Palm World Resort — Hotel in Manavgat

Myself and my family (8 people occupying 3 rooms), have just returned from a two week holiday at this resort. |We arrived in the early hours to be greeted by a male receptionist. We were prepared for the worst after reading the reviews before we left, but he was a polite and helpful chap! I had booked a duplex room for myself and my 3 children. Upon opening the door, it became clear that it wasn't a duplex but a standard room with an extra camp bed squeezed in! My children are aged 22, 20 and 16 - no way were we squashing in there for two weeks!|The porter told me I could query it in the morning, but after a brief consideration I decided I couldn't let it go until then. The receptionist was very apologetic, and I understood that it wasn't his fault. They seemed to think it was ok for one night and couldn't grasp my point that as they knew we were coming, our room should be ready. We were eventually given our correct room at noon that day. ||The hotel itself is situated in a busy little area. There is a bazaar, an indoor shopping centre, shops and bars all within walking distance. Great for all your genuine fakes! Be aware though, one shop in the Mall tried to sell us a White Fox hoodie for more than the price of a real one! When we refused, he became very rude! Bill Cosby's bar is a good place for some live entertainment and a meal out without needing a taxi.||Although the beach isn't too far, there is a golf buggy to shuttle you back and forth. Be prepared for the rude people that don't think they have to wait their turn, and to have random people squeeze on to your seat with you! It's technically an eight seater but we saw double that amount pile on! The beach bar is lovely and the bar staff are friendly and efficient. The food is repetitive there (chicken nuggets, burgers, chips etc) but it's enough to keep you going until the evening.||There are two bars in the hotel - one in the lobby and one at the pool. The lobby bar appears to be self service, so only has soft drinks and a beer pump. We didn't use it for that reason. The pool bar is also the restaurant bar - we used this every evening. Randomly, after about 3 days of our holiday, they decided that during the evening meal, only soft drinks, lager and wine were to be served. I have experienced this in other hotels, but they usually have a separate bar to serve the restaurant. As we like to have a drink before our meal, this felt a little odd! You could have vodka etc all day whilst swimming in the pool, but as soon as it's meal time you can't! I queried it the first time and was told the bar staff had misunderstood and put the spirits back out. It didn't happen again until our second week. This time the owner (who only speaks Turkish and German) told me, via Google Translate, that the children had forgotten to fetch it from the warehouse!! |The two lads that served the bar most evenings, were very quick and had a good memory for our order - that probably says more about us! None of the staff wore name badges though, so I can't mention them personally.||One of the good things about this hotel is, that once you have your table you can choose to stay there all evening. It's close to the bar and restaurant and you can see the entertainment. There is a small stage and a designated entertainment area, but unless it's a quiz or bingo, you don't have to move. Ismail, the sole member of the animation team, works incredibly hard. There was bingo, karaoke, a caricature quiz, foam parties and outside entertainment - all good fun.||We had no complaints about the variation or quality of the food in the restaurant. There was something for everyone, we definitely wouldn't starve. Although, seeing the amount some guests piled on their plates, you would think this was a possibility. The only criticism I have is popular things, like chips and onion rings, regularly ran out. ||All in all, this was a lovely hotel but with definite room for improvement. The overbooking is a real problem though,...

On the surface the hotel seems like an lovely place to stay but this is definitely not true. The customer service is disgusting as they are incredibly rude and disrespectful and make you feel not welcome. There has been multiple occasions when there poor customer service has been shown. For example this supposedly 5 star hotel does not have an iron included in the rooms and when I called to ask reception if they had an iron the person at reception thought I was some child as I kept ringing as nobody was answering the phone the person then shouted at me and telling me not to ring again. When I then told him I’m not a child I’m in adult his tone of voice and attitude towards me had quickly changed this shows me the lack of respect the staff here have to there customers and how badly they treat children at this hotel. Also throughout our stay here there has been many arguments at reception and one time even a fight. The two parties involved one of which was an employee were shouting and scaring children nearby and the workers were being incredibly vicious to the customers and were siding with the employee and then told the customers to leave. This argument could have most likely have been prevented but due to the low standard of their customer service this and many other arguments have left a big impact on our holiday ultimately ruining our trip. The area of the hotel is also bad as there are not many restaurants to eat at the the shops near by are ridiculous high priced. The WiFi is rarely working which means I have to leave the hotel to get WiFi to answer my business calls. Which adds a high level of stress to me as I fear I will miss any important calls. To add to this the food is terrible as it lacks any type of flavour and seasoning and is the same everyday. Everything is essentially mass slop which does not even full me up but instead makes me get stomach aches and then makes me feel sick. This then means I spend the evening in the hotel room as I feel too ill to leave and explore. The kitchen staff are also unfriendly as they are constantly implying you to leave the dinner area as they clean all around you which therefore makes us feel unwelcome and they are just wanting our money. The atmosphere of the hotel is dull and depressing as most of the lights in the hotel are switched off which makes the hotel dark all day and not family friendly. Also the air con is not always on in communal area which makes my children very hot and uncomfortable. I am a frequent visitor to Turkey and I love the country the food is amazing and everyone is so friendly and definitely and place for children but this hotel definitely does not support this. To anyone thinking of coming to the hotel, DON’T. Save your money and go to another hotel where you feel welcome and in a nicer area where you can really get to know and...

Once we booked the holiday we read the reviews and were a little worried however I have to say we had a very memorable stay! We spent about a week (last week of August) - 2 adults 3 kids - and enjoyed every day. Good points; Close to a wonderful beach - 5 min walk or 2 min on hotel shuttle service. Plus lunch is provided on the beach. Food was good with plenty of choice and drinks plentiful inclusive. Good sized duplex room on ground floor with no disturbances. Room cleaned on time - you have to hit the "clean room" switch to ensure it is done. Great market/shops outside hotel - designer goods from €5 (t-shirts) €10 ( LV handbags) and surprisingly very good quality. Buses run frequently and only €1.5/4 TL each - harbour, Apollo temple, bars, restaurants only 15 min away. Cab back a reasonable €16 for 5 of us. Plenty of more shops and bars at the harbour with higher quality handbags (£~100 leather and quality spot on) Swimming pool kept the kids occupied for hours. Staff friendly and try their best. Excellent Wi-Fi - used WhatsApp calls and Netflix with no problems. On site barber - €5 haircut.

Bad points; Staff barely speak English however managed to get by. Whilst the food is good the style of cooking lacks diverse tastes. Like eating from the same restaurant .. the dishes are different but the chef is the same. Have to pay for fresh juice which seemed odd as everything else was inclusive. Gym is very basic. Got a decent workout by using high reps on light weights. Plus used YouTube for fitness routines. When shopping sometimes cheaper to pay in lira if price not shown and haggling doesn't get you as far as it used to... might save a few euro. Do not be afraid to walk away from a purchase.. moods vary to very very nice when trying to sell you an item to abrupt rudeness if you decline - cultural not personal. Caters to German/Russians but that wasn't an issue.. although probably explains the subtle spicing of the food. TV it's either BBC news or cartoon network in English... we brought along our laptop and watched netflix over the wifi.

Would definitely go back to Side again but try a different hotel for variety.. also we booked our holiday 2 weeks before leaving and flights were all connections which averaged 6 hours (4 Istanbul +2 Antalya) vs the usual direct 4hrs. Next time will book well in advance! This was our first time in Turkey ( having been to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Dubai) so we weren't sure what to expect but it did surpass expectations and we flew from Stansted which was less congested than...