Grand Blue Sky International

I read all the reviews on this site & was a little worried by the negative ones.. Thank God I did not take them too seriously.. We had a wonderful 8 night stay & really loved it. Yes the staff were a bit off'ish at first but no wonder considering the attitude of some of the guests. They may work hard for little money but that is absolutely no reason to treat them like dogs.. The way some guests spoke to the staff was disgusting & totally uncalled for.. One evening we had to move tables away from a group of professional moaners because we could not bear listening to them any longer. The only problem with this hotel is that it is a very reasonably priced 5* hotel which therefore attracts 2* people striving to be 5* and they do not know how to conduct themselves.. Hotel is lovely, with amazing views.. Pay the little extra for an ocean view, it is worth it. The rooms were very clean & bright, the pools are great & the food was fabulous.. The Ottoman restaurant was the best a la carte. Ice cream @ 5pm was a highlight - so yes it wasn't available all day, it just made it even more enjoyable! If you have problems walking or with steps then this is perhaps not he best option for you.. All the staff were lovely, professional, always smart & very friendly to those who bothered to talk to them as humans.. A big thank-you to Ilker (we called him Ikea), Gokhan & everyone else that made it a great holiday for us.

We have just returned from a week break at the grand blue sky hotel in Kusadası/Turkey, August 06 and leave with a touch of dissapointment. The hotel management is very very bad. Hotel staff is amateur, to call out to you ‘’uncle’’, don’t know services, and filth. General manager of hotel is working in main restaurant and carries dirty dishes. The foods are unpleasent in main restaurant but snakes are not too badly. The hotels garden and view to sea are magnificent. Unfortunately I can’t say same things for rooms.Air conditions are terrible, and restricted which about is not to be informed. Rooms especially on the roof are very very hot, impossible to breathing. In the same way restaurants, bars, lobby are like hell, no working air conditions. The hotel have not 5* confort and services. I never advise to go to this hotel in spite of great sea and view from balcony of all rooms.

When planning my trip to this all-inclusive, I read the reviews and dismissed some of the reviews which I should have paid attention to. Several people questioned the title of all-inclusive, a good many wrote of not getting service at this hotel, etc. I wish I had taken those reviews to heart and looked elsewhere. The result was a lukewarm experience at a hotel where service was non-existent and requests for service were greeted with interrogation rather than compliance. To begin with, the title of all-inclusive does not apply here. Many of the services, drinks, etc. that a vacationer might expect to be included were excluded, and that made things confusing at the least, frustrating at most. The mini-bar, which is touted as 'stocked every day' was not, drinks other than one beer selection and two wine selections, were extra. None of the three restaurants were open, nor were water sports. The unending supply of food turned out to be the same few offerings each day--monotonous and unappealing. My daughter and I waited each evening for someone to take our drink order. While tables all around us were served, we did not, in four days' time, ever have anyone offer to serve uus. When I went to the bar, I was told that someone would come to the table to get my order. My daughter asked if we had missed some kind of orientation, as others seemed to know how to get service and we did not. The room was passable. Clean, but with a rock-hard bed and few amenities. The music coming from the lounge each night was loud and obnoxious. There was no place to get a quiet drink in the evening, away from the 'hokey-pokey' and the contests of the animators. The exception was the spa--extra of course, but well worth it. I found the staff to be friendly and professional. We returned for several treatments and were not disappointed. Do not bother trying to get help from the front desk. If it is true, as their pamphlet states, that they will correct a problem within 20 minutes or you will have a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for you that evening, then they owe me several bottles. When I asked for some help, I was quizzed about the request, told that I was probably imagining things, and never helped. Do yourself a favor---save your money and stay in one of the very nice hotels this town has to offer. The frustration, bad food, poor service, and inconvenience are not worth the steep price tag!

Last time i went to grand blue sky was 2004! All i can say is AMAZING!! Since then we have stayed at its sister hotel Imbat... But we ALWAYS go back to have a look and every year it gets better!! I have stayed bere 4times and i have NEVER been dissapointed!!! I have stayed there when it was All inclusive and B&B both i loved! Staff are lovely.. couldn't do anything more for you if they tried!!! Food... spectacular!! Really lovely.. Lost of choice!!! Rooms.. clean.. cool. air conditioned! Cleaned daily... love the walk in wardrobe as you would as a woman! Location... is just a walk down to ladies beach!Id say about 5mins away!!!!! Local.. absolutaly LOVELY!!! We have true friends over there!!! Grand blues private beach is great to.. very big!!! Pool area.. great but they DO however need more sunbeds :) Its just an all round fantastic hotel! The grounds are evry very well kept.. Its true paradise!!! I have not one bad word to say about grand blue!! Truely love it there!xxxx

hello to cuney (photographer) he was fantastic.he made our holiday.the food was poor and the pool wasnt filtered properly .beach was poor.cleanliness was excellent

Myself and my Partner have just returned from one of the best hoildays ever. The Grand Blue Sky is a fantasic hotel with everything you need to make your holiday complete. please find below some key points: Excellent rooms - large & clean with beautiful views Staff - All lovely people ( I have even swapped email address with a few of them) Food - Excellent choice ( i've put on half a stone from eating far to many cakes!!) Location - lots of steps to beach but apart from this we had no problems Entertainment - not the best but it was the end of the season Sun - 30c all week :) Ladies Beach - Lovely bars and lots of places to eat. Try the Kiwi bar at the far end..we didnt eat, we only went to watch England v Poland but the food looked good and the staff are lovely. If you go BB or HB you are able to upgrade for around £6/£12 per day which we did and it worked out so much cheaper. we were HB. I could go on all day about all the good points but the report before mine sums everything up in more detail- his report is spot on. We enjoyed the hotel that much that we are booking to go again next year. The only thing that put us off was the people in Kusadasi town centre which is about a 5 min drive away. The shop keepers are far to pushy and make you feel really awkward. We managed to stay for 20 mins before we grabbed the first taxi we saw and headed back to the hotel. also be carefull in Bodrum airport as soon as you get of the coach your greated by men trying to sell you trollys for 5 lira! dont bother as you only have to walk for 2 seconds. Take something to eat and drink with you ( this is a must)... We orderd a slice of pizza each and chips to share with a coke and lemonade from the upstairs cafe "cafesera" and the bill came to 40 lira!!! which is about £23. I then ordered a Vodka from the cafe/bar downstairs and was charged 25 lira £10.00!! The people in duty free are so push they try to grap you and push you into the shop which is as big as my toilet! when you get in there everyone is left standing and confussed as waht to do and where to pay! We will certainly be staying clear of the cafes next year :) Hope this has helped and hope you have an excellent holiday Sarah (25) & Andy (27)

22.06.05 - 07.08.05 We have just returned from our first holiday in Turkey and we will definately be returning soon. The hotel that is in the other reports prior to this one, I find hard to believe they are talking about the same hotel. The room was huge! and immaculate, they were cleaned, the beds changed and all towels replaced every day. The mini bar was limited cold drinks, fanta, pepsi & water, (none alcoholic) but we were happy with this as we had our 12 year old son with us, and you could go and get drinks to take up to the room if you wished. The shower was powerful and hot. In addition to the main restaurant (Buffet) there are 3 themed restaurants, we were told at reception that we could eat at them as many times as we wished, (not just the once as it says in the brochure) you do have to book the night before. I thought the Ottoman restaurant was the best one, (were not big fish eaters!) The buffet restaurant was fab, the food was fresh with loads of choice from every kind of salad going, from the basic ingredients to every kind of mixed pasta salads, chicken, egg and so on. They also cooked about 8 different types of meat dishes each night and loads of vegitarian selections too. I was crazy for the freshly baked pizza breads they made each night and the bar-b-qued meats. The bars were great and there was no hanging around, the staff served you as soon as you sat down and kept bringing popcorn and water melon to accompany your drinks. They do serve local wine and beer but it was very good, also local produce spirits, I recommend the rose liquer for anybody who likes turkish delight! The sea view was wonderful and we watched a few excellent sun settings. The pool was big with many beds and I didn't have to get up early to get a bed at all, the beach was fab most of the time there was only a third of the beds being used. Mostly sand although a few little pebbles as you entered the water made you take it slow, but they cleared and then it was just smooth sand. There is piped music so you can sit and relax to some sting or other soft music but it was very nice. The italian theme restaurant acted as a snack bar during the day and the menu was very good there too for basic pizza, some pasta's, sandwiches and burgers. Ice cream is only served for 1 hour between 1700 - 1800 but they serve cold drinks and food all through the day. You can also get room service until 0600 for burgers etc. A couple of cautions to keep in mind. The Hotel is NOT for anybody who has walking difficulties. There are ninety steps to the beach, there are ramps, but it is steep! Although the staff will help you as much as they can, their english is not the best and so you have to give and take and expect a few misunderstandings, Don't forget they speak better English than you do Turkish. There is no bank close by, but the dolmush stops right outside the hotel and it will cost you 1 Euro to get into town each, there is a HSBC cashpoint which will give you Turkish Lire, Sterling or Euro's, we found Euro's the best method of currency. The hotel entertainment was not the best, but that was not of concern to us, as we are accustomed to this from other holidays and took playing cards etc. Also take a plug for mosquitoes and some repelant and spray your legs and arms for the night, although they weren't too bad they get more persistant as the temperature rises. My final note would be to go and see for yourself. The local area has so much to offer. Go see Efesus, do a boat trip, if you like horses go on the safari, Priyene, Miletos and Didyma were wonderful, The people are so friendly and the place is wonderful. They do try to get you in their shops but so long as you say you are not intersted nicely, they will leave you will be ok with you. Also Barter they must give you twice what they expect as a price, so always offer low and expect to meet in the middle.

What a beautiful hotel. The grounds, rooms and public areas are all exactly what I expected and I cannot fault them. What a shame the same can not be said of the management and staff. This is by far the worst run hotel it has ever been my misfortune to stay in and the experience of staying there has put me off Turkey altogether, which is a shame as I am sure other Turkish Hotels are not like this. Everything was too much trouble for the staff at this hotel, the clients were a terrible inconvenience and they saw no reason to smile back at you or treat you with respect. If you expect to be served at the bar or in the restaurant be prepared to grovel as the staff will look at you disdainfully and then look away and carry on their chat. Management seem to have no control and although they apologise for the staff, they do nothing about the problems. My husband and I found such nice friendly people everywhere else we went and we found ourselves going out every day just to get away from the unpleasant staff.

We have just returned from a week stay at the grand blue sky, and leave with a touch of dissapointment. The hotel had a perfect setting and made for a great base in which to explore, however, i would suggest people do not eat there as the food ranged from poor to very dismal. On the first night we ate at the carribean restaurant, were told by reception to be there at 7.30pm. We turned up with 2 other people and that was it until 9.00pm, by which time we had eaten a very poor meal, lost the enamel from my teeth with the wine and vowed never to eat dinner again in the hotel. From now on we were out in the town. Had 2 nice meals at Planet Yucca, although always negotiate your free drinks package before sitting down. We also had a fantastic fish meal at the Ali Baba Restaurant on the kusadasi sea front by the castle. If you want the best fresh fish, then here you are. Although there were 101 steps down to the beach it was worth it, for it was nice and relaxed and if you were quick enough (I mean early enough!) you could have claimed an exclusive spot on the rocks. Service throughout the hotel was very poor, staff seemed more interested in amusing themselves than in servicng the guests and the prices were fairly steep. Housekeeping did mange to forget something everyday in our room which did become very annoying. Was an amusing sign by the front doors of the hotel stating that no food/drink must be brought on to the premises. If it wasfound in your room then you would be charged at the local rate!!! On one night we had a problem with a noise from a room above, dont try to complain as you get nowhere, all staff seemed distant and uncaring. Overall, if in this area again i would probably stay, however on a room only basis.

Just returned from Grand Blue Sky Hotel (May 2004). Nice hotel, unfortunately the management had no idea - poorly run place. They provide beach towels from 9am to 11am but get them early as once they've gone you won't be able to get one. Also, you need to get a sunbed pretty early too as there's not enough. Very expensive drinks, so most people go to bars outside hotel. We were half board at Blue Sky, but take my advice and just take the bed & breakfast option. Breakfast was edible but only just. There was never any variation. Evening meals were pretty awful - everything tasted the same. Had soup and bread most evenings. There were loads of restaurants and bars outside hotel, and food was good. Try Young Brothers just down the road from hotel. What lovely people there! Excellent staff. Good food too. Carry on along to Ladies Beach and there are lots more bars and restaurants. They hassle you to come in but just say hello and walk on! Near the top end of Ladies beach, going from hotel, is the Plaza cafe and bar. Try the fillet steak there, it's superb! The staff are excellent too. There's Nuri, who's always asking 'What's the Story' and he's such a lovely lad. The place is so friendly. The grounds are very nice but there are loads and loads of steps, leading down to restaurant, then down to pool, and down again to lower pool and down, down, down to the beach! So if anyone has any walking difficulties, even slight, you will find it a real struggle. Kusadasi town is an experience but well worth the visit. Jewellery and leather excellent bargains - but definitely haggle! All in all we had a great holiday, but the Blue Sky Hotel didn't really measure up to its expectations - won't be going back there but would definitely return to Kusadasi.