Hotel Side Royal Style

In May, we made a one-week reservation for our parents through a third-party travel agency. Since they had stayed at this property twice before and had always been satisfied, we had no concerns whatsoever.

Unfortunately, due to a flight schedule change, we needed to add one extra day to the reservation. We therefore contacted the hotel’s reservations department directly. Thanks to Mr. Reha’s assistance, we were able to arrange the additional night’s booking without any issues.

Everything proceeded smoothly up to that point, until an unfortunate incident occurred shortly before the start of the holiday. Through social media, we learned that pollution had developed in a nearby stream and had spread all the way to the sea, causing environmental contamination in the surrounding area, including the beach section of the resort.

When we called the hotel to obtain information about the situation, we were told the following by hotel staff:

• It is not related to us.
• There is no problem on our beach.
• Some of our guests are swimming in the sea, and we have not received any complaints.

After seeing the photographs and hearing the staff’s approach to the situation, we contacted the third-party agency through which we had made the original reservation and requested a cancellation. When they reached out to the hotel for clarification, they received a written response confirming that the reports were accurate and that hotel management had informed their guests about the issue. They shared this response with us. Not only had nobody informed us until we contacted them ourselves, but we had also been left with the impression that the matter was not significant.

The agency handled the situation professionally, and our reservation was cancelled with the payment refunded to our account within two days.

When we contacted the hotel’s reservations department to cancel the additional one-night reservation that we had booked directly, the staff member stated that they had not heard anything about the issue and that no such information had been provided. We advised them to consult local news sources and submitted our cancellation request.

Following several phone conversations, the cancellation was processed on May 11, and we were asked to provide our bank account details for a refund, which was stated would be completed within 14 business days.

As of June 5, although the 14-business-day period has not yet fully elapsed, the promised refund has still not been processed.

Having reviewed all correspondence from the beginning, I have come to appreciate that many international businesses take customer satisfaction seriously as a long-term priority. Unfortunately, in this case, the attitude we encountered reflected a mindset of simply getting through the day and the season, rather than genuinely valuing customer satisfaction and maintaining transparent communication.

As a result of everything that has occurred, the hotel has not left us with a positive impression regarding honesty and transparency. Regrettably, it will no longer be considered an option for us in the future.

Food here is DISGUSTING, leaves you feeling sickly all the time & service closes 30mins earlier than they state at all their restaurants/cafes, staff treat you like rubbish unless you tip them constantly - total rip off for the price you're paying. I holiday in Side often, stayed at several Side hotels & what you get here is budget priced food & service, charged at a premium. If you're paying these prices & want value for price paid, I recommend any of the Paloma hotels in Side instead - way better, similar price. If you want more budget but better food try Oz Premium.

Food was gross, we felt sick & bloated every day even though we only ate twice a day & only 1 plate of food each time. They definitely add MSG to all their food which makes you feel full, bloated & unwell. Most of the guests are 70+ years old Germans, ready for the nursing home or on holiday from one & the food is catered to them (ie people with no teeth or limited bite!). All the food is cooked until it's mushy & awful, very salty & no flavour. Scrambled eggs you could eat sipping with a straw, dinners mostly soft & over-cooked casseroles & re-used food from leftovers the day before. BBQ chicken from the beach lunch used the next day at dinner in a casserole with vegetables you couldn't identify because they were so soft they'd broken down!!

Don't be fooled by the pictures of sumptuous seafood & outdoor BBQs - we were here 10 nights & this happened 1 night only because they were celebrating 10yrs of the hotel. The photos of this food event are meant to lead you to a false view.

The two hotels (Royal Style & Palace) are together, you get to eat at either of the venues but they both serve the same slop. At Style you're forced to use staff to get your drinks as they don't let you near the automatic juice/soft drinks machines but it's a trick, they want you to pay them 2-5 Euros each service. If you don't pay, good luck getting service. Same at breakfast for tea/coffee. Meanwhile at Palace the machines are self service for guests during meal times.

They don't serve cocktails to your table, you have to get them yourself from the bar located outside the restaurant - good luck, it will be a long wait because they have only 2 staff & a tonne of orders from 10 waiters serving the outdoor area who get priority. The cocktails are not made properly, even the very basic ones have missing ingredients (eg Pina Colada had no pineapple juice or cream, just milk & coconut rum; Cosmopolitan was just vodka, lemonade & a dash of orange & pomegranate juice).

Every other all inclusive hotel at this price point includes cocktails at the beach - not this hotel or the Palace (its sister hotel). This brand of hotels try & make money on guests at every opportunity - they charge 8-15 Euros per cocktail at the beach. The only freshly made good food are gozleme (Turkish crepe with savoury or sweet fillings of your choice). No Turkish coffee at the beach either, so coffee after your lunch? NOPE

You can book one a la carte restaurant for free during your stay, we chose Mediterranean & the lady who books them at guest services booked us into Turkish instead - which isn't very popular & had few bookings. I'm told by other guests this happens often, she sneakily fills the less popular restaurants without the guest knowing until the night of your booking when it's too late. Is this 5 star service? NOPE

The cafe cakes are mostly awful, the chef makes various single serve cakes in shapes (squares, triangles, boxes, rectangles) that are brightly coloured on the outside (blue, pink, green, yellow) but are literally made of nothing instead - mix of cream & tapioca powder which has zero flavour or taste. Imagine biting into a brightly coloured cake that looks amazing, only to find it is utterly tasteless, not even sweet but literally zero flavour - you could be eating air!! The chefs should be embarrassed all around.

Remember to finish eating 30mins before the closing times listed on the schedule you're given at checkin (schedule photos attached) because that piece of paper is a load of lies. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, cafe, beach lunch & all bars close 30mins earlier than listed. Food is removed from buffets, staff will literally remove a food server from out of your hand even with 30mins left before closure - staff don't care about guests, they've never been trained to.

At breakfast one female staff (picture attached) had the audacity to keep moving us mid meal from table to table, because she was trying to empty her service area - 50mins before breakfast even finished! We moved from one table for her, then 15mins later she demanded we do this again to another area entirely & when I refused she yelled at me! I guess she's used to pushing around the elderly German guests. I just wanted to eat my breakfast at one table in one sitting. She then spent the next several days yelling out loud to her colleagues about us, swearing & calling us names in Turkish (I understand) at any meal we attended where she was working. Even one of the supervisors didn't stop her on the 3rd day of this...but you're expected to keep paying tips for this type of abuse! Would you expect this treatment at a 5 star hotel?

Lobby bar at Style is useless, lucky to get anything out of them - people lining up for tea/coffee in the afternoon & no staff at the bar, order a drink at night & the ladies roll their eyes at you while the men ignore you entirely - even for soft drinks. Palace has much better service at lobby bar. Entertainment is good - dancers in costume, acrobatics & aerialists, awesome rock band one night & for the oldies a guy singing old fashioned German sing-a-longs.

Rooms are wonderful, Scandinavian design that's spacious, separate lounge, beds somewhat firm but you get used to it, big bathrooms & a great shower but NO SHAMPOO provided. I asked the cleaner for shampoo (they have mini bottles of conditioner & body lotion, liquid soap dispenser in the shower), she told me the liquid soap was also for shampoo - women that spend hundreds to thousands a year on their hair are NOT going to use body soap for shampoo!!! Is this what you expect from a 5 star hotel?? No iron available for guest use, not even to request from room service, they only offer PAID ironing services & they charge a lot. All those wrinkled clothes in your suitcase you need ironed are making them a fortune in forced extras. Greedy!

The room cleaners are fantastic, very friendly & helpful, nothing is too much & they do a great clean. Fridges are restocked every day in the afternoon unless you're in the room, they won't knock or restock (an outside light near the door tells them when you're in). The contents of the fridge are disappointing compared to other Side hotels of this price point - 1 small bottle of each drink (coke, lemonade, fanta, beer, juice box) & 1 litre bottle of water left outside the fridge. Other hotels do 2-4 bottles of each plus white & red wine, various juice flavours too. Not here though.

Beach is great, lots of luxurious sunbeds & water/juice readily available in self service fridges. Not enough sunbeds at swimming pool areas at both hotels & there's no music at either, it's silent & boring. Equipment at beach bar regularly break down - some days no Turkish tea available, they never have coffee, limited soft drinks, beer & wine. Ice creams in fridge available for a VERY short time, they move the fridge away & lock it up earlier than listed on their schedule. Regular free bus transfer to the beach or a 10mins easy walk. Shopping centre near entrance to Palace (connected to Style through walkways), lots of shops on main road 3mins walk from Style entrance.

Will I return? HELL NO. Many better options at this price point in Side. Considering Side's tourism is down 40% this year & hotels are struggling to fill rooms, Style is definitely not winning over return guests who have teeth to eat proper food!

Great time in this hotel for the third time, best time with Hakan and Sinan, they are the best.