IC Santai Family Resort — Hotel in Serik

Our 10-day stay in room on 6th floor (it’s important because of horrible housekeeping lady) was a tale of two extremes. While there are aspects the resort gets right, they were completely overshadowed by a theft incident, an inadequate management response, and other significant issues that prospective guests must be aware of.

First, the major problems that defined our experience:

THEFT & AN INSULTING RESPONSE FROM MANAGEMENT: This was the most critical failure of our stay. We and our parents were victims of theft (in our and our parents room) on two separate occasions.

First, cigarettes went missing. Then, a new T-shirt was stolen from our open suitcase. Their handling of the situation was, frankly, insulting. For the stolen cigarettes, they did offer to replace the pack. However, their reaction to the stolen T-shirt was shocking. Instead of offering an apology, they searched our room in front of us, as if we were hiding it ourselves. After this humiliating process, they offered zero compensation for the stolen item. The complimentary late check-out we received was not a proactive offer from them. It was one of our demands in a formal written complaint, which they only agreed to because we insisted. For the theft of the T-shirt itself, we received nothing. This entire process made us feel like suspects, not victims.

PERVASIVE SMOKING: The atmosphere is dominated by smokers. People smoke constantly and everywhere: by the pools, during evening shows, and even right next to the children's play areas. As non-smokers, we felt like we were constantly breathing second-hand smoke, which was unbearable and is unacceptable in a family resort by modern European standards.

MONOTONOUS FOOD & POOR HOUSEKEEPING: The main buffet food (breakfast and lunch) was very repetitive and often bland or under-seasoned. The pasta station was consistently inedible. Over 10 days, there was only one themed night ("sushi").

Furthermore, our room was not cleaned thoroughly (despite tips), and basic supplies like toilet paper, cosmetics, were not restocked for 5 days(!). The level of service neglect was exemplified by an incident in our parents' room, where a housekeeper removed a partially used roll of toilet paper, rather than providing a new one. 😱 As a frequent traveler, I must state that I have never experienced such a blatant disregard for basic guest needs. Five days into our stay, our toilet paper supply was depleted also. Despite the bathroom being completely empty of this essential item, the housekeeping staff serviced the room but failed to replenish it!!! (To IC Santai menager - You should better control this lady, she is dangerous!)

There are also far too few public toilets for a resort of this size

GUEST DEMOGRAPHICS: Potential guests should be aware that the resort's clientele is predominantly Russian. For some travelers, especially in the current geopolitical climate, this may be an important factor to consider.

To be fair, there are positives that deserve mention:

A Fantastic Start: We were treated exceptionally well on our first day. We arrived at the hotel at 6 AM, and even though the official check-in is at 3 PM, we were given our room almost immediately. This was a wonderful start to our holiday and we were very grateful.

Great Amenities: The resort excels with its IC Coffee bar and Mixology bar, which serve delicious drinks. The all-day ice cream bar with branded ice creams (Magnum, Algida) is fantastic, as are the afternoon waffles.

Excellent Family Features: The kids' club is spacious and well-equipped, and the evening shows were of high quality. The beach is wide with plenty of sunbeds. Good Service (in places): The service staff during meals in the main restaurant were excellent and very attentive. We also loved the fresh Turkish bagels (simit) and the wide selection of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Conclusion: It’s a resort with a split personality. It offers great amenities for families but fails on fundamental aspects like cleanliness, security, air quality, and...

We stayed at this hotel for the first time, "betraying" our favorite one (won’t mention the name, as this is not about that hotel) for IC Santai… and we regretted it. Dates: April 16–23 2025 Room: sea view, 4th floor

Check-in: Extremely cold welcome, staff barely spoke Russian (Hilal)— something I’ve never experienced in Turkish hotels before. We had an unpleasant moment with this unrespectable woman Hilal (she mentioned me , that I am not speaking Turkish, but I shouldn't ?! I am a guest, first time I see such unfriendly , not polite staff on reception - shame on her and on the hotel BECUASE OF HER). she must study languages more. And the way to speak with guests .

Guest relation (on the right) was perfect ♥️, respectful , smiley and friendly and tried to manage all the problems. Thank you!

Territory: Large territory, a main building with 5–7 floors and 2–3 wings, plus bungalows and villas. Many pools, a water park (with heated water, so yes — you can enjoy the slides even in April), a heated kids’ pool. The indoor pool is actually colder than the heated one outside.

Room: Our room was under the roof, which meant… the entire balcony was constantly covered in bird shit (sparrows). It was awful and uncomfortable, especially for drying swimsuits and towels. At first glance, the room seemed modern and recently renovated. But! (see photos) Water stains on the ceiling, broken furniture edges, and a crookedly mounted mirror ruined the impression. Also: I’ve never slept so poorly in a hotel. Soundproofing is non-existent. You hear your neighbors’ TVs on both sides. Can you imagine?

Housekeeping was hit or miss, and once they even left our door open 🤷🏻‍♀️ Imagine coming back at 4 PM and finding your room door half-open. Very unsettling! A question: how is that possible in a hotel where at least 50% of the guests are Russian-speaking , not to speak russian for staff?

Food: The food is very good, definitely 5*.♥️ Varied, fresh, and not just leftovers from lunch served again at dinner. The main restaurant is nice and stylish. But! Birds fly inside the restaurant, so the backs of chairs are often covered in droppings. It’s disgusting (see photo).

Pools: The water park for adults has heated water — great plus (though they don’t enforce any age rules; even very small children are allowed on big slides). The kids’ aqua zone is cute and warm. BUT: no lifeguards anywhere — I’ve never seen this in Turkey before.

Kids Club: Not 5* 🤷🏻‍♀️ — we go to Turkey specifically for the kids’ clubs, we can compare.

Only one boy at the reception desk and 2 girls spoke Russian (perhaps more, but we didn't cross). It’s dirty and old equipment! No matter how cute the photos look online — they’re not real. There’s no shading or tents, so kids are outside under direct sun. There are too many kids and too few animators. All the activities are basically: “hand out supplies” and let the kids do something by themselves in a crowd. Most activities lasted 5–10 minutes. Very boring compared to other baby clubs. if you like it, it means you've have never been to real 5* hotels and baby clubs.

Mini disco is held in a bar — the air is bad, it gets super stuffy, and kids often leave halfway through because they’re soaked.

I would not recommend this hotel if you care about the kids’ club. If this club works for you — it just means you’ve never seen how amazing they can and should be.

Summary: • Heated water park • Great kids’ pool • Food and cocktails (bravo to the bar man (someone wrote here his name)) in the main building bar — very good

– !!! Hilal - shame of hotel!!! • Staff already tired and careless at the start of the high season • No real focus on Russian-speaking guests (though there are many!) • Huge hotel but not enough space for guests (sunbeds, tables, etc.) •...

Family of four (two young kids). This hotel is at best a 3 star hotel. Very underwhelming, with food being rather average and the whole hotel other than the reception felt very dated and worn. ||Our arrival set the tone for the holiday unfortunately. When we got to our room after checking in four of us at 01:30 in the morning only two beds! Had to wait for beds so didn’t get to sleep until 3am with two young children. The room was way too small for four beds and they shouldn’t offer it as an option for four people. You couldn’t even open your case on the floor as there wasn’t enough space!||Our aircon didn’t work in our first room and being ground level we couldn’t leave the patio door open overnight. On the third day we eventually got moved up a floor but surprise surprise the air con didn’t work there either. They said it has a limiter around 23c and won’t go below that. Well our room overnight went above 25c each night (in both rooms!). We reported it 3 times and then gave up. ||Positives:|- Very close to lovely beach and plenty of sunbeds|- No battle in the morning for sunbeds|- Queues not too bad for drinks during the day, branded drinks. |- The ice cream hut had plenty of choice and were branded ice creams. |- Kids activity team were the only positive and welcoming staff. Always smiling and interacting with the kids. |- Pool with slides was fun and plenty of slides to choose from.||Negatives|- Ants in room even though up a floor level|- Aircon didn’t work in either room we stayed in even after reporting it three times! We eventually gave up reporting. |- Standard room is not big enough for four beds. |- Arrived approx 01:30 in the morning and didn’t have any food to offer us. Reception staff just said sorry we’ve stopped food now and didn’t offer any alternative. |- Majority of staff quite rude and grumpy. Not very welcoming or approachable. Felt like guests were an inconvenience |- Nowhere to self serve drinks during meals, this is a nightmare as the waiters are so busy, you get your first drink when you’re seated and then just had to queue to request more drinks. |- Food was at best average. Had raw chicken in a chicken dish and cooked eggs were somehow often cold in the mornings. |- Way too many guests for meal times. You would have to queue for ages to get certain foods and then they had ran out so you’d have to wait until the cooked more. |- Main restaurant is just complete chaos. They have far too many guests for size of main restaurant. |- late open for evening meal when you have young kids - 1900. They offer slightly earlier for kids bit but they are ok miniature chairs and tables and we wanted to dine together. |- If you or your children struggle with noise and very busy places the main restaurant is not recommended.|- They permit smoking outside in the food areas so if you want to eat outside be ready for guests blowing smoke all over you. If there was a policy of no smoking in certain areas this was deftly enforced and everywhere we went throughout the day (outside) we had people smoking near us. |- Had to chase cleaning service for room even though we left the green light on confirming we wanted the service. We turned it on at 9am and by 5pm not been done so we had to chase cleaning service towels for showers etc. ||If you really want to go to Turkey for a holiday, I would definitely look at an alternative hotel. The majority of staff clearly didn’t want to be there and guests were just an inconvenience to them!||The Hotel is very worn other than the reception and definitely not the star rating it...