Karbel

A Mixed Experience Overall

The hotel is in an excellent location at the top of the main strip, close to a local supermarket and taxi rank. Another real positive is the free daily shuttle service to Sugar Beach, close to the Blue Lagoon, which we would highly recommend.

The front desk staff were particularly welcoming, polite and friendly. Most staff, including the bar staff (with the exception of two bartenders), were also polite and friendly. Restaurant staff were generally efficient in clearing tables, although there was no table service for drinks, so guests had to go to the bar themselves during meals.

The food was generally enjoyable, particularly the good selection of salads, meze and dips such as hummus. However, meat choices were limited, mainly alternating between chicken and turkey; some lamb or beef would have provided welcome variety. There was also no decent fish option, only very bony herring which was virtually inedible. The bread was always soft and fresh, although there was only one type and a wider selection would have been nice. Ice cream was provided daily, although there was generally a long queue. Afternoon pool-bar food was particularly limited for vegetarians, with little more than salad, onion rings, chips and a bread roll available.

The restaurant music was extremely repetitive, with the same slow, depressing blues track played over and over at mealtimes. It really detracted from the dining experience; a more varied and upbeat selection would have made a huge difference.

A huge disappointment was the standard of housekeeping, which fell well below what we would expect from a hotel. We had booked as a couple but were given a twin room, so had to push the two single beds together ourselves. The room was quite small and was cleaned only once during our stay, on our last day. Our bedding was also only changed once, again on the last day, and even then the sink and shower were not cleaned. Towels were taken away without being replaced, leaving us having to share, and we had no soap for two days despite repeatedly requesting it. Although there was a kettle in the room, no cups, coffee or milk were provided. The Wi-Fi also did not work in the room, which was very frustrating.

The hotel seems very heavily geared towards families with children rather than adults or couples. The main pool was constantly busy with noisy children and loud animation, while most sunbeds had already been reserved with towels before breakfast. The evening entertainment also seemed largely geared towards families, with karaoke and children’s dance activities on the stage, along with bingo on several evenings. There were some exceptions: one evening there was a very good singer, and the Colombian dancers were also very good. However, much of the entertainment was not particularly appealing to my partner and me.

While there is a pleasant adults-only pool, it is some distance away and has no bar, meaning drinks have to be carried down several flights of steps. With no background music or atmosphere, it also felt rather dull and overlooked.

One definite positive was the very good hamam and spa on site. The Turkish lady working there was particularly good and provided an excellent service. There was also a very friendly and professional photographer on site who produced a good selection of photographs for guests.

When we tried to raise concerns, there was generally a lack of management presence. Daytime reception staff were often unable to help or had difficulty understanding our requests, making issues difficult to resolve.

We returned from our two week holiday yesterday and couldn't wait to jump on here to share our views about this lovely hotel.

We arrived in the middle of the night and were taken directly to two separate rooms (102 and 938). We had asked for the two rooms to be together but they proactively apologised and said that if we come back tomorrow they'd move us. We didn't actually bother doing it to be honest as we were quite happy with the rooms, particularly the location of room 102. The rooms upon arrival were clean, tidy and really nice after their renovation (we have been before). There was a bottle of water in the rooms.

Having been before, we knew how brilliant the location of the hotel was and so we couldn't wait to get out and about the day after and, as the beach and strip are on the doorstep, this is just a massive plus.

Food wise, breakfast was great for the kids with chocolate pancakes and chocolate cereal! There was plenty of fresh fruit and dry fruit, the bread was lovely and the cheeses. My husband loved the omelette and egg options. The coffee was nice too. Tea time, the restaurant is lovely. Plenty of varying options and cooked right in front of you in some cases. The puddings were lovely and the two upstairs bars are ideally placed outside and in the lobby. During the day, the restaurant opens for a smaller dinner service and downstairs they have burgers/chips etc with fresh salads as always and a personal winner with our family were the freshly made pancakes! The ladies work so hard and the pancakes are beautiful.

We didn't use the Spa at all. The hairdresser's and barbers were brilliant.

Entertainment wise, the staff were good fun, and they work hard. The daytime entertainment was popular (darts, killer pool, aqua aerobics) and there is a kids club but we didn't use it. In the evening, there were a few shows while we were there but also Karaoke (a bit too much of this unfortunately) and bingo which was payable. As a family of six, we didn't partake as it would have cost us £60. Mohammed made sure he talked to everyone and was really nice company, as was Enes.

We found the bar and restaurant staff to be friendly, efficient and really great with our children and a special mention must go to housekeeping. We had the same lady each time (room 102) and she was so lovely. She was so very kind to my daughter when she wasn't well towards the end of the holiday. She cleaned our room beautifully every day leaving swans made out of the towels. Another special mention to Omer, the photographs are wonderful and he's such a lovely guy.

We recommend the trip to Sugar Beach that the hotel provide a shuttle bus for, we also recommend Hisaronu for a really fun evening out that's family friendly.

All in all, we had a lovely stay at The Karbel and can't wait to return again!

Absolutely amazing holiday ❤️ especially omar the photographer such an awesome guy 😀