Elijah Birch
We travelled to Antalya, Turkey on 6th September to 16th September and was overall a horrible experience. Our flight was cancelled a week and a half before we were due to fligh out and the options given were pay £700 extra for new flights or cancel the holiday all together. When i enquired about changing dates/airports they found same dates for a different airport at no extra cost so was peeved they didn't offer that to begin with. When we arrived at Antalya airport we met the rep for our transfer shuttle which was booked with Golden Sea travel and after an hour and a half of waiting and constantly asking for an update, we were told they have no idea when or if they were coming and was told to book a private taxi at our own cost. The rep booked the taxi for us and made us pay 2800 lira (I later found out average price for a taxi to our hotel were 1100 so the rep ripped us off to line his own pockets!) We stayed at Eftalia Splash resort for 10 days which was advertised as a 4 star hotel but its definitely a 3 (at a push)! The whole experience was horrible, the food was worse than what you would get at a hostel, just chicken nuggets, burgers, chips and pizzas. The photographs of the food served was nowhere near as good at what we got during our stay and my 2 year old would only eat chips for the whole stay as there was nothing on offer to cater for children. Quite a few facilities were closed as well like the Effes bar and the kids pool was closed 4 of the 10 days we were there also which wasn't great. The rooms were fine and housecleaning was regular so no quarrels with that but the walls were paper thin and could hear all the neighbouring rooms arguing and partying until the late hours which kept us all up. The pools were nice enough but again the photographs made them look much nicer than what they actually were. Eftalia island was a quick shuttle away and we spent most of our time there. The food on offer was pretty much the same but much nicer pools and better choice for small kids. We ventured out to the surrounding streets just to look around once and had every shop owner trying to scam us left and right so we stopped going out for fear we would be tricked into paying for something eg a photograph with a camel that quickly turns into a camel ride and then demanding 800 lira for the experience despite stating we didn't have any cash on us in the first place. The 'clientèle' was just parents looking to let their kids run wild while they inhaled as much free booze as they could get their hands on which made for the hotel to be extremely loud and rowdy when everyone was trying to sleep so stay away if youre looking for a quiet, relaxing holiday with your family or young children. On our way home our flight was leaving at 8.15am and our transfer shuttle (Golden Sea travel) told us they would pick us up at 4am which didn't give us much time but there wasn't anything we could do about that. 4am rolls by and no shuttle....My family and 3 other families waited until 4.30am and despite several phone calls to the company they advised they didn't know where our driver was or if they were even coming. After chatting to the other families we learned they also did not get picked up from the airport either and had to pay for private taxis. Another 1000 lira to pool with another family for a taxi and we finally got there at 6am so it was a mad dash through airport security etc and made our flight with minutes to spare! Overall this has to be the worst holiday experience I have ever had and unfortunately was our daughters first. Luckily she will forget the horrible experience over time but I sadly will not. If you are thinking of staying at this hotel or you have already booked it and are looking for transfers DO NOT use Golden Sea travel and change hotels if you have time (or cancel your holiday with On the beach if you still have time!). Their customer service is shambolic, their responsibilities to you are a service provider are non existent (as they like to state all over their website) and it will take weeks or months to get back to you with a reasonable response due to closing their customer service call centre, which is convenient for them but not for you as a customer. Go with TUI if you can or just don't book an all inclusive holiday in Turkey and expect a high quality hotel with the 'great' facilities they advertise with aesthetic pictures that aren't the same in person. I've made a complaint directly to the transfer company in Turkey and one with On the beach for my out of pocket expenses (4000 lira) and the £98 I paid for the airport transfers that we did not receive and will make sure I book with a more reputable company in future I would advise you all to avoid On the beach and Eftalia resorts like the plague!
1 year ago
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On the Beach has a 3.5 average rating from 1,187 reviews

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