Ramada Resort By Wyndham Kusadasi and Golf

Our 10-Day Family Holiday Review

We’ve just returned from a really lovely 10 days away with our four children. Overall, we had a great family holiday but unfortunately, we did have a number of issues with the hotel itself which I feel are worth mentioning.

On arrival, we arrived in the early hours and the service was actually incredible. We were met and escorted to our rooms, which was a lovely touch. We had interconnecting rooms, which were fantastic for our family and worked really well. One room had three single beds and the other had a double and a single.

Unfortunately, the single bed in the second room was a camp bed with a flimsy metal frame, which was actually broken, and the mattress was incredibly thin — one of those folding mattresses that felt more like cardboard than a proper hotel mattress! My partner slept on this initially.

We reported this to reception and were told it would be changed immediately for a standard mattress. The following evening, nothing had been done. When we chased it, we were then told it was a standard mattress and there was nothing they could do, despite us seeing mattresses being moved around the hotel.

TUI agent online - explained our concerns about the mattress, the lack of support with the broken balcony lock and the general issues we were experiencing. The TUI agent put us in touch with the TUI rep who was visiting the hotel.

To be fair, he was initially incredibly supportive. He spoke to reception and, within minutes, it was agreed that the mattress would be swapped. I did question why it had taken getting to this point when we had first raised the issue three days earlier. However, once the rep became involved, the mattress was swapped immediately.

Guest Services also offered us a complimentary meal, which was a kind gesture and appreciated.

Unfortunately, the other concerns we raised were largely ignored. Nothing else appeared to be fixed, maintained or actioned.

We happened to walk past the TUI rep again two days later and he asked how things were. We explained that the other issues still hadn’t been resolved and, to his credit, he immediately took action again. So, while our experience with the hotel’s response was disappointing, we have to say that the TUI rep was helpful whenever we managed to speak to him.

Our balcony door lock was also broken, meaning we had no proper security. We reported this and were told a part was needed and it would be fixed, but it never was. This became particularly concerning when our youngest was unwell for a full day and was delirious and sleepwalking that night.We ended up barricading the balcony door with the bed and a chair because we didn’t feel comfortable leaving it unsecured.

The towels were another recurring issue. The cleaners did a lovely job of cleaning the rooms and making the beds, but on 8 out of our 10 days there weren’t enough towels left for the number of people in the room. We would return from the pool or a day out and have to call reception. On two occasions, we waited over an hour and eventually had to use our beach towels. We even started checking our room halfway through the day to make sure we had enough.

There were quite a lot of flies around the food areas. We appreciate that this is difficult to completely avoid in the heat, but there didn’t seem to be many preventative measures in place. There were advisory signs around the hotel, but we found the general approach from some staff, including around the pool, quite relaxed.

There were cats around the hotel but they tend to leave you alone.There are signs asking guests not to feed them, but unfortunately, lots of people did. We even witnessed a member of staff in the restaurant feeding the cats from a plate just before the restaurant opened, which seemed very strange considering the signage.

Another negative was a really unpleasant smell around the indoor pool area. We’re not sure whether it was cleaning products or something connected to the pool, but it was quite overpowering.

The lifts were also temperamental, with one regularly being out of service, sometimes for much of the day. This resulted in long waits, particularly when the hotel was busy.

We also found the service quite inconsistent. We met two lovely male members of staff in the restaurant who were fantastic, polite and regularly brought us drinks, but otherwise we weren’t really sure where to go or whether drinks would be served to us, and often ended up finding them ourselves. Generally, we found the staff less friendly than we have experienced in other hotels.

The positives The cleaners around the pool were fantastic — honestly, probably the best thing about the hotel. They worked constantly from morning through to evening and kept the pool areas incredibly clean.

The pool snack bar was brilliant. In fact, we preferred it to the main restaurant most of the time. There was a great selection of food, it was cooked well and there was always something available.

There were also lots of places to get drinks throughout the day, with really good coverage of the different areas and times. This was probably one of the best hotels we’ve stayed at for that.

The interconnecting rooms were perfect for a family of six.

The entertainment team were fantastic. They were incredibly friendly, acknowledged us every time they saw us and very quickly got to know our children. One evening, when one of our teenagers was poorly, Spider stopped to ask how they were doing, which was such a lovely personal touch. Coco was also brilliant — so welcoming, played football with our youngest and was clearly a favourite!

There were also various holiday reps and activity sellers around the pool, offering things such as boat trips, scuba diving and tattoos. We actually found them all really lovely — friendly, approachable and not pushy at all. We booked a boat trip through one of them, although unfortunately it was cancelled due to a family emergency involving the captain but continued taking bookings from other guests in the meantime, which felt a little unfair, particularly for the children who had been looking forward to the trip. We completely understood the reason for the cancellation, but felt the way the situation was handled could have been better.

The local area

We absolutely loved the local town and main centre. Everyone we met was so friendly and welcoming, the harbour was beautiful and everywhere felt safe.

The buses were definitely an experience — adventurous but great fun! The taxis were plentiful, and the drivers were lovely. Some chatted away to us and others played loud music, which the children thought was brilliant!

The Wednesday clothing market was also an experience in itself! It was busy and chaotic, but we found some great bargains and it was lovely for the children to experience something completely different.

So, overall, we had a lovely family holiday, but our experience of the hotel itself was mixed.

However, the repeated issues with the room, broken balcony lock, mattress, towels, lifts and inconsistent service really affected our overall impression of the hotel. What disappointed us most was that several issues were raised directly with reception but weren’t actioned until a TUI representative became involved.

We appreciate that things can go wrong on holiday — that’s part of travelling — but it’s how issues are dealt with that makes the difference. In our case, we felt that too many concerns were simply left unresolved.

We’d happily return to the area and had a brilliant time as a family, but based on our experience, we’d rate the hotel itself lower than we expected.

Efe Dodo Coco Asli Tunana.. Everybody amazing thank you for everything and we loved the hotel food and drinks was also good. Recommended!!!