Hotel Tivoli Resort

“Good-Yes, Excellent-No, Value for Money-Yes, Relaxing-Definitely Not”

So, only just getting round to this review. Overall this hotel was very nice, located about a half hour walk from the local town centre centre-there are several small shops minute's away and a tiny town about a ten minute walk away. The hotel is quite modern looking with a nice but not clinical fee… more

So, only just getting round to this review. Overall this hotel was very nice, located about a half hour walk from the local town centre centre-there are several small shops minute's away and a tiny town about a ten minute walk away. The hotel is quite modern looking with a nice but not clinical feeling inside. I had paid extra for a sea view room and it was set right in the centre, a couple of floors up, overlooking the beach. However, it was also overlooking the big bar area, which as I hoped it wouldn't, created a lot of noise come the evening. There was even a 'Cocktail Party' one night-lovely and looked fab, but not if you decided not to go out that night. I must say the way it was set up looked pretty cool, just didn't really want my room over looking it. Have to admit though, the sunsets were just gorgeous from my room. The room itself was reasonably modern and kept clean on a daily basis. It was also of a respectable size with a queen sized bed-always appreciated as a solo traveller. There was a fridge and, not a deal breaker, but I always like a freezer compartment to make ice for the following day-not an issue though. The pools were really nice, and though I like being around the 'busyness' of a main pool sometimes, I always like the option of a 'quiet' pool. I discovered this when I went to the gym one morning, thinking this will be lovely for some days of the holiday-how wrong was I! Respect doesn't seem to be followed by all holiday makers. Note on the gym-it's decent and open early enough to get breakfast afterwards. Anyway, the first time I went to have a relaxing/quiet few hours by the relaxing area/pool, annoyingly, there were kids-no parents-there and a group where one guy would not shut the xxxx up. I put headphones on, trying to ignore it, but these people just can't keep still. Upon a guy bombing into the pool, I'd had enough. I don't mind the chatting, messing around, playing, shouting-not at all-just go to the main pool area. I mean literally the whole top floor is dedicated to relaxing and surely there can't be that many holiday makers who can't read/read the room. So, after almost an hour I went to reception, then to the customer liason room, to explain the situation, with them saying that they'd go up to the top floor to ask 'them' to respect/leave the area. Another 30 minutes go by-nothing. Another trip to customer liason-nice and relaxing-and as I was going back up to the top floor the 'group' were coming back down. The kids were still there and one of the customer service ladies eventually came up and explained to the kids that the area is not for playing-still no parents to be seen. So, 90 minutes later, I finally got a relaxing few hours and it is a nice area-when it's quiet. However, what followed on my next several visits to the top floor was as unrelaxing as it gets. Numerous trips to customer liason disturbed my day, and surprisingly, on a couple of occasions the lady-as lovely as she was-came up to the top floor with me, would then go over to whoever wasn't respecting the area, then come over to me to say what she'd said... Like seriously, now I've got daggers aiming at me across the pool while I'm trying to relax. A sarcastic wave from myself seemed to stop this childish behaviour. An idea would be, to whoever the regular staff member is up there-the bar guy, for example, to keep an eye on the area and then politely advise 'noisy' holiday makers to respect the area, and if it was to continue, to contact customer liason. Quite simple really. The food at this hotel was quite decent to be fair. There was plenty of choice and lots of freshly cooked options-they even had their own in house bakery, so everything was lovely and fresh. I also noticed that there weren't the usual long queues and scrambling, which is always appreciated, though this could had been because it was October and not Peak Season. There were different options on where to eat for lunch at the top of the beach area-I was quite excited upon first seeing this area-so many options, though I found the food here to not be as good as it first looks. The lady who made the freshly made large pancake with fillings-forgot the name-was very good and was the best food in this area. The other option at lunch was by the main pool and I enjoyed several lunches here-the staff were very good and you could get things like pizza, burgers, salad ect and it was pretty good. The evening meal is where this place exceeded expectations-and as I don't always get the evening meal on all inclusive-there's only so much you can eat-so, I only discovered this into the 2nd week of my holiday. The food was quality, tasty, with so many options with freshly made stations. I was very impressed by this and wish that I'd had gone to have more evening meals. There was also an option to go to the A La Carte restaurant-I really can't remember much about this apart from the food was just OK and I didn't go again and would not recommend it. I quite enjoyed the late afternoon cake/biscuits in the bar area that I'd enjoy with a relaxing hot chocolate. Some of the biscuits were better than others, though it was more the experience that I enjoyed-sitting on the huge chairs by the window, normally with the company of a cat. Onto the bar area-it's a large area that I normally went to sometimes at the end of the afternoon. The service seemed to be OK at this time-though this could be hit or miss. There seemed to be 'young students' on work experience and I found the odd one to be very good, though the rest were either uninterested/lazy/distracted by each other. One problem I felt was that there seemed to be no one in charge/a supervisor. It's only natural that if you leave a bunch of teenagers alone and expect them to work to a good standard and with enthusiasm, it's not happening. I came down to this area only once in the evening and did not repeat this. No problem with the area being busy, but there was literally nowhere to sit. After ten minutes I found somewhere, only to wait about half an hour for a drink-also I had to go up to the bar three times to ask for my drink. I did not repeat this-I have certain expections and things that I enjoy-spending an hour having 1 drink in an overcrowded and poorly staffed area isn't something that I enjoy. As for the evening entertainment, I presume something was on, though I never saw anything. What I do know is that there is a nightclub of sorts-never went-and if that's what I liked/the youngers ones, I'm sure that they enjoyed it. The beach was quite good for a Turkish beach-Turkey is not renound for the best beaches. Although busy, there were always sunbeds available and I enjoyed quite a few days on the beach. There are areas to walk to and I'd say it was kid friendly-shallow waters and not choppy waves. As I was coming to the end of the holiday, I found myself craving more and more relaxing time. Yes, this is probably an age thing, but also because of how the hotel is set up-I hadn't had any true relaxed days, which I need in the mix on holiday. On one of the last days I paid to go to The Yatch Club next door-nothing to do with the hotel- and I had such a lovely relaxing day. Also, on the last day I paid for one of the huts on the side of the hotel beach-think it was €25/30 which meant that you got the hut to yourself for the day, service to bring you food and drink and most importantly, relaxation. I more than enjoyed this with lots of peace & quiet, a little bit of snorkeling, the company of a cool cat with lots of food and drink. Crazy to think that my last 2 days were my favourite-yet for these I had to pay for. Overall, it's not that I'd not recommend this hotel-it's nice and has some good points. I also appreciate that I have different needs to some other holiday makers and the absolute need to have relaxing days as an option is a must for myself. No, I won't be returning, but I never return to the same area/hotel anyway.

less

“Definitely NOT a 5 star hotel!!”

I had high expectations when booking this hotel, but my overall experience was pretty disappointing. There were 5 of us and we booked a superior room and a standard room. First of all, I emailed the hotel about 3 weeks prior to our arrival requesting rooms closer to pools/restaurants/lobby area as … more

I had high expectations when booking this hotel, but my overall experience was pretty disappointing. There were 5 of us and we booked a superior room and a standard room. First of all, I emailed the hotel about 3 weeks prior to our arrival requesting rooms closer to pools/restaurants/lobby area as my mother has mobility issues. I also mentioned that we were travelling for my brother's 40th birthday. None of these have been acknowledged and we were given rooms furthest away from the main areas. Also there was quite a long ramp leading from the lobby towards the lifts when going to the rooms and my mother struggled with that during the stay. The superior room was large and quite nice and had sea view, however you could hear loud music from the adjacent hotels/evening entertainment. The soundproofing of the room was pretty bad. The a/c in the standard room was leaking, and there was a huge patch of damp on the wall. The maintenance guy came over and said that they would need to cut open the wall to fix that. The other option was to change the room. I didnt want that happening as the wet patch on the wall didnt bother me, and I wanted to keep our rooms close together. The hotel was catering mostly to Russians and Turkish. Staff barely spoke English and it was so difficult to communicate. Some staff were quite rude. At the pool snack bar, I asked for a plain cheese burger as my young daughter likes it plain. They told me it was a standard menu and couldn't accommodate. They were preparing burgers fresh there and all they needed to do was to avoid the salad and sauce. But that seemed like such a big ask. The waitress then finally said "ok, I'll bring" and we waited for 20 minutes and we never received it. They fill the cups with ice at the bar when ordering drinks, so i asked for less ice and even that was too much to ask. There was one particular waitress who was very rude, whose name I mentioned to management when they rang me up in the room and asked how my stay was. There is a TV in the room, but 99.99% of the channels are Russian or Turkish. There was one news channel in English. So if you want to put on the tele for the kids to watch something, might as well it bother. There was a lot of food at the buffets, but most of it was pretty tasteless. There was so much food waste. People were piling up their plates, but most of it was uneaten and left on the tables. Similarly, the cocktails were very poor. Very sugary syrups/cordial. Tasted so artificial and were undrinkable. On the plus side, the pool area was pretty good, the life guards are so attentive and I saw them jump in several times to pull some kids out that struggled to swim. Eventhough there was a language barrier they were very nice and were helpful. The entertainment by the pool was good too. There were limited sunbeds. Most guests come in early to reserve sun beds and then leave for hours. So you are left without a sunbed most days. We had to pull a chair from the snack bar for my mum to sit on, or to put our belongings. You had to go to the spa to get pool towels and each time you walked in you got hassled about getting a massage which was very overpriced. Even if you refused, they still kept trying to convince you. In the end I showed them info of a spa I found online with exceptional reviews for a fraction of the price. I had no intentionof goin to the spa even if it was cheap. The next day the lady asked "how was your cheap massage? ". I felt very uncomfortable going there each time. I have stayed at many 5 stat hotels before, and this definitely doesn't deserve 5 stars. 3 stars may be at a push. I would NOT recommend this hotel.

less