Hotel Grand Cettia

I spent five nights at Grand Cettia Hotel with my 5-year-old son, arriving on 11 July. This turned out to be an excellent time to visit, as the hotel had a lovely, lively atmosphere with plenty of children around, but it wasn't yet overcrowded.

I've taken off one star because of the hotel photographer. Unfortunately, he was rude, abrupt, and quite unprofessional. After our mother-and-son photo shoot, he insisted that I stand beside his desktop computer while scrolling through the dozens of photos. He refused to email me watermarked images so I could review them at my leisure by the pool while keeping an eye on my son. I raised my concerns with both the hotel and the photographer directly. Eventually, he agreed to let me view the photos on his iPad instead. His manner is very strange, and I didn't feel fully relaxed during the shoot as he kept instructing me to 'make my son laugh', which is of course his job -- he's the one holding the camera and directing the shoot. Overall very unprofessional. Very irritating man, who was my only source of stress throughout the holiday.

The rooms are in need of an upgrade, as they feel outdated -- the decor is too dark and old. When we arrived, our room had two single beds pushed together instead of the double bed we had expected. I requested a room change, and the staff were responsive, empathetic, and efficient. Problems can arise on any holiday, but it's how they're handled that makes or breaks a holiday. The team happily showed me an alternative room and allowed me to decide whether it suited us.

The food was ok -- perhaps some improvements could have been made. I was surprised that Turkish kebab wasn't offered nightly -- we are after all in Turkey! I also thought that lamb was a staple of Turkish cuisine so I was disappointed to have not seen that offered at all! I'd have appreciated an array of fresh fruits, made available for grazing throughout the day. Bizarrely the ice cream bar is closed for most of the day, and completely shut on Saturdays. I'm unsure as to why this is the case; this is a policy that should be amended.

On our last day, there was an influx of new guests as more UK schools broke for the summer holidays. It seemed that the hotel was not able to fully accommodate everyone in the indoor and outdoor eating spaces. Some families were forced to eat in the dark pub area, cut off from the atmosphere of the evening entertainment and the community of other families. Additional outdoor eating spaces should be provided -- perhaps around the pool area.

Sun loungers cannot be reserved before 7.30am which is good. However, as the hotel began to fill up with more families as the schools broke for summer, some families struggled to find any sun loungers at all. It seems that the hotel's room capacity exceeds the capacity of some of its shared facilities, and this is something that should be reviewed.

The water slides were great, and my son loved them. I wasn't sure why they closed at various times throughout the day, as they were extremely popular. The children's pool is nice for children up to around 10 years old.

There was nice entertainment from dancers and acrobats by the pool during the day, and dancing led by the kids club team. My son loved the nightly mini disco and the evening entertainment.

On our last evening, there was a solo guitarist. We could have done without his performance of depressing, melancholic songs. He wasn't great.

The kids club was not very appealing to my son so he didn't go at all. They offered mainly indoor activities such as crafting etc -- I wish they focused on organising water-based and outdoor games for the kids. Thankfully my son was kept happy with the pools and slides, and water pistol fights with new friends.

Several guests mentioned that that the lady running the corner shop in the hotel is making up prices and therefore duping guests. Clearly displayed prices or a visible price list would improve transparency and avoid any confusion.

Overall, I had a lovely holiday. I'd definitely recommend it for families with young children. Great staff -- they are warm, friendly, always happy to help! Efficient and highly responsive cleaning team. Nice evening entertainment. We had a lovely summer holiday here!

Thank you, Grand Cettia -- my son has made lovely memories!

After reading how good the reviews are at this hotel me and my family were so excited to come which made the disappointment even worse. The rooms are standard but had problems with noisy people in the rooms around us. The food becomes very dull and for an all inclusive holiday we spent so much money having to go out and eat. The kids club girls are amazing and have not got a bad word to say at the incredible job they do. However for the lads around the pool unfortunately unless you’re willing to say yes to everything or have young girls in your group they don’t want anything to do with you. They stick with the families that get involved with every activity and once you say no they show no interest in communicating with you. Saw a couple of the lads dropping a few lasses off who looked no older than 16/17 and no sight of parents. It’s a shame how blinding the reviews can be as there is so much more to do and see outside the hotel just gutted we forked out and paid for an all inclusive!

Spent 10 days at the grand Cettia hotel with 12 family members we had an amazing time and we would like to give a special thanks to Mehmet who made life so much easier for my family and me helping with drinks and food and any other things we needed he was always on hand to help whenever needed he always had a smile on his face and was very welcoming he went above and beyond to his job to the highest regard my son too pictures with him and said he was the best out of all the staff we would like to thank zeki from the bar area and Faruk who were also very helpful and kind to our family we had a great time and it was made even better by these members of staff thank you grand cettia we will be back 💯