfy, we slept well, apart from worrying about £765 charge. In the morning we went to see the Loveholidays rep, who tried to flog us daytrips, and then told us to call the UK number on the website after 1lam when it opened. We cannot call the uk without being charged, so asked reception to do it. They tried but couldn't get through. I waited ages for the LH rep again, he couldn't do it from his phone but advised me to call from my room for a €l or 2 charge. He explained to reception, they said to try in 5 - 10 minutes. I went back to the room, and after 10 minutes of not getting through I called reception, and was told it had been set up and should be working. It is not. I have told them that if they want to speak to Loveholidays they can, but I am not wasting any more time trying to sort out this error. Hopefully they will read this review and sort it out with Loveholidays themselves, and leave us in peace. A really unpleasant start to our trip. ps all 3 kids have kids wrist bands and are booked as kids in the restaurants, and no one warned us about this extremely high charge which we were asked to pay late at night after a long day of travelling.||UPDATE: 4 hours after posting the above review, we received a phone call to say that they’d had an email from Loveholidays, and it is all sorted out now, so could we come to collect her passport. I have no idea if this review is what made the difference, especially as I never got through to Loveholidays, but either way I’m glad it is now sorted out. ||I don’t know if it was Loveholidays who messed up, or if the hotel were trying their luck, but surely very few people could / would pay that sort of amount without warning? I searched their reviews and can’t see anyone else with the same...

I do rate this hotel as Excellent, as we had a really lovely time there and we do wish to visit again and we do recommend it to anyone! There are a couple of things that aren't great though, so I hope my honest review will help your decision making process while looking it up.||I will start with the positives - the buffet is excellent, with a great variety of food, the fruits and vegetables are incredibly fresh and delicious. All the meats/fish is also fresh and beautifully seasoned. We had a choice of 2 a la carte restaurants during our stay but we didn't even bother because we were so pleased with dinner. Lunch is also either at the buffet or the bar terrace which offers fresh and delicious food. There is a great choice of real ice cream most of the day (not just a scoop of cheap ice cream but branded cones and others you can help yourself to. The hotel next door is also accessible and hence there are two venues we could go to, pools, beach and most importantly evening entertainment which was just fantastic! ||Either a 5 mins walk or a shuttle can take you there every 15mins. Every night the kids disco was followed by truly amazing parties/entertainment for both kids and adults. ||The rooms were clean, freshly cleaned every day and supplied with water and a complimentary mini bar, also a kettle and plenty of tea/coffee refilled. The air con was just right and not loud at all.||We obviously brought our own shower gel/shampoo but the shower has its own supply if you can't be bothered to pack your own or if you run out. Not some tiny soap that most hotels give only on arrival.||The pools are big and at a lovely temperature, beware though there is no shallow end for the little ones - there is a kids pool but it's pretty much up to your ankles. There are lots of shops where you can buy all sorts of inflatables but you're better off buying them on amazon and bring a pump with you, otherwise it's all twice the price or more.||I can't say much about the kids club because our daughter didn't go to it, but I know they have a full schedule daily from 10 to 12.30 then 14.30 to 17.00.||There are lots of fun activities at the hotel during the day, like the usual aqua gym, darts, table tennis, archery, pool polo and the entertainment team was ever so lovely and engaging!||The spa is splendid! Both my husband and I had 3 massages each within 9 days. The haggling is a bit of a pain but if you give an honest price they will accept it. I highly recommend the turkish scrub when you arrive to get rid of your dead skin before tanning. It's so relaxing anyway!||The barbers is also great, we all had a haircut/blowdry and they were reasonably priced and friendly. ||The bars offer a wide range of REAL drinks, so we enjoyed plenty of cocktails, the usual beers and prosecco, ice coffees etc etc. Not once have we had to pay for an extra.||We also made load of 'friends' so that also adds to our positive experience but overall seriously it is a lovely hotel & offerings. ||Now for the negatives.. The main one my husband struggled with the most was getting up very early to save a lounger. It's very bad. If you go to the pool at 8am, you will never get a seat unless it's in the shade or just added for you on top of someone else. So he had to be up every morning before 7am to put our towels down. Many people save seats then head off to the beach which is really annoying.||The second, and last negative is the cats. There are dozens of them at all times everywhere by the pool and at the restaurants - stray cats which can look cute from a distance but they scream of infection if you look closer. |We met 3 families who had to be rushed to hospital to get their kids vaccinated against rabies because they had been scratched by the cats. The hotel insists on not feeding them but the staff feed them. Go figure.||Overall fabulous! We will definitely visit again, perhaps not in August as it was a bit...

Lovely cheerful welcome right from the beginning, the reception staff took our bags and directed us to our room. One thing is we wished we got a bit of information about the a la carte restaurants about events and stuff since we found this out too late from other guests and didn’t manage to book it, so definitely enquire about them at the start!||The room was okay, the beds weren’t super comfortable and the room was a little small (not what we were expecting), but next time we’ll make sure to book a bigger room. Cleaners worked so so hard and were lovely and we came back to a spotless room every day and they constantly refilled the mini fringe with soft drinks and water.||The hotel staff were sweet and attentive. They would ask you if you wanted any drinks when you sat down and also when you had finished your drinks. Food is lovely and changed every day. A super wide variety and it was cooked fresh and constantly replenished. There was also a grill area in the evenings outside where they would cook different meats and fish. I will be dreaming about the cheesy bread the chef cooked in the evening! Desserts were okay (the baklava was incredible) and lots of lovely delcious fresh fruit. Bar staff were amazing especially the taller guy with the tattoos, his service was incredible and drinks were quick and decent.||Beach staff again were amazing at the bar and the beach restaurant. Special mention to the young girl with the headscarf at the beach bar, she was honestly one of the sweetest people and always smiling and super quick despite how busy that bar could get! Watermelon was also being served on the beach which was nice and there was also ice cream available on the beach. Also special mention to the shuttle bus drivers and towel guys who were again lovely. ||Lots of entertainment and stuff to do on the beach all throughout the day and the evenings and the water was nice, especially in the mornings and evenings since the currents aren’t so strong. The only issue I had on the beach was one of the guys from the water sports company was going around the beach trying his luck with young women who were alone. There’s loads of security on the beach so it’s not exactly unsafe but It did make me a little uncomfortable since I didn’t really appreciate getting asked if I would like to meet him late at night on the beach and having my hand held by him. He also didn’t take no for an answer since he kept trying and trying. Very strange and unprofessional, there’s plenty of security everywhere at all times, it’s safe but it’s worth having a word that this isn’t okay. The other water sports guys were super helpful and we ended up going parasailing and it was tons of fun!||The cats near the beach area are so so sweet I hope they get taken care of outside of the tourist season, we will miss them! If you’re not a cat lover it isn’t an issue they’re usually under the bushes and they don’t bother anyone, they mostly keep to themselves. ||We didn’t really go to the pools much but we always managed to find at least two sun beds in the hotel pool and the beach pool when we did. Sun beds on the beach are plentiful and we tended to go for the beach more often. ||Again on the cleanliness, the hotel and the beach were spotless and the staff were constantly cleaning!||Overall it was a lovely holiday and the staff are clearly very well trained and work super hard and we will...