Side Resort Hotel

Great hotel, so big and so much to do. Great entertainment team and pools.

Stayed here last week. Rating 4 stars but I’d probably say 3.5. The hotel itself and the facilities are lovely, really clean and the rooms are really nice, however quite small. We were in a family comfort room with a toddler and it was hard to move at all, and I hurt myself a lot on furniture having no place to move around. However, the room itself was comfy and clean so can’t complain about that as it’s all you really need.

The entertainment team were good and there was always activities round the pool. The slides were also great, well managed, clean and really fun, my 4 year old loved them and so did my 2 year old.

I’ve always been reluctant of kids clubs, however when out my partner sent my child there for an hour whilst checking on him often. When I returned I noticed my 4 year old had left on his own accord, and no one followed for atleast 5 minutes whilst I was then with him in the bar area after spotting him. Then a staff member came out to check if he had his parents, this amount of time could have potentially been critical as he can not swim, and didn’t have his armbands on at kids club obviously, so had he have decided to get in the pool, the situation could have ended really badly. If you sign your child into a club, they shouldn’t have access to leave without parent consent due to safety reasons and should only ever leave with an adult taking them to a guardian. My child is 4 and this felt incredibly dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. I went to the kids club with my child the next day and witnessed about 4/5 kids aged around 6/8 leaving the kids club on their own accord without a parent and the staff weren’t watching these children at all. They were engaging in the activities with the children playing nicely, which obviously is their job, but I think measures need to be put in place that when children enter kids club and are signed in, they must not leave without an adult.

The children entertainment staff were great however at the evening entertainment and around the pool, and everyone is great with children there. The food is excellent and so tasty. Staff were varied, some super nice, others we found quite rude. The bar staff at the good mood bar saw you queuing occasionally for ages, then would just serve all the other people behind you before they served you, which I thought was quite rude as I’d waited patiently for so long.

We had a situation in the pool where we witnessed a gentleman vomit in the pool drain, we informed staff and quite a lot of guests gathered to tell him to get out. Understandably probably embarrassed, he refused to get out despite the hotel asking him to. The reception manager then was rather rude to us when he came over to explain that he couldn’t get him out of the pool, and asked if we wanted to ‘punish’ him. This could have been miscommunication but I feel it’s not outrageous for guests to want someone who’s just vomited in the pool to exit, in the safety of other guests. The pool wasn’t shut, he wasn’t removed and the whole thing felt terribly managed.

This hotel is good, but not the best I’ve ever been to and there are definitely some areas that need improving. I do however get why people love it so much. The food is one of the absolute highlights, the pools, the cleanliness and the location are all 5 star. The other areas I feel could make it a 5 star all round. We may have just been unlucky with some of our experiences as it was very busy when we stayed.

Sadly, this was not our best holiday.

Very limited information was given on arrival, and it often felt like we were expected to find out for ourselves what was going on. When we arrived, we went to get a drink at the bar and, despite being the only people there, the barman was rude and impatient—not the best start to our holiday.

We only managed to get sun loungers by the main pool on our last day because guests were reserving them before 7am and then leaving them empty for hours. This made it difficult to sit near the pool and keep an eye on our children, and also made moving between the different pools difficult. Sometimes the four of us sharing one lounger. Better management of unused reserved loungers would greatly improve the experience, avoiding a culture where guests feel they have to reserve loungers early themselves and creating animosity. It was not particularly relaxing.

On our last day, the lifeguard told me off for food being left by the pool that wasn’t ours. When it was still there an hour or so later, he became frustrated that I had not cleaned it up myself and told me off again.

The rooms themselves were very clean, although we were left without toilet roll and towels on one day. The housekeepers and the majority of staff were lovely, but during one of the busiest weeks of August, it felt clear that more staff were needed.

The pools themselves were lovely. However, be aware that when times are advertised—for example, slides from 2–5pm—they may close before the stated finishing time.

A couple of the lifeguards at the slides were excellent, one was excellent when my child crashed into someone and triggered a nose bleed. He was trying really hard managing people ignoring rules but another was regularly on his phone rather than properly supervising the top of the slide. There were several injuries due to insufficient gaps being left between people, which was concerning. My child and partner were hurt with people crashing into their backs or on top of them.

On our last day, I was sitting between the children’s pool and the main pool, with children’s music playing behind me and different music from the main pool playing at the same time. This may bother some guests and there are quieter pools available and it’s quieter where 5-7pm. Lots of fun activities at various places around pools for all ages. We discovered late therewas a timetable at each pool , maybe somewhere more centrally would be good as missed bits.

We were happy with the food on most days, the beach was lovely, with plenty of sunbeds and the hotel’s proximity to the Old Town was excellent.

Overall, there were definitely some positives, but issues with staff attitudes, sun lounger management, communication and pool supervision meant that, sadly, this was not our most enjoyable holiday.