Side Crown Serenity Hotel — Hotel in Manavgat

The most serious issue during our holiday occurred at 1:40am, when a man entered our young adult children's twin room, frightening them awake. He apologized and left. They phoned Reception, who brushed it off, saying, “Sorry, that was my friend—he made a mistake.” They didn’t sleep. The next morning, we were told it was a staff member who was delivering towels and mini-bar items to the wrong room. It is completely unacceptable for anyone to enter a bedroom uninvited. This was deeply distressing for them. ||||Our Loveholidays Rep was excellent—responsive, helpful, and ensured a report was filed. Someone did call for more details, but we haven’t heard anything back since.||||As already mentioned on other reviews, it is not a 5 star hotel, more like a 3 star. We got a cheap holiday, so we weren't expecting 5 star service and facilities, but we would have liked better. ||||We arrived very late in the evening and the 2 rooms we were given were in a different block, which we got to by walking down the drive near to the security gate. It was disappointing and very deflating. Stained and worn carpets in the corridor; and forgotten rubble and a dirty footprint in our children’s twin room. ||||Loveholidays (MTS) Reps were very good and dealt with reception for us. We were able to upgrade both rooms to the main hotel, but at our own cost (€120). However, at least one should have been complimentary due to the condition of the original twin room, but I didn't argue. The 2 bedrooms we were upgraded to were much better and we were happy with them.||||The pools and slides are fabulous (though the slides are limited to 10–12am and 2–4pm).||||The main hotel is very clean and tidy. Housekeeping work hard and do a terrific job. ||||The terrace is a relaxing spot, and the hookah host, Saido, was lovely.||||The shuttle service to the beach is reliable with great, fun drivers.||||The restaurant waiters are generally unfriendly and disinterested, especially the younger ones.||||The bar staff also need to be a little more friendly - there were a lot of huffs and puffs, which was intimidating. ||||Drinks are disappointing—cheap mixers, bad wine, and no regular tonic (all their mixers had saccharine, which I hate). I saw iced coffee being made which, though delicious, was later refused rudely as not being on the bar menu.||||Some guests were aggressive; we saw an intoxicated man throwing cups at the pool bar, because no-one was attending it for quite a while (during opening hours). Happy to say he was thrown out.||||My children who are polite and respectful were often treated dismissively by staff.||||The entertainment team are very chatty and lovely, but there was very little entertainment. On two occasions we popped down and there was no entertainment, despite it being advertised. The kid’s disco was popular, but it's worth noting that some of the songs played had bad language. There weren't so many English guests, so I don't think this would have been noted by most, and not relevant to my family with young adults. ||||Food. Well, I hate to be so negative, but that was disappointing too. It was mentioned to me by a member of staff that, for what we pay, the food is very fresh and good. I take her point (the salads are good), but as another member of staff said, it was very 'yellow'. It's true, it was bland and repetitive. Even the displays were still from Easter, looking very sad...like the waiters. ||||We took advantage of the Italian restaurant with our one ticket (shut most of the time we were there). When we got there, they had double-booked. There was room in the restaurant, but I think everything is plated up beforehand, so he wouldn't accommodate both families. It was our last evening, so thanks to the kindness of the other family, we were seated. The Italian is a huge disappointment – just one waiter with as much disdain as he could muster for all the 20 or so guests in the restaurant. No music, no atmosphere. Food banged down on the table and if you weren't finished, then another plate of food banged down for the next course, whilst you were still eating your first. It was a production line of tasteless food. We saw dessert being banged down one table at a time and I asked if it was Tiramisu. With a dismissive wave of his hand, he ignored me and marched back to the kitchen. We left. It was a disgraceful and bad service and he definitely needs training or a demotion. ||||The beach is great. Lots of beach tarpaulins and sunbeds. Not as much choice of food, but their salads were fresh and their flat-breads very good and worth queueing for. There is a very basic drinks menu. ||||There is a water sports cabin on the beach and we bought a ride on the large inflatable (Crazy Shark) which was 100 Euros for the 4 of us. We were encouraged to buy the photos, drone and GoPro footage, which was good but expensive. It is worth negotiating a greatly reduced price. ||||We took a trip to Side, which has some fabulous Greco-Roman ruins. Well worth a visit. The bus (a short walk away) is 2 euros per passenger each way.||||It is the same cost to take a bus to Manavgat, but just outside of the hotel, we were offered a fare of 20 euros for all four of us in a yellow taxi. We were also given a tip to eat by the river, as there were a few good restaurants and it was cheaper than staying by the markets. ||||On our final night, we all played cards on our balcony. We had pulled the door closed and the only handle (on the inside) had fallen down and locked us out on the balcony. We tried calling the hotel from our mobiles but there was no answer. We phoned our daughter in England who made many attempts to call reception, but they didn't understand her and kept putting her on hold, which then failed. Thankfully a neighbour came out on to his balcony and he tried calling reception from his room, however, the phone didn't work. He went down to reception and let them know we were stuck. Also worth noting that the door from reception to the terrace can give you a nasty pinch as there isn't enough room to accommodate your hand when you pull it shut!||||On our final day, the reception manager asked if we had enjoyed our stay. I gave an honest, balanced answer ‘mostly’—which he acknowledged with a nod. ||||There were good moments: family time, sunshine, swimming, but the unsafe incident and poor customer service in many areas did not meet our expectations.||||Regrettably, I do not recommend this hotel, even at a low price point. It simply doesn’t meet basic standards of...

We had a pleasant holiday and the Crown Serenity is a nice enough hotel if you plan to use it as a base camp (as we did) as it’s reasonably priced. All hotels in Turkey seem to be granted a 5 star, you have to take that with a pinch of salt. I would pitch this as a good 3 star. Which we went out fully expecting. ||What to be aware of:|- it’s on a busy road so expect some traffic noise. |- there is a temple opposite and call to prayer starts at 6am. |- you will get approached multiple times a day by sales people from the hotel - hairdressers, spa, special drinks, bingo tickets etc which can get a bit annoying. |- the entertainment staff are great, really enthusiastic and there were some good dance shows but the entertainment program is generally poor. Bingo and tombola for example (another upsale opportunity and not entertainment).|- aircon goes off in the night so we were waking up and having to turn it back on at 2am. |- it’s listed as having a snack bar (pool) from 8pm -8am. Note this only serves drinks and not snacks. |- dinner is very early 6-8.30pm and they start packing up food at 8.15pm. There is a late dinner from 11-1am for late arrivals. This means these is no food between 8.30–11pm. There are apples in reception and nuts at the upstairs bar. Otherwise you’ll need to buy from shop or go outside. There’s a town with lots of shops and some restaurants a short walk from hotel. Would recommend ‘Sun Terrace’ about 10-15 min walk. Excellent food and reasonable price. ||What’s good? |- lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, breads etc always at meal times. |- clean and spacious rooms|- massages are great and reasonable priced|- pool open all the time. I enjoyed getting up for an early swim. Water very good temperature. |- mini bus station right outside the hotel so you can get to side old town for 55 lira or 2 euro per person. Very convenient. We went 3 times for dinner and to see the ruins. Go for sunset. Definitely worth the trip. You can also ride a camel here for 10 euro. |- staff are quick to sort out any issues. |- lots of sun beds and parasols for everyone|- reasonably priced shop on site||How could Crown Serenity improve?|- replace single use plastic cups for reusable plastic. Better for environment|- longer dinner time (til 9) and better service. We got our own drinks most days from the water station as no one came over. On the rare occasion they did we left a tip. We would have left one every time. There was one very good waiter, always smiling and asking people for drinks orders I didn’t catch his name but he had tattoos on his arms, young. |- open the gym before breakfast at 7am|- pool bar/patisserie staff should be present during listed opening times|- provide snacks 8-8 as listed or change listing |- more alcohol free options included. For example alcohol free beer, iced coffee etc|- list what entertainment is showing somewhere in the hotel daily. For example Monday Columbian dance show, Tuesday Bingo, Wednesday Mongolian dance show rather than ‘evening entertainment’ as a fits all. |- keep air-con switched on so guests aren’t woken.|- some zero drinks in mini bar |- when guests check out say ‘thank you for staying with us we hope you had a good stay’ or something to that affect. This will make guests feel...

Just returned from 7 night stay here. Cannot believe the bad reviews. The staff were all very polite, friendly and helpful. Ismail, behind the bar always had a smile on his face. Bar staff remembered what we drank, cocktails were fully inclusive, yes it's all local spirits but you are not paying loads of money. Our room was cleaned daily, towels and bedding changed regularly. Our room, with a balcony, overlooked mountains, however we were above the rear entrance to the hotel where beer barrels were brought out early in the morning/late night and bin lorry collected, but this was a very small point. I'm sure it would have been noisier overlooking pool areas. We could hear conversations from rooms next door and doors in corridors banging but we have had this in most hotels we've stayed in. The hotel cleaners were continuously working. Pools were clean, one with slides. I did find the music playing during the day around the pool was rather loud but that's just me, I prefer lying relaxing with quiet music in the background. All Inclusive ended at midnight but I believe you could continue purchasing from the bar afterwards. Will and his Animation Team were great, water aerobics and dance in the morning around the pool, darts and water polo which you could join in with or just watch. Adult Entertainment in the evenings were only on for no more than 30 minutes which we found disappointing but we met some great people and had loads of laughs. The food was superb. I am pretty fussy but found something substantial at each meal time. The chef's prepare and present some amazing and very tasty dishes. There is a large selection of varying salads and different types of breads at lunch and dinner. Hot dishes either cooked to your requirements or you can take from the buffet. Fish, chicken, beef or lamb dishes. There was no ice cream during the week at meal times and we never found ice cream in All Inclusive snacks. However the cakes in the afternoon at the Patisserie offered a very large lovely selection and was served by staff which I found to be hygienic. There are a small selection of shops inside the hotel and they do like you to go in and buy. There are plenty more shops, supermarket, bars just 5 mins walk from the hotel but they do keep badgering you to go in and buy. Be prepared for everyone of them saying Hello and asking where are you from. It can be off putting but most European countries are like this. There is a free shuttle bus to the beach which travels back and forth throughout the day or around 12 minute walk across the road. I would advise take the shuttle first time so you know the direction it is. We walked and ended up quite a way from it . The beach is beautiful, the hotel has free sun beds which are plentiful and a beach bar which serves a decent lunch, also All Inclusive and the staff there are also polite and friendly. There are watersports which are payable. Side and Manavgat are each about 35 minutes away (time depending on how many pick ups), dolmus is directly outside the hotel 2 Euros each way. Overall very enjoyable stay, great value for money. Well done to the...