Selenium Hotel — Hotel in Manavgat

1 hour transfer by MTS Globe very difficult to find but once located the MTS Globe desk, then the correct minivan in a sea of identical minivans, we found it was clean and air conditioned. High priced chilled drinks were sold in the vehicle and the driver wouldn’t leave until all passengers had been offered (a bit of extra money on the side for them perhaps?).|Bizarrely, 15 mins before the first hotel drop off (approximately 3/4hr from airport) we stopped at a fast-food place for half an hour. We could only guess this was either a required break for the driver or to compensate for the hour flight delay meaning we had missed the opportunity to eat at our hotels.||The Selenium Hotel was well kept, very clean and had friendly staff. |We were half board which included; breakfast 8-10am which was buffet style and included hot drinks or local style juice. Evening meals were 7-8.30, again buffet style but no drinks included. A good selection of salads, a meat/fish dish and Turkish dishes. Plus small selection of fruit or a mini cake /biscuit for pudding. Meal times varied by start time with some days food appearing 6.45pm but others 7. But everything was removed at 10am/8.30 pm promptly.|A chilled water machine was available throughout the day.||The main pool was small but adequate and clean and looked cared for in the centre of the hotel. Due to the building’s shape (it forms a rectangle around the pool), only a quarter of the area was in sun throughout the day which meant we had a choice of sun lounger or table and chairs. A welcome break from the high 30’sdegree temperatures. A smaller pool was located on the other side of the building. Both were open 10-6pm and were packed away promptly.||Wi-Fi was free but patchy throughout the hotel especially during mealtimes however was sufficient for WhatsApp, browsing or brief FaceTime chats.||The rooms were compact; bed/twin beds with bedside table, dressing table containing tiny fridge, bathroom and balcony. However, it was cleaned daily to a good standard.||Access; The hotel has both stairs and slopes around ground level which is great however we were on the top floor (3rd) and having never had to use the lift before found it rather frustrating that it didn’t work when we were going home and needed to transport our heavy luggage. I don’t know if it was working at other times.||Location; Nearby there were several restaurants, cafes, supermarkets and mini markets, loads of tourist shops, bus to Manavgat only £1/ 50TL, private beach easy walk or free transfer twice a day and water choppy but gloriously warm. Only area worth snorkelling was from a dive boat as the sea is mainly oddly empty (sand, a little shingle, sea and motorised water sports only). |Our loveholiday rep was really good – not over selling but informative and enthusiastic - but would recommend dive trip for beginners not experienced divers. Again, no drinks included during day trip. Lunch was included though.||We hired an electric trike to go to where the Phosphorus river meets the sea. I’d definitely recommend that. 3 hours was perfect for us as 30 mins each way plus splash in cold river and warm sea. Take your snorkel as there are fish close to the shore here but nowhere else it seems. Just note that most places don’t include insurance so you want to find somewhere that does (£15 for us extra).||Overall I would recommend this hotel but only on the understanding that ear plugs are needed to sleep due to loud music (advertised as evening entertainment) and early calls to prayer (beautiful during the day - and I would definitely recommend a visit to the exquisite Mosque a few roads away - but intrusive early in the morning). I would also recommend going all inclusive so you get drinks as it averaged high 30’s while we were there.||Positive| Central location for shops, beach, restaurants and old town plus buses.| Wonderful enormous ruins in old town.| Private section of beach just 10 minute walk away| Outdoor gym equipment next to hotel which includes a small running track| Lots of play parks dotted around for children| Always clean| Friendly multilingual staff||Negative|- Woken at 5am daily by the daily call to prayer|- Loud bar music (even if bar is virtually empty) until midnight|- No tea/coffee making facility in room|- Tiny fridge in room – good only for a couple of cans of drink. No freezer section.|- No drinks included in half board except morning coffee/ juice and...

Terrible in all aspects, don't recommend it to anybody. It made us feel bad all week long, ruin our summer holiday at all. Never coming back here again.||Reception was full of idiots with no english knowledge at all, which is mandatory in receptionist position all around the world, but not here.||At check-in they told us there was no available rooms so they adviced to spend one night in the neighbourhood Adora Apart, then they could give us a nice room for the rest of our stay.||As we've read the comments here we've discovered this wasn't an occasional problem, probably they did it on purpose: they were overbooked, or they wanted more money for an available room.||However their explanation changed d||The guy with beard was exceptionally rude and ignorant, no one with the same attitude would be in tourism in an ideal situation. Shame on you!||His colleague could speak a sort of english, but his explanation was also full with white lies.||He told us they had a room, but it's not so good, so if we came back the other day he would give us a nice room on the top of the building (4th floor). After a short hesitation we wanted to see the "not so good" room, but they didn't show it to us. We've agreed to come back in the morning, in breakfast time and we'd get the keys.||The next day we went to the reception to ask for the "good room', which they entitled quiet with a nice view. However the room had been cleaned right before we arrived, the floor was wet and the place was full of chlorine smell.||The room was tiny, it was on the ground floor, surrounded by the main building, and had a view to the street, where a lot of small buses and their drivers had their stopover. The bed is terrible, sinks like waterbed, and it was too small for two adults. You've had only two big, neck killing pillows and one thin blanket, which was enough for one person. The towels had a rough surface, which gave an unpleasant feel. The cleaning lady only did a quick dust/sand sweep, and changed the towels once during our stay.||The next bad topic is food and drinks. We were half-board. The food was badly textured and repetitive, meat was rarely seen on the plates, so we skipped it after two tries. The drinks (tea and coffee) were free at breakfast, but at dinner you've to pay for it.||The whole process of catering went like a feed in an animal farm, people standing in a long queue waiting the others to put something on their plates.||About quiet approach of the hotel: our room was in a middle of walkthrough and some nations (russians, germans) didn't have it in mind that there're others in the hotel as well. They were noisy, shouting, pushing & pulling the furnitures and their luggage in various times of the day, even at midnight.||The hotel was a 2 km walk from the seashore. The hotel has a terrible beach part with out of fashion, torned, broken sunbeds and dirty, rusty parasols. So the better choice was to go Selenium Beach with was 4-5 km far, and the hotel provided a free bus to the location twice vica verse. This was a more cozy beach, less crowded, but the crew here had the same attitude as in the hotel, they're all after money all the time, they just wanted to fill their pocket, so they were kind with just those who payed. Consider a better hotel in Side, there are plenty of them. Also don't go under 4 stars, as most of the hotels giving themselves more stars then...

As soon as we arrived, we ran into a problem, because they told us that they didn't have a family room available, so we would have to move to another hotel. We did not accept this, after they saw my decisive action, suddenly there was a room. The same thing was done with another couple the next day, they were put in a seedy hotel without air conditioning.|The elevator did not work at all, the wording of free Wi-Fi is a trick, because it cannot be used in the entire hotel, not even in the common area. The members of the staff are rather young children who, even if tired, did their work continuously, they were directed by one of their older colleagues with their rude manners. This rudeness was also towards the guests, the older waiters were rude and condescending. (except for the gentleman with glasses, he was nice). He often shouted loudly to the guests.|It was terribly disturbing that smoking was allowed in the restaurant, so we ate with children sitting around us surrounded by cigarette smoke.|The food was below criticism. The remains of the previous meal were constantly exposed, especially the potato wedges left over from dinner at breakfast. What is completely outrageous is that on a weekday the previous day's bread and buns were invented. The cold cuts are usually one type, maybe one day there were two. The parisian was browned, the edges curled up, and it was unsightly to look at. Flies were feasting on it. Fruit every day is only melons and apples, but from the simplest, worm version. Cakes are offered every day, but every day is the same, pudding in bulk and a soaked sponge-like disk. It was horrible. There was never a slice of meat, maybe some tokány, mirelit meatballs in some sauce made from powder. The drink car mat could only be used at breakfast, watered down with horrible fruit juice. which, by the way, could be drunk with a glass at other times for 1 euro.|The beach is ridiculous! With unusable beds and sponges with holes, as thick as herrings.|You could wake up every day at dawn to the prayers of the mosque in the street next door, but if that wasn't enough, you were guaranteed garbage trucks, buses, and dripping air conditioners!|All in all, never again, I will not recommend it to anyone, rather pay more, just don't...