Optimum Luxury Hotel & Spa — Hotel in Muratpaşa

My fiancé and I spent a few months planning our little vacation, checking out hotels on different sites, and finally, we found a real gem among budget hotels in Antalya. Let me start with the check-in. We were greeted by a super friendly and smiley guy at the reception. We arrived way earlier than the official check-in time, but the room was already ready, and they let us in early, which was awesome since we were so tired. We booked through Agoda, and while we asked for one double bed, it turned out there were two singles instead. But the staff fixed that pretty quickly (it wasn’t really the hotel’s fault, more of an Agoda issue), so we appreciated that. The room was smaller than we expected, but it was still comfy. It had a fridge, kettle, AC, TV, and a hairdryer, all working fine. The place looked freshly renovated, the bathroom was clean with no mold, and overall, everything felt neat. Unfortunately, our room didn’t have a balcony, which was a bit of a letdown, but I guess the pricier rooms do (though they don’t mention that anywhere).

There’s a restaurant on-site where they serve breakfast every morning. Despite some bad reviews, we actually enjoyed it. Sure, the options don’t change much day to day, but you can still pick different things and even order extras. There’s a decent spread with fried veggies/potatoes, boiled eggs, pancakes, sausages in tomato sauce, and a variety of veggies, fruits, cheeses, olives, cold cuts, and jams. They also have different pastries and cereals. Drinks-wise, they offer filter coffee (really good!), tea, and different juices each day.

Our stay also included access to the spa, which had a hammam, sauna, and indoor pool. You could also book massages for an extra fee, either regular or hammam-style. There was an outdoor pool too, but the water was freezing, so we stuck with the indoor one. Towels were provided in the spa, and there were sunbeds by the pool (which was clean and pretty nice).

The hotel’s location was super convenient. There’s a bus stop just a few steps away, a big Migros supermarket nearby, and lots of restaurants and cafés a few blocks away.

One cool thing about the place is that planes fly right over the hotel. It’s kind of fun, and I personally liked it. They mainly fly in the morning and evening (maybe during the day too, but we were busy and didn’t notice). It didn’t bother us at night; with the windows closed, we barely heard anything.

The hotel also offers a free shuttle to the beach, running every hour from 10:15 to 14:15. It brings you back at 15:00 and 18:00. The beach is great—clean, with free sunbeds, and prices that aren’t too high. For example, a bottle of beer was 230 lira, which is standard. The beach itself was clean, the water too, and the music was pretty chill. Definitely worth visiting a couple of times.

The hotel was generally clean, but I’d say they should pay a bit more attention to the bedding—there were a few stains, and the room cleaning wasn’t perfect. But overall, it didn’t bother us too much.

All in all, we had a great time and really got to relax. The friendly staff left a great impression, and we’d like to thank them again and wish them...

Uncomfortable stay in optimum "luxury", which is luxury only in the title The only good staff in this hotel is the receptionist Elina and Emer. They were always friendly and helpful. The hotel didn't look that bad, at least not in the photos. When I arrived, I was placed in a different building, where I had to carry my 20-kilogram suitcase up a narrow staircase to the third floor. I stayed from August 1st to August 8th, and my stay included breakfasts. I'll discuss the breakfasts in more detail later. The rooms are cleaned every day, and the towels are changed. However, the floors are poorly cleaned, and only the exposed surfaces are washed. As soon as you move something out of the furniture, you will immediately see some kind of layer of dust bugs and so on. I was quite disgusted at first to sleep in my room. Although again I repeat from video I recorded my room looks quite good. A towel was stained. I was lucky that the room had an air conditioner that worked and a balcony. At night in the toilet to me crawled a little cockroach. Next, I was also afraid of bed bugs, thank God I didn't have them in my room, but my friends had a whole family of bed bugs with eggs in their room. I saw tiny bugs in my room that I immediately killed. Again, my room was cleaned every day, but when I killed the bugs, I used a wet wipe on the floor, and it was a dark yellow color after I had used it. I rate the room cleaning at 4 out of 10. Also, to my surprise, the trash bins were filled to the brim with trash, and they hadn't been emptied for a week until I approached the cleaning lady and asked her to empty the trash. The hotel restaurant was a disaster. The breakfasts were terrible, the selection was small, and the omelette looked like it had been sitting outside for three days. The coffee was disgusting. I once tried to buy a cappuccino from the hotel restaurant, but it cost 500 Lira and it wasn't even coffee, it was just a tastless liquid. For comparison, I bought coffee at a coffee shop, which was delicious and cost 140 Lira, and it was a real cappuccino. The service at the restaurant was terrible, as was the selection of food, and the prices were inflated. This was the most frustrating aspect of the experience. Additionally, the hotel offered a shuttle service to Lorena Beach, which was also disappointing. The sunbeds were cramped, and there were no mattresses or pillows, and the food selection left much to be desired. In general, I can't say that everything was that terrible, but it's hard to call my stay at this...

The room was spacious and clean. Good WiFi and spa facilities. Restaurant food was good. Modern hotel with functioning AC. Location is central to other attraction. Easy to access if you are driving.

Considering how modern the hotel is, some of the aspects of the hotel need a major improvement.

Firstly, it is close to the airport and sounds of aeroplanes can be heard throughout the night and day (an issue if you have a young one trying to get naps!). At one point, I counted 12 aeroplanes flying over the hotel at 7am in the morning! The windows need improving to block out external sounds.

Secondly, when using the walk-in shower, the whole bathroom gets flooded. They should have slanted the floor towards the drain or raised the main floor a lot more to avoid the flooding. It’s very uncomfortable and unsafe when you are staying with family and have kids as the tiles are slippery when wet.

Thirdly, the bathroom starts to smell after a while. Not sure if it’s the drainage issue but not a pleasant smell at all.

Fourthly, the breakfast included when booking is dreadful. I think the whole week we stayed, we ended up ordering more food as I wouldn’t consider what they provide is even breakfast. Basic breakfast items like omelet, toast etc you will need to pay extra!

Fifthly, the hotel has a shared iron so you would have to call reception to use the iron for 30 mins before having to give it back. For a modern hotel, basic iron should be provided in each room.

Another issue is the creaky bed. Every time you move, it makes sounds.

Reading past reviews, when people have commented about the aeroplane disruption, the hotel has replied and said we should have spoken to them so they could have sorted it, however in reality when we did speak to them, they said there’s nothing they can do. My baby actually became unwell due to the lack of sleep linked to the external sounds and despite having loud white noise on the sounds of the planes could not be blocked out.

Overall a disappointing experience considering how modern the hotel is.

There is also a large husky tied to a tree using a metal chain that sits outside the hotel in the scorching heat. I spent a week here and saw no one apart from tourists giving this poor dog any time. I was blown away by the fact that he was kept there in 30/40 degree heat. Something definitely needs to be done as this is not a pleasant sight and is...