Gloria Serenity Resort — Hotel in Serik

We recently stayed at the Gloria Serenity resort, and it was wonderful. 10 adults and 7 kids across 3 villas, for 10 days.

First of all, things that we found to be amazing: Our personal Gloria Assistants, Madina and Mirgul, they were so helpful, quick to respond and extremely accommodating. Especially Madina, whom we met in person - she greeted us upon arrival, chaperoned us to places throughout our stay and was the last person to send us off. Exceptional personal touch and we enjoyed being greeted by her enthusiastic attitude and smile. The food. So many options and all of them taste truly good. I assume all of us gained at least 2kg each by the end of our stay, but we do not have any regrets. From salads to desserts, Gloria gives out their all and you can taste it all day from breakfast until midnight snack. The beach and surrounding environment. The ocean is so clear, beach is super clean, lots of lounging options, was never overcrowded and the facilities are exceptional. The landscaping and vegetation in the hotel is on a whole new level - beautiful flowers and trees everywhere. The entertainment - they really put in a lot of effort into their shows and they were all a great watch. We loved utilising the Game Center as well as their sports facilities. You never run out of things to do or watch. Our favourite was live performances on the terrace by the reception. The staff - all very polite, greeted with a smile at every encounter and pay a lot of attention to detail. Hotel facilities - the spa is one of the most beautiful ones I’ve ever seen, all the restaurants are designed with immaculate taste and every corner of the hotel is just very nice.

Things that could be improved: Their smart home functionalities are lacking in consistency and reliability. This was a notable inconvenience. The air con kept turning off, lights kept turning off at random times (which could be dangerous if you have disabilities/small children), plugs occasionally failed to work. Hotel was always quick to reply and send out technicians, but it did not always fix the issues. The water park requires more thorough maintenance and upkeep. We were a bit concerned about safety as one of our kids got stuck in the slide and another one got a cut while using the metal stairs. The kids program could be better as well, it wasn’t really fun for kids above the age of 3, seemed that it was mainly aimed at parents who wanted to get some downtime instead of actually creating fun pastime for kids of all ages. The photography service - this is something that has left a bitter taste unfortunately. There are a couple of cameramen walking around the hotel offering to take pictures - our family decided to do a little photoshoot. We hoped we can get digital copies - maybe 40-50 unedited pictures, were willing to spend up to €500 (€10 per picture) - instead we were informed that a digital copy would cost us €18 per picture (which was more expensive than actually printing the pictures!), offered a single album for €3500 or 40 digital picture for €700. These are quite outrageous prices. When enquired, we were told that we “are at a luxury resort”. Mind you, we have already spent quite generously on this trip outside of our all inclusive offerings and not to mention the villas. I don’t understand how digital copies come out to be more expensive than a physical print, how can someone charge above minimum wage for a single copy of a mediocre picture. This was disappointing.

Otherwise, it was truly an exciting and relaxing stay.

100% worth every penny if you bring your...

Great 5 star hotel!

Good looking hotel, very clean & lots of safety precautions taken due to covid. Rooms are lovely with everything you need. The reception & concierge staff were all really helpful. Anything you need/ask they are happy to help. The all inclusive really is all inclusive & pretty much 24hour. We enjoyed the evening entertainment. We had a great Wednesday night with Jojo live band at the G Venture. The sunset party and acrobat show were also really good. The hotel entertainment team make an effort to inform you of something that’s happening each day. Special mention to Erdem who was just brilliant, great character. WiFi is excellent everywhere which is always handy.

Breakfast; anything you can think of.... cereals, cheese, lots of hot food options, fresh juice, yummy pastries, cold meats/fish, so much fruit, yoghurts, good tea/coffee and so on...

The Italian a la carte restaurant was amazing, such great service from the waiters, especially Halil & Ali. They made sure we had a great night & the food was delicious and the wine was really good. Make sure you book the Italian. You can also visit the Italian for lunch too. There is a good selection of salads, pastas and pizzas. We really enjoyed lunch here.

Steak a la carte; the meat we had at this restaurant was delicious! So tasty. Portions were massive & the service was good. Good looking restaurant. You should visit here too but only if you are a meat fan as that’s all they have.

Fish a la carte restaurant; lovely location by the river, the food was delicious, so fresh & tasty. There was a great selection. Only book if you are a fish fan. But it is worth a visit.

French a la carte; this was our favourite restaurant! Food was amazing, wine was good and again the service was excellent. Another must book during your stay.

The beach area is lovely, and we loved the dock pier bar. We had lunch at the beach bar (Traces) a number of times & there is a great selection here too. There’s also lovely fresh fruit & ice cream near here. The main restaurant & buffet always had a good selection of food. Theres so much choice & the deserts are amazing!

Besides the food, What really made it for us was the staff and service! They are all so hard working, friendly/helpful & make a conscious effort to make you feel welcome and make sure you have everything you could possibly need. A special mention to Yevheniia on concierge who was lovely, Tolga on reception who helped us extend our check out time. Seyma whose part of the bar staff. She was lovely & extremely hard working. Yasemin at the main restaurant was lovely & always greeted us. And Burcin at the beach bar & main restaurant was also very welcoming & helpful. Anybody that doesn’t like this hotel or gives it a bad review must be very hard to please as I couldn’t fault it. Thank you to all the staff at Gloria for a...

Family of 5 (children grown up), stayed for 5 nights in garden villa (3414) last week of May 25.

The good: villa perfect, clean and modern decor, hot tub was a hit. Great service everywhere, buggy shuttles useful, food was excellent everywhere we ate. (Tetrasomia main restaurant, Estela, Traces, romana trattoria, Kul, route 66). We found the pier, beach and pools nice areas to relax with helpful and attentive staff. We played golf 3 times, enjoyed both new and old courses, good condition and quite challenging. Food and service and the golf club was also first class, and when my son left belongings in our golf buggy we appreciated the staff retrieved them quickly even though the buggy was back out on the course. The chocolatier and ice cream parlour were great and visited daily. Entertainment overall was decent, Overall it is a good luxury experience.

The bad: on my prior visit 3-4 years ago, the a la carte restaurants were a highlight. Always full (it could be tough to get a reservation), great atmosphere and top class food. Unfortunately the new dining concept concept is a disaster, with all a la carte restaurants (with the exception of Estela) now carrying a supplement of between 20€-75€ per person (this quickly can get expensive for a family group). Guests are voting with their feet, the a la carte restaurants seemed mostly empty during our visit. We ate at Kul (Turkish a la carte) on our second night, food and staff lovely, but we were the only people In the entire place, so there was zero atmosphere and the fact that the staff had no one else to attend to made it an uncomfortable and weird experience which we decided not to repeat as we don’t enjoy dining in empty restaurants. The overall Gloria Serenity dining experience is now much poorer after the recent changes, It feels like the management have put $$ before guest experience, which is sad because it was so good before. We also decided to make use of the free 1hr of tennis and padel courts, finding that there is a rental charge (cash only) of 15€ per racket per hour, so in reality an hour for 4 people costs 60€. This seemed disingenuous. Bowling is 8€ per player per game.

Overall we really enjoyed our stay, but I’d be hesitant to return until the dining concept is revisited to ensure the a la carte restaurants have guests and the vibrant dining experience that existed before...