Carmina Hotel

Well what can i say this was my first time to Turkey and also first time taking my 8 year old boy away with me, Hotel Carmina was great that the pool was clean and the everything about the place was spot on the people was out of this world as it has been taken over by a english lady and her husband this year and i am hoping to go back soon. BEST HOLIDAY I HAVE HAD FOR A LONG TIME the staff could not do enough for you, we had a lovely holiday and i would recommend the Carmina to anyone,

Just arrived back from a week in Carmina, and was pleasantly surprised. Having read all the reviews prior to booking, we were not expecting the ritz hotel, but although basic and in need of some upgrading, it was kept very clean with clean towels and sheets daily, by the quite elderly but lovely cleaning lady. (she even left towel sculptures). Breakfast basic turkish fare but quite adequate, although the coffee was very weak (take your own). Great staff there who are always pleasant, and like to have a laugh with the guests, and will do their best to please if you have a problem. i.e. room changes, telly not working etc. We were allocated a groung floor room on arrival, but after reading others reviews we asked for a higher floor. Room 322 was situated at the back of the building on the 2nd floor, and although there was some noise from the local cockeral and dog, no other noise disturbed our peace, and lovely views of the mountains. Rather than spend a boring day at the pool, catch the free dolmus(at 10 at the front of the hotel) down to St.Josephs beach. Only 10 mins travel. Beautiful tranquil spot on the blue lagoon, 10 lira for 2 sunbeds and an unbrella, and often offered a free apple tea on arrival by the owners.(public toilets also). Main Olu Deniz beach is only 20 mins walk back along the main road, but this beach is shingle and not very clean, also deeply shelving(where the other is not). Hisaronu itself is not a huge place, but packed with bars, restaurants and shops (mainly typical tack but also some nice textile/pottery shops). We tried the recommended places to eat and didn't have a bad meal, but neither did anyone else we spoke to who had tried different places. Can recommend Daphne's for a sunday dinner, (turn right out of the hotel, just a little further down). All in all, not our usual choice of accomodation, but a good clean base where we met some fantastic friends (got to say who, Jim and Dee), we had a brill time, so dont be afraid to book. P.S. if you dare to do it (my husband did) the paragliding is not too expensive at approx £50 , and he says fantastic. Go on, be a devil.

carmina was a good base for holday after we upgraded to self catering.Excellent service from maids. Very clean beds and regular towel change. Good location for all amenities with nice surroundings at pool ,bar area.Food eaten in hotel was very good and well presented.Breakfast can be boring but hey the tea was good. Staff very friendly .and helpfull.There it ends.Beware of system where no receipts are given when any purchase is made.Ensure what you are paying for is yours.Challenging this is not acceptable as I found out and a frosty reception was received next day when we went down stairs. We were ignored by two staff members who had been very friendly throughout our stay. When we left our cases were taken to bus by abrim who is a star. Bar staff did not even say goodbye.This spoilt what had been for us a very pleasant holiday. Do not be put off staying at this hotel it is cheap to stay and there is lots to do in the village itself. We are already booked for next year .

The Carmina is ment to be 2 stars sorry but I would not give it one our room was the pits down stairs from the pool dark and cold so no need for the aircon very noisy shower flooded every night managers answer to the problem was to give us more towels to dry the floor will go back to hisaronu but not to the carmina apart from the hotel loved the place so as I say make sure you have a good hotel

We have just returned from the Carmina Hotel after staying for one week. We didnt expect a lot from the hotel due to low holiday cost (£390 for 2 adults and 2 children). The hotel is very basic and in need of a total refurbishement. We arrived late on Thursday night which is their BBQ night and decided to eat there for ease, however you are unable to pay for your meals and drinks as you go along as they insist that everything is charged to your room. Big mistake!!, we tried to pay the bill the same night and were horrified to find out that they had added numerous drinks to our bill. We didnt eat or drink at the hotel at all from that point on, this isnt a problem due to the excellent choice of bars and restaurants nearby. Despite this they still tried to charge us for drinks which we didnt have as we checked out. Enjoyed hospitality of Pie and Mash restaurant just in front of the hotel which produced a great home grown wine for 2 liras (approx 80p) and beer for £1.20. Carmina also had a large sign stating not to bring drinks and food into the hotel, however we ignored this, particulary as we had booked on a Self catering basis and bought food from the supermarket which we openly took back to the room. Rooms were "cleaned" daily although bedding was not changed once and towels which had been left on the shower floor were simply folded and left on the bed. However, we did notice a massive improvement on the last day including swans being made out of the towels and flowers together with a note from the cleaner, wonder why!! Jasmine Restaurant is worthing checking out, great food and children eat free. Captain of one of the many boats in Olu Deniz also works there who offers a great trip. Full day on boat including meal and 5 separate stops at £15 for a family of four. Would return to resort but not this hotel

We booked the Carmina through Holidays 4 U at a fantastic price of £396, 2 adults, 2 weeks. We expected to get what we payed for, so where not too surprised on arrival. The rooms are basic but ok but the bathroom - well lets just say, buy plenty of bleach and antibac wipes as it smelt rotten the whole time. I scrubbed it myself and although I knew it was clean, the smell of drains was present the whole stay. The walls and doors are paper thin and the maids take full advantage of this by singing and shouting to each other from 6:30 each morning. If the other holiday makers hadn't kept you awake with their insensative behaviour, then the maids would make sure you were up and out early so they could get in your room. Notice I didn't say clean your room! Our sheets were not changed once through out our stay and I had to ask for clean towels otherwise they wouldn't have been changed. The room allways smelt of my perfume which I thought was strange until I realised they were spraying it on the bed!!!! The pool area was far too busy for us so we would walk over to the Suzanna where the pool was lovely and quiet. A word of advice - Don't buy anything from the bar as they insist on operating a tab system and then charging you for things you haven't had. This appears to have been a problem in the past looking at other reviews so you would think they'd have sorted themselves out by now, but they haven't. I was also told not to go to the supermarket and bring things into the hotel as they wanted me to buy from them - I refused and would not allow the manager to search my bags!!!!!!! As I say, you get what you pay for and on the whole, the Carmina is ok as a low budget hotel although I would not recommend it. One thing I would recommend is the organic locally made wine for 2lira from the Pie and Mash restaraunt next door - FANTASTIC!!! Hisaronu is a lively place with lots of great places to eat. For your Chinese fix, go to Shanghi Blues above the Azda - Chinese chef and fantastic food.

Just got back from a weeks holiday at the Carmina hotel and felt I had to leave a comment. We had a fantastic time! This hotel is basic and you get what you pay for- but I didn't go on holiday to spend all my time in the room! On arrival, we were greeted by friendly staff who were happy to help us. We had a couple of issued that were resolved straight away (wardrobe door broken and toilet not flushing). On telling the reception staff each issue was fixed within 10 mins! As most people have said, the cleaners are fantastic- they even left rose petal on our beds and arranged towels in different patterns- not a huge deal I know but it made us smile, especially as it was our anniversary whilst away and we returned to the room to find heart shaped towels and the rose petals (they were not aware it was our anniversary- just a coincidence) The local area of Hisaronu was lovely, and again everyone was so friendly. We went to Dominos restaurant at the beginning of our trip and again at the end and we were surprised to find that the staff remembered us, they even commented that we were having the same desserts as last time! If you are looking for a laid back, easy going holiday and you dont mind not staying in a 5 star hotel then this is a perfect place to go to. We were made to feel so welcome and will definately be going back to Turkey again in the future.

We loved the Carmina Cleaners were fantastic, rooms cleaned every day and clean towels Bar staff and all the other staff were always friendly and helpful Always plenty of hot water No problems We have been to Turkey several times and we LOVE it. Hisaronu is the best, friendly people and cheap prices. Sun trap is our fave restaurant and Hustlers is our fave bar!!

The Carmina is a typical low budget Hotel you get what you pay for as a whole the Hotel was adequate after all 2 weeks B + B for 256 including flights takes some beating. The rooms are basic the Shower worked no problems plenty of hot water this hotel is not really geared up for half board but anyone who has visited Hisaronu will know there are more than enough restaurants all at reasonable prices. There was some maintenance needed but as it was near the end of season most would be rectified during close down the beds were hard the pillows harder other than that the holiday here was ok nothing brilliant just ok

Before reading this review, you must understand that it is in NO WAY exaggerated! It is a true account of our two-week holiday in Turkey. We have stayed in 2-5* hotels all across Europe, in self-catering, half board and all-inclusive. However, we have never stayed in a hotel as bad as the Carmina Hotel, Hisaronu. Some parts of the hotel were obviously a lot worse than other parts, but I’m going to mention all aspects that we found to be dire. We travelled as a family of 5, and when booking our holiday, we specifically asked that the two rooms we had booked were to be situated next to each other. This in fact was not the case when we arrived and the hotel management were not willing not to rectify this problem. The rooms themselves were standard. One room had no plug for the sink and the shower leaked massively. The other room had wall lights that didn’t work; the fitted hairdryer didn’t work and also had a similar problem with the shower leaking. Another problem was the toilet, in one room it did not flush properly. After requesting for it to be mended to the hotel management on numerous occasions, it was never done and we had to use the poolside toilet instead! Another problem with regards to the room was the amount of hot water. I think, but am not sure, that it is solar heated and so there is very little hot water in the morning and late in the evening. I found myself on numerous occasions showering in freezing cold water. There is also an issue with the electricity. I’d say maybe once every three days there was a power cut, on one occasion we were left without power for 30minutes! The electricity in the room is powered by inserting the room key into a slot, once it is removed to lock the door if you want to go out, the electricity is turned off, not very good if you go self catering and you wish to leave food in the fridge!! I also feel that the air-conditioning offered to guests is over priced. You can only power it when you’re in the room, which is not very often; besides, air conditioning takes a while to kick in. They wanted to charge us £20 per week per room, which would have added another £80 to our holiday price, something we were not willing to do. I’d say the biggest problem of the entire holiday was the food. We went half board at this hotel which I have to say is NOT AN OPION ANYONE SHOULD GO FOR! We were lead to believe that it would be a buffet style meal in the evenings of which it wasn’t. We were sat at a table and given food that we had no choice over what so ever! One of the party was a vegetarian and had to eat veggie casserole after veggie casserole for near enough the entire two weeks. We found ourselves eating outside of the hotel on more than one occasion. In mentioning this to our rep, there was little she could do. The restaurant manager said to us that it would be easier for him if we opted against the half board option and tried to get our money back, as he was the one that had to decide what to cook us every night. The food in the morning was typical Turkish breakfast; basically we had the choice of bread, cheese, melon, olives, tomatoes and cucumber, nothing else! If you want an English breakfast you have to pay £4.50! You also have to pay for cereal if you have young children. The entertainment put on by hotel staff was pitiful. Once a week in the hotel, there is a Turkish evening, which was in fact VERY GOOD! But as half board guests, you wouldn’t think that we’d have to pay the £14 per person to attend! Other than this, there is a quiz once a week held on a Sunday. We arrived on a Sunday so was pretty impressed by this. However, the following Sunday, quiz night came again and guess what… the questions were EXACTLY the same! We couldn’t believe it. Other than this, there was no more entertainment put on at night. The hotel bar beside the pool is very rowdy at night. Of course you have to expect that people on holiday are likely to stay up drinking until the early hours of the morning. On more than one occasion however, the bar remained open playing music until gone 4am! Not good when your room is situated just to the side of the bar. Another point to mention is that the bar staff themselves were also drunk, continuing to serve customers, on many instances. On one occasion, the bar staff were allowing a 14 year old boy to stand behind the bar and serve customers! With reference to the bar, it is also worth mentioning the fact that they overcharge you, BIGTIME! They offer a system where you order your drinks and then give them your room number. This is then entered into the computer and you can pay your bill at the reception whenever you choose to. We made friends with around 6 families whilst there, and all had experienced problems with overcharging at the bar. On one occasion, a young lad was caught ordering drinks and putting them on another room numbers bill! A member of our party was charged 11lira for one drink! That’s around £4.50! There were as well many smaller problems. The TV in the room only offered two English-speaking channels, one of which was frozen and not operating for about 10 days of our fortnight stay! There is NO KIDS CLUB, even though this is advertised on their website and also on the brochure they hand out in the hotel reception. Another niggle was that they played the same CD over and over again! One of the songs “---- YOU RIGHT BACK” was played regardless to the numerous children staying in the hotel! There was however some good points about the hotel, although very little. The staff were amazing, very welcoming, friendly and eager to learn English! The beach was great; the hotel offered a free transfer to a part of the beach owned by the hotel. Although we experienced all of the above problems, we did however make the most of our holiday and try our best to ignore them. I would NEVER return to the Carmina Hotel and would not recommend it to anyone.