Ela Excellence Resort Belek

The shower in the room was broken and the sink didn’t drain water properly however it got quickly fixed by the staff. The food choice is limited. The location is amazing tho, the hotel campus is massive with a lot of green spaces lots of pools and clean beach with a lot of space for hanging out. Since the hotel has a kids club there are a lot of toddlers around so it could be quite noisy, but it is a nice place to be with family.

Overall, our stay was okay, but I wouldn’t choose to return. 3.5

A special thank you to Umut from Guest Relations (I hope I got his name and department right), who was incredibly helpful throughout our stay. I’d also like to thank the servers at the Lake House pool, who were consistently friendly and attentive.

The good

• The beach is beautiful, with sand almost all the way into the water.
• The Kids Club is excellent. There are plenty of nannies, daily activities, and shows almost every evening. The Teen Club also looked well organized.
• The smaller water slides are perfect for toddlers and younger children, while the larger slides are fun for older kids and adults. There are plenty of lifeguards on duty, which was reassuring.
• The professional photoshoot was a great experience.
• popsicles are available at the beach and pool bars, which was a nice touch on hot days.
• The resort app is very useful. You can check event schedules, book spa appointments, and contact Guest Relations directly.
• The spa massage was good. Just be aware that the “foot massage” is really more of a full leg massage.

What could be improved

We had to wait more than half an hour to check in and we arrived in the evening when rooms are ready. And there weren’t many people checking in.

Wi-Fi

The Wi-Fi signal was quite weak in many areas. After entering my phone number during the Wi-Fi registration, I started receiving constant spam calls, sometimes every hour. If you’re connecting, you can simply enter a dot instead of your phone number.

Food

The food was probably the biggest disappointment.

Only one restaurant is included in the all-inclusive package. The specialty restaurants all require a fairly high additional fee.

The Greek and Japanese restaurants are enjoyable mainly because of the entertainment, but the food itself is very similar to what is already available in the main restaurant. The Mexican restaurant doesn’t include any entertainment, although the main courses there were quite good.

The buffet selection changes very little from day to day. A large portion of it is dedicated to cheeses and olives, and after a few days it became repetitive. Turkish Night on Friday was the only evening that felt noticeably different.

Main restaurant

The outdoor seating has only a very small non-smoking section, and unfortunately it’s located between two large smoking areas, so it doesn’t make much difference. Also the floor is always full of little broken glass pieces.

On several mornings we had to wait quite a while for drinks because all of the staff were attending meetings until around 8:30 am. (Restaurant opens at 7) Once they were available, however, the waiters were friendly and hardworking, especially those serving the Lake House pool area.

Spa pedicure

I booked a pedicure without nail polish because I only wanted foot care. It quickly became obvious that they mainly focus on nail treatments, and very little attention was given to the actual feet beyond a brief scraping. If that’s the service offered, it would be clearer to simply list nail services rather than advertising it as a full pedicure.

Lost belongings

One day my beach bag disappeared from the loungers in front of our Lake House. Thankfully there was nothing valuable inside. I assumed perhaps housekeeping had moved it somewhere for safekeeping, but when I reported it, nobody seemed interested in investigating or asking around. Several umbrellas also disappeared from the loungers near our accommodation.

Housekeeping

Until I mentioned the issue, our room was rarely cleaned properly, and we had to ask several times just to have towels replaced. After raising the concern, housekeeping came every day, which is what I would normally expect from a five-star hotel.

Cleanliness around the pools

The pool areas themselves were enjoyable, but the flooring around the main pools often looked dirty. Some stains remained in exactly the same places throughout our entire stay, and I rarely saw staff cleaning those areas apart from emptying the rubbish bins.

Sustainability

The resort promotes its environmental efforts, particularly regarding towel reuse, but some practices seemed inconsistent. Small portions of fruit were served in large plastic containers, bottled water was used everywhere, and recycling bins were very difficult to find. Staff regularly cleaned up litter, but there was still a noticeable amount of single-use plastic around the resort. I’m certainly not an eco fanatic, but it felt at odds with the hotel’s sustainability message.

Final thoughts

Ela Excellence has excellent facilities for families, a beautiful beach, and genuinely kind staff. However, the inconsistent housekeeping, average food, weak Wi-Fi, and several service issues made it fall short of what I expect from a five-star resort in this price range. We still had a pleasant holiday, but there are other resorts I’d choose before returning.