Sentido Hotels

My family (of 7:2 teens and 3 under 10) were the first guests of the season so we, along with the first coach-load, were practically given a red carpet reception with champagne and roses, which was a very pleasant surprise indeed. This warm welcome did not end there as the staff and manager (thank you Metin) were, caring and down-to-earth and went out of their way to look after you. The term "all inclusive" was taken to the limits as you could eat and drink all day long in the many restaurants bars or snack-bars located all over the resort. This was great for our family (especially with a 14 yr old boy with an endless pit for a stomach). The buffet restaurant is huge and the food selection quite diverse; they try to cater for all tastes (even for the less adventurous who want chips when abroad). The menu is similar every day but with some variation here and there. But the food standard is very good. The service from the buffet staff was excellent, they even remembered our names as well as what we liked to drink and would be serving us almost before we sat down! There is an indoor pool next the free gym and several pools of various sizes throughout the resort. They also have an outdoor water park with several different slides (great g-force on the U-slide). As its located right on the beach (not white/golden sand but shingle but the shingle is very fine), you can also enjoy sunbathing on the beach and/or take part in water sports for a small cost. At this time of year the water was quite cool but still swimmable You can also pay to get a massage at the spa which I did with my wife - the masseurs are A* and the kids had a great time having their chocolate Spa treatment:-). They also have a steam room and sauna rooms. There are staff who are in charge of your entertainment ranging from bingo, darts, table tennis, Jenga, aqua-gym and whatever else they can arrange for you. We were particularly impressed with the childrens entertainment. Lera (the kids worker) did an amazing job with the kids (our 3 younger ones are 7 and 9 (twins)). Lera ran 2 kids clubs during the day and provided evening entertainment with fun games and a mini disco. Lera is a natural with the kids and they all drew to her she even got the shy ones taking part. Unfortunately, there were not many activities directed at the teens but there are enough facilities to keep them busy. The resort is within walking/cycling distance of Icmeler and you can take a bus (@3TL) or taxi into Marmaris and enjoy bartering at the bazaar (we got some great deals there but you need to stick to your guns and be prepared to walk out to find a better deal elsewhere) We paid to go on the Turkish night with the kids. It ran quite late into the evening but was well worth it. The entertainment was A-maaaaazing! We would have given this resort 10 out 10 but unfortunately we did experience some issues. The air-conditioning wasnt working at first in one of our rooms and it took several calls over 3 days for it to be finally fixed. We had issues with the cleaning of our rooms. We would return to our rooms in the early evening to freshen up before dinner to find that our room had not been cleaned and towels not been replaced. We were told it was scheduled to be cleaned in the late afternoon as they had limited staff at the start of the season so it took a long time to clean all the rooms. So our room was cleaned very late in the day (after we complained each time) or not cleaned at all on one occasion and we even ran out of toilet paper. Only after 7 or 8 complaints to reception and then escalating it to the concierge and hotel manager over 4 days was it finally resolved. We were also not impressed with the ala carte restaurants (we tried the Chinese and the Italian they also have a Turkish restaurant, which we didnt try). Im afraid to say that the waiters there (albeit friendly and polite) really need some additional training as the service was slow and they were not attentive as they should have been. The Chinese food was OK but the Italian was not up to par. Again, the service was slow but our mains came out cold, the salmon dish was full of bones (so inedible) and the tiramisu should not have been called tiramisu as it was some sort of chocolate mousse with some runny cream topping (which we could not bring ourselves to eat). The resort had Wi-Fi but a few people had trouble connecting at first (including us) and the connection kept timing out every few hrs so you had to constantly log in again. Smoking for us was another issue as Turkey do not impose smoking restrictions like in the UK so we and the kids were often bombarded with passive smoking, which we absolutely hate. But these disappointments were more than outweighed by all the benefits and we would definitely recommend this resort and plan to return ourselves as soon as we can afford to do so again.