Spice Hotel & SPA — Hotel in Serik

So.. where to start... having been to Turkey for the last few years and staying in other hotels such as, Xanadu, Ela, Voyage, Gloria Golf, all of which are of a similar standard and in my opinion, all worth it.... I can easily say that the Spice Hotel does not come close.... where to start and in no particular order... please note stick with and I will try and balance this.|This was a 10 night stay for the last 10 days of July.||Guest Relations - Remove half of the team, they will probably be twice as effective and with the money saved, invest in training for the bar/waiting staff....|Really poor experience with Guest Relations (GR).. |Due to lets say some confusion and poor communication, I ended up with GR offering me a second a la carte meal for free ( we already had one included with the booking ). Not ready to book at the time, I said I would come back the following day to book, once family had agreed what we wanted. I asked for a note to be put against our rooms to show what had been agreed, was told it would be. Went to book 24 hours later, GR reneged on the promise, blaming a junior member of staff and lack of understanding.... I fully admit my Turkish is next to non existent, however there was a GR member that seemed to be completely aware and able to understand, who translated everything the previous day.... as is usually the case, there was no manager to talk to and I would have to wait till the next day... however GR were insistent that they would not honour what was previously promised. I was told the manager would contact me the next day... With no contact the following day, as we booked with a tour operator, I reached out to the rep when he was in the hotel, explained the situation, which for me was now a point of principle and Ali ( thanks Ali) got it sorted almost immediately... however the point is I should not have had to involve the tour operator rep... GR should have honoured what was promised. This in itself was enough to demonstrate the 'value' that the team add, which makes a mockery of them walking around the grounds, seeking feedback from guests... as the feeling is that notes get made and then forgotten as soon as the poge is turned..,, however, you always have to provide a room number even for general comments, are they bonused on the number of room numbers that they collect and write down !!||A La Cartes - As this was mentioned above, brilliant experience in the Italian, couldn't fault anything, however this was vastly different to the Turkish, where courses were delivered at different times, items came to the table that weren't ordered, and it was generally disappointing, had I have been paying for the privilege.. I wouldn't have done.||Some positivity ( but dont get too excited, normal service will resume afterwards ) - Pool was fantastic, always lots of sun loungers, never an issue getting a lounger and it never really felt crowded in the pool, as its huge. Beach area is clean and as a pleasant surprise compared to beaches in front of other hotels that we have stayed, relatively stone/pebble free when walking into the sea... |Balancing this - In the words of my 13 yo, the water slides are under whelming... but hey, we could see what they were like in pictures before we went... but they are more suited for younger children. Some areas of the pool side need attention, with broken tiles and areas that are generally tired and in need of some attention..||Food - Overall, couldn't really fault the food, in either the main restaurant, the 'take-away' by the pool or the snack bar on the beach.. given the number of people being catered for, it never ceases to amaze me how they do it, but a couple of points, cant all be good now can it.... from the main restaurant, the outside bbq needs to find a way to keep the meat flowing from the lamb/chicken donor, as there was often an empty tray with people waiting for meat to be carved.. and we also witnessed what I would call 'specials' , e.g sushi / large fish displays / dishes being served by staff, being wheeled away and taken away while in the middle of the alloted time for dinner.... not quite sure why this happened... but it wasnt for lack of availability of the dish....|Main Restaurant Service - Out of a 10 night stay.. for the 8 nights we eat in the main restaurant, we had excellent service from the waiting staff on 1 occasion, 5 nights were simply MEH, and 3 were appalling... where we sat for 15/20 minutes before getting any drinks service and with no service from clearing the table / topping up wine, etc... this demonstrates that there is a lot of training required, (back to my first point) as staff seemed to operate with set areas and with vastly differing levels of service. Again, I apologise for my lack of basic Turkish, however when we do the wine dance, Red, White ?, Red, White?, Red, White? ,point to something Red, get a nod of understanding and yet White wine turns up, something is wrong.....||On the subject of training and with some massive kudos and applause (some more positive things) to 2 members of bar staff.... all bar staff should be trained by Uulzhan ( usually working in the Pool bar) and Evgenii ( Both pool bar and main lobby bar), both Uulzhan and Evgenii understood how drinks were made and for the most part who was next in the queue to be served, what more could you ask for when it's busy, so big thanks to these members of staff, if only everyone worked to the same standard.||In terms of the refurb/decor, the main building is very grandiose and impressive, however and I can only talk about the rooms that we were staying in, while on the surface it all looks good, for those that understand the term, the snagging list would reach biblical proportions....and to others comments here the hotel and grounds are generally tired. ||I could go on, but some mixed bullet points to close this out...|- Great spirit selection, if you want beer, you only have one or two cholces, depending what bar you go to....|- Mini bar in room - Poor, needs better selection|- Beach bar - Don't know if this is usual, as we only sat there once, but when we were there, they were only serving beer or soft drinks...|- Definitely have a go at the Slack Lining - every morning at 09:30... really tests your balance|- They need to do more promotion of the activities.., there is only one A4 sheet showing the activities at GR.... they should have a big board near the pool / pool bar.. i.e. where people are. |- Evening entertainment... Musician in the hotel lobby bar is in my opinion, brilliant. Other evening entertainment is simply ok, and while I still enjoy a good night out, the music and entertainment at the pool bar for example was simply 'just there' and dare I say, played too loudly to enjoy it... but then I guess its all relative.|- Often nowhere to sit in the main lobby bar... this seemed to be a favourite in the evening and with large couches, chairs, tables to match the style and decor, it was more style over substance, i.e they need more seating and tables in the main lobby bar.|- Reception - We wanted a late check out and on the surface of it, it would appear that reception did put in some effort to accommodate this, and while IMO it was expensive given we had to move rooms, as there was a new guest going into the rooms we had... the peace of mind of having a safe and a room to finish packing / shower etc was worth it. | ||If you stuck with this till the end, I hope you found it useful, but in summary, this is not a hotel that we would rush back to...

A highly outdated facility, OUTRAGEOUSLY rude staff, no way value for the money.

All the negative feedbacks about the pool's piles peeling off, lack of cleanliness, worn out walls, furniture, facilities everything are TRUE. Don't waste your time reading 5* feedbacks written by the hotel staff. They are ridiculous ))

We stayed from August 7 to August 17 in room 2510. A duplex with a good sea view. At check-in we were placed in room 2515 then 2521 duplexes - all with a disgusting cigarette smell. We paid extra 360EURO to get 2510 which did not smell thankfully. On the first day my daughter got her foot cut with a piece of broken glass near the main pool. That is how it all began.

We have been a handful of times to the main ISOT restaurant for dinners because the staff is rude if not hostile and the food is all the same (meatballs and grilled to death fish and meals from meat cooked a day ago) everyday. The waiters either put a half full bottle of water on your table from other table or bring a full bottle but no glasses which you have to fetch yourself. Staff never smiles and looks at you with hostility. We felt they were making us a favor by bearing us at the tables. The table sheets were stained, utensils not available. A middle-aged woman-waiter at the kid's food zone has been super rude all the time, we were choosing that place sporadically because of its proximity to the food. She was just dumping half-full bottles on our table (no glasses) or didn't bother to notice us at all. I regard myself as a top1 percentile tip giver but this didn't seem to be helping us.

So we dropped out of dining at the main restaurant and opted only for the a-la-carte. Staff there smiled and worked for the tips. Food was good at the Wasabi, fish place (scenic views of the sea and mountains at 8 pm), italian was ok, turkish not worthwhile (half of meals are from the main restaurant).

We bought ENAR De Luxe SPA for the 2 and were promised we will be treated in a private hamam - no way, it was the public area. Other than that we highly enjoyed the salt peeling, foam peeling, Harmony massage. The indoors pool is under reconstruction.

The beach area is the only remaining merit of the hotel - no staff there means you don't have to see unhappy hostile faces, the sunbeds are located on a special wooden ramp, a stripe of cloth overhead instead umbrellas give more shade and look cool, the pier is long enough to dive into clear waters, beach is never congested, everything is very reachable, sand is never cleaned (cigarettes ends, litter occasionally). After our kids caught some infection from the pool (thankfully we overcame it fast unlike many other kids), we were making our way straight to the sea bypassing the pool and tried to catch up with our rest on the beach - the only place that Spice...

The hotel is well-located, with a pleasant beach. It is generally equipped to accommodate guests with reduced mobility or wheelchairs, and rooms are available for this purpose.|Unfortunately, the hotel has some issues that, if you're not a Turkish or Russian tourist, you should be aware of in advance.|Upon arrival, we were greeted by the reception staff, who simply handed over the keys after verifying that everything was correct with the reservation and instructed us to scan a QR code for all the information. The information provided mentions the hours but does not explain the location of the various facilities (restaurants, etc.). I contacted Guest Relations. The hotel does not have a map showing the location of the various facilities.|Although the app doesn't mention it, some services are closed on certain days, and you'll need to find out for yourself. For example, the pool restaurant is only open Monday through Saturday for lunch – information not available on the hotel website.|Ultra-all-inclusive is a funny thing. It allows you to have breakfast and lunch and choose between the beach restaurant, the pool restaurant, or the main restaurant. But at dinner, there's only one option. This is because the hotel's other four or five restaurants can only be used for an extra fee (30 euros). This isn't typical of all-inclusive plans, where at least one or two dinners are usually allowed; even with ultra-inclusive, we don't have that right.|The food is based on Turkish cuisine; there's no international cuisine at dinner. We've never had a chicken or beef steak; lasagna and fries are nonexistent. Whether you like Turkish food or not, this is an international hotel in terms of cuisine.|Most staff speak little or no English. Some are concerned with serving Turkish guests first, who, without proper manners, want to get ahead by speaking louder. This is particularly evident in some areas.|The hotel is clean, and the pool bar and ice cream corner work well. However, the bakery staff speaks very little English. On the beach, the most experienced staff member treats everyone equally, but the youngest tells us to calm down and, if we let him, will serve the loudest speaker first, even if it's not the norm.|It's a shame that a hotel with such excellent facilities is more focused on the Turkish and Russian markets than on improving...