Liberty Fabay

I’d give Liberty Fabay a solid 4 out of 5.

Now before anyone thinks that’s a bad score, it isn’t. This hotel does a lot of things very, very well. Unfortunately, it also gave us a holiday story that nobody back home quite believes.

Let’s start with the good stuff.

The staff are exceptional. Honestly, if the hotel management ever decide to replace the entire building, keep the staff and start again. Every single person we met was friendly, professional and genuinely seemed to care. Special mention to Mert and Chef Engin at the Indian À La Carte. Outstanding service and one of the best meals of the holiday.

The food in general is excellent. There are themed nights, although after a few days you start to realise the theme is mainly “excellent food presented from a slightly different angle”. Indian, sushi, Oriental dishes, grills, desserts, salads… there is always something to eat.

The snack bar deserves its own award.

At home I can walk past a kebab shop with no issues. At Liberty Fabay I somehow found myself eating kebabs, pizza, waffles and ice cream before lunch whilst convincing myself it was acceptable because I was technically on holiday.

The hotel itself is beautiful. Modern rooms, spotless public areas and pools absolutely everywhere.

Which brings me nicely to the pools.

The pools are fantastic when they’re open.

Unfortunately, during our stay, they seemed to be involved in an ongoing battle with the digestive systems of several small children.

Four separate closures due to faecal contamination.

Four.

By the third incident, guests weren’t asking each other what time dinner started. We were exchanging pool status updates like battlefield intelligence.

“Main pool?”

“Closed.”

“Swim-up?”

“Also closed.”

“Children’s pool?”

“Don’t ask.”

Now, accidents happen. It’s a family resort. But four times in one holiday felt like we were collecting them.

Speaking of family holidays…

We arrived at 2am and were allocated an accessible room. Perfectly understandable for those who need one, less ideal when travelling with a two-year-old who immediately discovered the wet-room floor was effectively a tiny water park designed entirely for slipping over.

Thankfully we were moved.

The new room looked fantastic. Modern, clean, spacious.

It also smelled faintly like the local sewage network had been given its own minibar.

The air conditioning wasn’t much better.

For three days we reported the issue and were repeatedly told everything appeared normal. Eventually, after escalating the matter, the hotel discovered a sensor was effectively telling the air conditioning to have a little rest whenever it felt nobody was moving around enough.

Once fixed, it worked perfectly.

Then came the highlight.

Or lowlight.

Depending on your view.

At approximately 1am one night, I was suddenly woken by the unmistakable sound of people working on our actual room door.

Not the corridor.

Not next door.

Our door.

Now, when you’re asleep in a hotel room with your wife and two children, there is a very specific adrenaline response reserved for hearing noises that suggest somebody may be trying to gain entry.

I went from sleeping holidaymaker to budget Liam Neeson in about three seconds.

Thankfully it turned out to be maintenance attempting a repair rather than an attempted break-in. The hotel later reviewed CCTV and apologised, but I can safely say it was the most alert I felt for the entire holiday.

The swim-up bar was another slight disappointment.

The concept is brilliant.

The reality felt a bit like someone had got halfway through the idea and gone for lunch.

Compared with neighbouring hotels, the drinks selection felt limited and receiving drinks in disposable plastic cups felt a little strange in a resort of this standard.

The evening buffet can also be a challenge.

The food is superb.

Finding a table large enough for your family is an Olympic event.

Without anyone managing seating, you’d often see two people comfortably occupying a table designed for eight while larger families wandered around clutching plates and trying not to spill soup on strangers.

The buffet layout itself could also benefit from a rethink. The grill station is clearly popular, but the queues regularly spill out into the main walkways, creating bottlenecks throughout the restaurant. At peak times it can feel like a tactical military exercise just to reach the desserts. An additional outdoor grill station or secondary serving area could make a huge difference by spreading demand and reducing congestion.

One final point for families.

There is an adults-only À La Carte restaurant included in the package, which is absolutely fair enough. Adults deserve nice things too.

The downside is that families with young children effectively lose access to one of the included dining experiences and some of the better wines unless they’ve somehow managed to pack a babysitter in their suitcase.

The paid restaurants are worth mentioning too. The Indian À La Carte was excellent and one of the highlights of our stay. We also visited the Grill Restaurant for our anniversary. The food was very good and we enjoyed the evening, although at €50 per person it is difficult to say it offered significantly more value than the excellent food already available elsewhere in the resort.

One thing I do want to give the hotel enormous credit for is Customer Relations.

Considering the series of unfortunate events we managed to collect during our stay, they were consistently professional, approachable and genuinely keen to help. It would have been very easy for things to become confrontational, but every interaction was handled with patience and understanding.

By the end of the holiday, they provided us with a room that can only be described as spectacular. After spending the week discussing sewage smells, air conditioning sensors, pool closures and surprise midnight door maintenance, it was genuinely nice to finish the holiday on a high note rather than feeling frustrated.

So, would I return?

Probably yes.

Would I recommend it?

Also yes.

The staff are genuinely fantastic, the food is excellent and the hotel has all the ingredients of a five-star experience.

A few operational tweaks and it could comfortably move from being a very good resort to an exceptional one.

Most importantly, despite all the mishaps, we left with positive memories, a lot of laughs, and a healthy appreciation for just how exciting a hotel door can be at one o’clock in the morning.

The food and service at the hotel was insane, especially at the Asian restaurant, the experience here was amazing, razor sharp service lead by Kursat made the experience extremely homely and warm, I couldn’t recommend more

I would like to express my gratitude to the administrator Rustam for the impeccable organization of our stay. Precise work, prompt resolution of all issues (from check-in to additional requests) and a sincere desire to help made our stay as comfortable as possible. Rustam, thank you for your professionalism and human attitude!