Dream World Palace — Hotel in Manavgat

Just returned from Dream World Palace and I am split in two about my stay as the hotel it self is a lovely hotel. First will get the negative bits out of the way. ||||1st: We arrived early hours 02:00hrs to reception to check in and everything seemed to go smoothly as your greeted by a porter that takes your luggage from you and then escorts you to your room and as we where exhausted we decided to just get to bed without unpacking. The room 5512 had one entrance but then had two doors 5512A and 5512B which seemed brilliant as I had asked if we could be put on the same floor as my brother who was arriving the same day however this was short lived as at 0315hrs we where woken by knocking on the door and told we had to change room and could only think that the room had been booked by the two disgruntled couples waiting outside for us to vacate! ||||2nd: We where then taken to another room 5513 which again was a lovely room but the odour from the bathroom hit you and could see that it looked as though the toilet had not been cleaned as the bowl was full of dirty water however one flush it was clean no issue until a few days in the same thing happened again, we did report it on two occasions ! it was clear there was an issue with other guest waste entering the toilet bowl if left ?||||3rd: Communication! The hotel itself is prominently occupied by German and Russian guest so most of the staff will communicate in German or Russian which isn’t a problem , I even started to order my drinks in Germany (not that I speak good German but could order drinks ). Now this only becomes a problem when you have an issue at reception and their English isn’t very good and really struggled to ask/solve problems or understand what your issue is and this came to head when our transfer home did not arrive and I needed to ask for assistance to contact the transfer provider and was told more or less your problem ! nothing I can do ! The telephone number is not Turkish so cannot use their telephone! And then the male receptionist walked away and I was left. I know transfer was not the hotel’s fault or responsibility but I would of thought being a guest that they would of tried to help but it was only when my sister in law (who is German) came to help and got us a taxi arranged.||||It’s a shame that the reception lets the hotel down and that some of the reception staff could learn from the waiters, waitresses, cleaners on how to treat and respect guests.||||Now despite the negativity the hotel is really nice, it’s clean and tidy (I know we had the toilet issue but that was not a major issue) and despite reception not being customer friendly I did have a good holiday. Food was excellent and plenty to choose from , even the fussy of eaters would be fine as there was a lot to choose from. ||||The pool areas are excellent and plenty of sun beds and if you have children they have their own pool area which is like a water park from toddlers to bigger children. ||The main pool area is big but they also have an 18 + pool area on the t first floor over the main pool which we used, and here, you have waiters coming round and you can order drinks again the staff where polite and friendly around the pool and in the restaurant. Towels are available at the spa that you can exchange daily by handing a card over which you get back when taking your towel back. ||||At midnight they open the coffee area where you can get a midnight snack eg bread buns , cheese, ham etc which was fresh.||||There is entertainment during the day and night and the team aren’t pushing when coming around, there was also live shows but unsure what these were like.||||There’s a big shop on the complex which can be expensive but if you want to go out shopping if you turn right and a fifteen minute walk you come to shops which most don’t have price o and you need to ask and then you get pulled into the bartering, there was also some where you can have a drink however if you turn left coming out of the hotel an walk up the road again about fifteen minutes walk you’ll find a much bigger, nicer shopping area with bars and restaurants and where most of the shops have a price shown on the clothes, shoes etc and they aren’t really that pushy in getting you to spend your money.||||The Dream World Palace is nice hotel but the front of house staff eg some reception staff let the hotel down which is disappointing and I know there is always a communication barrier anywhere you go but it’s probably the first time ever where I have experienced that staff are not...

Stayed here for 1 week in June 2022 with my sister and 3 children, we had 2 rooms. ||||ROOM||Nice clean modern room with shower. Double and single bed, very comfortable. Fridge with water and juice, re-stocked free when room is cleaned. Not much of a view from the balcony, could see slides in the far distance. ||||FOOD||I personally liked the food, a lot of variety, my son is 11 and he was fine with eating. A lot of meats, salads, rice, pasta, Turkish foods as expected and deserts. The food hall is chaotic, not much of a system, it's a bit like a free for all and very busy. The staff do offer to get drinks for most tables but we were only asked once the whole week. ||||ENTERTAINMENT||The entertainment was good, like the dance shows etc. It is only 1 hour in the evening and when this is finished, there isn't much happening. Only in the adult area upstairs where the party tends to carry on with better music, but you can't take the kids up there. The entertainment is all German speaking. Hardly any English was spoken and so that is the reason why we didn't really know what was going on and why we didn't join in. The day entertainment is fantastic. Foam party and a jet. ||||BAR||Offering a wide range of drinks, you can get more than 1 at a time which is good. I read from another review about having to wait and others being served before you. We found this happened to us a lot of the time. The hotel is packed with mainly German and so we found that English speaking were ignored. One time the bar staff went to serve a lady who kindly said I was before her... the bar staff completely ignored it and served a guy next to me and then back to the original lady. I couldn't believe it to be honest, it was altho I wasn't stood there. My son was also waiting a long time and I had to go to the bar and wait with him until they noticed and served him. ||||SLIDES AND POOL||Very good. The kids really enjoyed this. The kids area can be used by adults if wanted. The slides are just as good as the bigger ones if not faster. The kids area slides turn off around 5pm? The bigger slides turn off at 4ish. They do turn off during the day for about 2 hours but this is usually around lunch time anyway and didn't bother our kids as they would have a break in the big pool. ||||BEACH||Went to the beach 2x, free shuttles bus, literally 2 mins. Always a bus there or a few minutes wait. The beach is lovely, always found a sun bed no problem. The beach bar and food is great, again a lot of variety. The staff were lovely. ||||SUN BEDS||Literally never known anything like it! If you want a sunbed next to your family/friends, you have to get up at like 6am to lay a towel and claimed your bed. You will find that people do this and you don't see them all day, very annoying. Mostly shaded areas so if you want the sun area (by the slides) you need to claim that bed. ||||OVERALL ||Personally I wouldn't stay here again. I like to go out in the evenings and explore within walking distance. I found there wasn't much around walking distance. ||We did travel to the market about a 25 min bus ||ride. Very hot inside, everything is in euros not Lira. You have to ask to pay in Lira. We did get a few bargains. ||The hotel I feel need to accommodate English speaking guests. You can't join in the fun when you don't know what's going on. I think we met about 3 different English speaking groups.. everyone else in the hotel is German. ||Take euros for little things like the little car rides in the hotel, the added extras for better cocktails, shisha, popcorn stand... ||The shop next to the hotel is very good aswell. Clothes, shoes, trainers,...

I read up quite a bit before booking this hotel and was beyond satisfied with our experience. We did give a tip of a few euros at the reception but this was after we had already been allocated our pool-view hotel room. We arrived at past 3am and there was a section with some bread, juice selection, fruits and coffee available. The hotel grounds were quite clean, the staffs were quite welcoming and hardworking. We would have loved to give more tips into their tip boxes lying around.||The hotel advertises free spa and Turkish bath but when you get to the spa, you get a brochure with prices for the different spa services with the staff there saying the free services is only if you do it yourself. The sauna is free to use though if you can find the space as only one was turned on when I went.||The pool and the loungers were quite clean though the water was a bit cold. You get used to it once you have submerged but expect to be chilly for a bit until the sun heats you up once outside. The slides only came on at certain times of the day but I guess that was because it was April. We went the week after Easter and we had to walk around the pool areas to get a few loungers so I can imagine how packed it would be during summer/peak holiday times.||The food was the best part of the experience because they made sure that it was always available. The tried to switch up the menu each day though there were regulars, the lunch, dinner and snacks were constantly refilled. The Ice cream bar was always there for the kids too.||The beach area is a 5 minutes walk but they have regular shuttles that takes about 1 minute to get there. They have enough loungers and beach space to spread mats, the water sports shop (quite expensive and not affiliated with the hotel) was blasting loud music that was irritating but you try to ignore it. They also ensured that beach area had the same food and snacks as in the hotel but no alcohol was served.||If you are interested in activities outside the hotel, you can get a taxi into Side town for sightseeing and culinary experiences but you could also get a package from the guys that would try talk you into one at the hotel pool area.||All in All, it was a great experience for us, our first contact at the reception and particularly our cleaning lady were the stars of the show though we appreciate the work we saw the entire staff put in. ||Our experience is the reason why spring and autumn holidaying remains the best options for me to avoid the holiday crowd at destinations and coughing up...