Terrace Elite Resort Ultra All Inclusive

This hotel is sold as 5 star hotel but it really isn’t. We stayed in two rooms - myself and my husband in one and my sister, her husband and daughter in the other. We paid £800 pp for a week. However, we landed early hours of the morning and departed early hours so we really only got 5 days - not the hotel’s fault. Pros: The hotel rooms were clean and tidy. The beach is fabulous and there were plenty of sun loungers, clean toilets and food/drink available. The sea is clear and the sand was clean. Waffles and ice cream at the beach were lovely. The entertainment staff are very friendly and do make every effort to get people involved. The spa is nice - we all had a massage, Turkish bath and facial! Really lovely experience. Cons: The food wasn’t great quality and was cold most of the time. You have to serve yourself tea/coffee etc at breakfast and that’s if you can find any clean cups or glasses. In the evening, if you can get someone’s attention, you’ll be able to order drinks. However, there was often no ice, or the soft drinks were flat. Cocktails at the bar never came out the same - even when ordering the same thing. We ate out 2/5 nights during our stay. Sadly, it just doesn’t meet the standard of a 5 star hotel. The pools were absolutely freezing - we went mid October so I understand that the temperature has dropped, but they were unusable. Luckily, the sea temperature was still ok for swimming so we were able to spend time in the water. Whilst the staff aren’t unfriendly as such, there’s not really that feeling of being welcome at the hotel. The real kicker was when we checked out and a guy who we had never seen, on reception, pointed to the tip box on the counter and indicated for us to put something in. He held out his hand and took the notes of what we had given, put them into his pocket and then put the change into the box. I was genuinely shocked - we had been tipping throughout our stay when we felt it was warranted! Overall, we had a lovely holiday spending time together as a family but would not return to the Terrace Elite.

The hotel was clean. The room was spacious. The two a la cart restaurants, advertised with the holiday, were not open. Given that it was peak time, we were surprised to learn at the hotel that these restaurants only opened if enough people booked. The overall health and safety in the hotel was very poor, especially the water slides, we witnessed an accident where an adult was badly injured the lifeguards on the slides which there are 2 of them sat at the top smoking and playing on there phones, there was never a lifeguard at the bottom and one at the top monitoring when someone had finished on the slides so that the next could go down, one day 7 adults and 10 children were going down the big slide all at once it was an accident waiting to happen, the lifeguards did nothing given the man that was injured a day before you'd think they'd up there game and stop this from happening especially as there were really young children using the pool at the time, that's another problem people where using this as a pool too when really it should only be used for the slides. Staff were friendly but simply not enough staff around the pool or in the buffet area. Tables were not cleaned and cleared quickly enough. There are not enough sunbeds for the number of people in the hotel. The use of the sunbeds was not monitored, and the hotels own rules were simply not met, ourselves noting beds "reserved" with towels for the holiday maker to return from the beach later in the day! The checkout process was extremely poor and stressful. We were advised on arrival that we could pay €30 for a late check out on the day we were due to leave, only to be told on the morning of check out that this was not possible! We were advised to use the spa showers, which were full of others using them. The showers downstairs in the spa were not available as it was in darkness. The showers were very poor, and lockers did not lock. No shower gel or shampoo provided. No privacy to change. The food at the hotel was ok. We always found something to eat, but we ended up going out a few nights as it was a bit repetitive. We're English, and the language barrier was extremely hard at times, and to be fair to us, we did try to learn the basics before we went as a show of respect to them. The animation team, as stated in other reviews, is very good and does work hard a special shout out to Mike and Max, who were brilliant . The table service was nonexistent till day 3 when we eventually got someone's attention, and we started to tip him, we then got the service we'd hope for, we compair this to a holiday in egypt we've been on before and the service there was excellent even without tipping and subsequently we're going there again in 6 weeks as our main holiday. The overall experience of this hotel wasn't what we expected given the price of it, some people we spoken to had booked this month's ago and paid full price, we booked this last minute and got 33% off and a free childs place so saving us

Our two teenage daughters and ourselves had an excellent holiday at the Terrace Elite Hotel. It’s very clean, spacious and comfortable with great rooms and good, reliable air conditioning. I’m not sure why some people comment about the food as it’s plentiful, varied and consistently good quality. The meat choices are fresh, tasty and varied, the salads are excellent quality and again varied. I have been in the hospitality trade for over 35 years and obsessed with food, especially eating it, and couldn’t fault the food and service provided. From the animation team, waiters, bar staff, cleaners and spa personnel, (had a few massages as well whilst there) they all worked tremendously hard and all very helpful and friendly. We all loved the beach, which is a couple of minutes away on the frequent bus service provided, again with a great selection of food and facilities provided. All in all, we would definitely go back and stay again for our main holiday as they really know how to do all inclusive properly and provide a very relaxing, care free holiday. The old town of Side (pronounced- see day), is well worth a visit