Club Dorado Hotel

when you go to turkey just think your in turkey not spain!! food in doardo is not fatty food its healthy food ... staff are great entertainment brill make you feel at home hotel very clean .. you always get one whos not happy its how you make your holiday if your not haveing good time then you will not enjoy it !!!dont be shy give dorado great time .. lov it lov it ;-))

All inclusive isnt all inclusive they call it all inclusive lite, which means you can only have drinks with your meals. They try it on with everyone so they can make an extra few quid. Anyway I wouldnt bother with the food and drink as it is shocking, prison slop, the drinks are watered down and the staff are rude, so all in all id give the hotel a miss.

I would not even recommend this hotel to my worst enemy. It was absolutely awful.
1. Staff got the spare key from reception and went into someone's room when they were asleep, and beat him up. Simply because he had gotten drunk and jumped in the pool naked, which had offended the manager’s wife.
2. A guest was waiting outside the hotel as his girlfriend checked out. The staff went over to the man and started to beat him up.
3. Our friend left his Ipod by his sun lounger whilst the staff were clearing up. A member of staff picked the Ipod up and put it behind reception. When our friend went to get it back the receptionist had already handed it out to someone else. The staff refused to look at CCTV to see who the Ipod had been given to and wouldn’t ring the police.
4. My friend and I were in a club nearby the hotel, and noticed some of the staff in the club. One member of staff walked past and grabbed my bum. I looked and shook my head at him, so for the rest of the night he stuck his fingers up at me every time he saw me. He then called my friend and me ***** the next day.
5. My friend and I went out for drinks one night and returned to our room to find an old man sleeping in the bed. When we told reception they laughed at us, refused to give us a new room and had to be badgered into changing the sheets. The man got in our room because the reception had handed him the spare key.
6. A similar thing happened to an Irish family we met. There was the mother, the father and the youngest daughter sharing one room, and the other four girls (13 years old and under) sharing the room next door. The reception handed the 3 girls’ spare room key to a group of drunken men, who then went in the room and slept on the floor until one of the girls woke up and screamed.
7. A couple we met mentioned they went without air conditioning for 2 days, even though they had paid for it.
8. Regardless of what the internet or travel agents tell you, it is NOT a family hotel. There is NO children’s club and only a tiny little children’s pool.
9. The staff turned off our electricity and air conditioning because some of our friends came into the room to see us.
10. It is NOT an all inclusive hotel. Meals are at set times and if you want food in between this time it must be paid for. "All Inclusive" drinks are from 10.30 to 22.30 and you can only get; vodka, gin, or raki, and soft drinks. Alcoholic drinks are given out 1 per person. If they know you have another drink on the table they refuse to give you another. Bottled water, energy drinks and ice cream must be paid for. As does the internet and all the games available.
11. The food is AWFUL. Chicken, chips, rice and some sort of vegetable mush is made everyday. We also found 3 hairs in our food in the space of 3 days.
12. The maids do not clean the rooms properly. All they do is mop the floor, wipe down the desk and change the top (and only the top) sheet of the bed. In the two weeks I stayed there I did not get the whole of the bedding changed once.
13. The rooms are disgusting. Holes in the wall were the air conditioning is, with wires hanging out and a questionable white stain on the bathroom door.

Friday 21st may to Friday 4th June 2010.
We got to our hotel Club Dorado on 21st may at around 10pm, after 15 hours of travelling we just wanted to get into our room drop off our luggage and get something to eat and drink. When we got into the reception area the transport rep Sarah (as her name was confirmed by our rep Jo) was talking in Turkish to the receptionist I did not understand anything they said apart from my surname. Sarah said they don't have a room or any booking for you. I said to Sarah “what do you mean? I booked this holiday August 2009 what are you going to do?”. She just replied rudely “I have a coach with 35 other guests on it and I don't have time to deal with this. I've left a message with the emergency number you will have to find somewhere to stay and call the office in the morning to let them know where you are staying or see your rep in resort". Then she left us to deal with the problem ourselves. The receptionist was looking at us with a smirk on his face saying“ try across the road for a room we are full due to ash cloud”, this is rubbish as I know there have been no ash problems for at least two weeks. By now I was tired and I had enough of not been told any good reason for the over booking. I told the receptionist I don't care what you say I have my confirmation here and I want a room now otherwise I'm sleeping on the sofa in reception. He took a photo copy of my confirmation and soon found a key to a room. I asked for a pool view and was told by the rude receptionist stand on the balcony and look to the right and you can see the pool, yes I could see the pool of the hotel across the road. We took our luggage up and left the room. I asked the receptionist where can we get food from? He shouted “you go outside and pay”. We knew that but as we had never been to this area we didn't know where to go. He knew we were all inclusive but he did not want us to have the wrist bands. Other people are been charged £30.00 extra as they now call full board all inclusive lite. No mention of this in the brochure. We decided to get a drink at the all inclusive bar at 10.25pm I asked for a coke the bar man got a clock turned it to 10.30pm laughed and said “bar closed now.”. Other guests were saying it was 10.25pm I just couldn't be bothered to argue again. After we found somewhere eat we got back to our room it wad hot and stuffy so I went back down to reception and asked about the air con. The receptionist said “You pay” to which I replied “No it says here in the brochure air conditioning included”. He tutted, muttered something in Turkish under his breath and sent up someone with the air con remote.
On the Saturday we met with our rep Jo and told her about the welcome we had on arrival how unprofessional Sarah was she just did not want to know of any problems as her response to we need help was “I'm just a transfer rep speak to your rep when you see her”. Jo said it was Sarah's job to sort any booking in problems. When we spoke to Jo about them having no rooms she acted as if she was surprised and had no idea this was going on. Later after talking to other guests we found out she did know about guest having no rooms and been farmed out to other accommodation as it has been going on for at least two weeks.
The hotel is really nice the rooms are cleaned bedding and towels changed daily the only pleasant staff are the cleaners. At meal times you ask what soup is and the reply back is “I don't know in english”. As I'm vegetarian the food is limited but when the kitchen staff haven't a clue to what they are serving its laughable. We have stayed at the Serin in marmaris and the food was basic but I was happy with the choice given the options here are lettuce, tomato, cucumber and beetroot if I'm lucky they have a vegetable option soup which is like water. I'd suggest they take a look at the Serin menu. Here we do not know what we are having as they have no menu in fact they recycle the previous days food. Chicken was yesterdays main meat and today we have chicken soup at lunch. At meal time if I ask for more than a spoon full of hard undercooked veg I get funny looks, one guest wanted just chips when they asked for more they gave a few more and the response was “I'm on holiday not a diet I would like more chips please”. The portions given to you are child like. On Friday night they had a bbq at a cost of 20 lira per person. As people had paid for food they were treated as if they were more important than people who didn't want to pay for the bbq. We saw they had fresh salad not the usual limp salad we get that is warm and a variety of cakes that all inclusive never have. The next day all inclusive guests had bbq left overs and the left over cake for lunch. In the brochure it says cuisine is international and Turkish with limited choices. Cuisine is not a word I would use to describe the slop that is dished out. I have also noticed that no reps eat here at Club Dorado the Serin had reps eating there all the time. So to me it just shows what pig swill we are given to eat. The drinks are watered down and the soft drinks are local turkish brand a bit like tesco 14p own brand cola. Infact I was luckyif I managed to get a plastic cup of coke light as they were always running out of it, if this is a all inclusive hotel i dont see why they are always running out of drink and food. The orange squash is so strong a spoon will stand up in it. We even saw the bar staff watering down a barrel of beer. I have been on all inclusive holidays around turkey for the past 5 years with H4U and although they have basic food I have never had a problem been a vegetarian finding something to eat. Club Dorado is the worst all inclusive I have stayed in. I know that this is a 3* hotel and if I want 5* food to book a 5* hotel, I dont expect 5* food but I do expect better food and drink that what Club Dorado offers. They had a guests 14 year old daughter working behind the bar, I dont know who she thought she was, asking people to show there wrist bands so she could decide if to serve them or not was appaling. She even had the nerve to say to me one morning "Your the vegetarian i'll go and speak to the chef and ask him to cook you something you will eat" I almost fell of the chair laughing on day 13 of my holiday cooking something I'd eat was laughable. I told her not to interfear.
The brochure states the Dorado has sun umbrellas they have two and are put with larger groups the sun beds are taken and towels are on the sunbeds by 5.45am the bar staff are putting the other guests towels on sunbeds for a back hander. On my last day of the holiday I woke early and decided to take my towel down to get a sun bed. I saw the pool guy with a pile of towels putting them on the sun beds. I asked him why he had the towels he said “shush if you pay me I get you sun bed” I told him “what's the point I'm going home tonight”. The hotel staff are on the scam its strange how some people have to pay for free air con when its clearly states air con included and how some people have to pay to upgrade to all inclusive when they booked all inclusive. The brochure also stated the rooms have a bath and over head shower we have a broken hand held shower head which soaks the floor and makes it dangerously slippy. They have no extractor fan in the bathroom so it never dry's out and it smells wet and damp, also they have no drainage in the bathroom floor only in the shower tray which when taking a shower overflows. If using the shower curtain the water hits the curtain and soaks the floor.
The advertisement for the free shuttle to Icmeler beach is wrong it goes to a place called Nirvana beach in the middle of nowhere it picks you up at 10.15am and collects you at 4.30pm so its a long day with nothing to do. The tv is disgusting you advertise limited speaking channels we have a english film channel with arabic subtitles a english speaking soap channel and a 24 hour english hard core porn channel which I don't think is appropriate for a family hotel. We also told the rep this and again the rep said she was not aware of this been available on the tv.
The owner Sarah struts around barking orders to her staff but when a problem occurs she is not bothered or she pretends to be oblivious to any complaint guests have. She only has time for guests who compliment her hotel food and staff. In reception they have a comment book if a complaint is made they rip it out of the book they only want to keep the good comments. Sarah has her 6 year old granddaughter hanging around the pool annoying the guests. One day she fell in the pool and a guest had to jump in and drag her out. The mother just stood there and watched then yelled at the poor girl who almost drown. She should not be letting that girl be around the pool when she cannot swim.
The whole experience here has been horrendous from the first impression of the receptionist to the whole holiday I go on holiday to get away from stress not to be stressed out on arrival and the whole 14 days here. I would not recommed this hotel due to staff attitude and the awful food and drink. On Sunday 30th May Jo did sit and took details to make a complaint she wrote about Sarah and her unprofessional behaviour and the receptionist attitude. Jo said she has spoken to the manager and he has spoken to the receptionist about his way with guests. I don't know if this is true or not. I signed a guest complaint form Jo said she will get the manager to sign it and leave it in our pigeon hole. So far it has not appeared. Jo just wrote about transport rep Sarah and the receptionist nothing else. I managed to get a copy of my complaint on 3rd June just before we left for home.
I have been on all inclusive holidays around turkey for the past 5 years with H4U and although they have basic food I have never had a problem been a vegetarian finding something to eat. Club Dorado is the worst all inclusive I have stayed in. I know that this is a 3* hotel and if I want 5* food to book a 5* hotel, I dont expect 5* food but I do expect better food and drink that what Club Dorado offers. I would only reccomed this hotel to people who want to detox or lose weight it is excellent as I have lost 10lbs due to lack of food and alcohol.
I have left a copy of this with my travel agent and I'm hoping they will forward my issue to Holidays4U. We cannot all be in the wrong about this hotel and I have requested compensation as they are not providing customers with what they are selling in the brochure.
I have alos put the same review on Trip Advisor where alot of the other reviews are almost the same as mine.

2 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned from our first Turkish holiday, and have already booked to go back next May!
We booked through the internet using a company called Jewel in the crown. The holiday went smoothly from the very begining.
Marmaris is a beautiful holiday resort, and everybody we met was really friendly.
The Club Dorado hotel is a small friendly hotel. The rooms are basic, but very clean and comfortable. Breakfast is served between 8:00 and 10:00 and comprises of a traditional Turkish buffet style breakfast. If this is not to your taste you can get a full english breakfast at the hotel for 5 YTL (approx £2).
The poolside bar is open from 10am until early hours in the morning, and the staff are fantastic. They love having their photo's taken and are always willing to pose for the camera.
The hotel has an inhouse proffesional photographer called ibo, and he is very good. He only takes your photo's if you ask him to or at the occasional entertainment evening that the hotel provides, and he never hassles you to buy the photo's. He pins them to the notice board for you to look at then you tell him if you would like any prints doing.
Our first experience of Marmaris was fantastic, the place itself is beautiful, but what really made our holiday special was the staff at the Dorado. We cant wait until we go back in May and see them all again.

Having been to Marmaris before i knew roughly where the Club Dorado Hotel was situated. Its in the Armutalan area of Marmaris which is quite a bit away from the sea shore but with excellent public bus links making travel easy and very cheap. (Marmaris beach is not great anyway, Icmeler is much better and is only 80p away!). All the popular attractions are easy to reach with water parks, supermarkets and cash machines locally.
The hotel is basic but well maintained, clean and has all the basic facilities that you need for a great holiday.
What makes Club Dorado Hotel a great place to stay is the attitude of the staff. The hotel is family owned and they go out of their way to assist guests with requests and arrangments. The pool bar is run as a separate business and offers a wide range of drinks and snacks as well as full meals prepared on request at reasonable prices. Bar staff are friendly, speak good English and work hard to please the guests joining in the fun all day and in the evenings. They have happy hour dinks all night from around 8PM and cocktails etc cost a lot less there than in most other local bars.
The pool itself is large enough for the number of guests but not huge. Its cleaned daily..
The pool bar staff organise a Turkish Night once a week (£10) which includes a huge buffet, welcome drink and a variety of local entertainment. A great deal of effort is put into this event and you should make sure you take your camera along to get snaps of the traditional dancing etc. Expect to join in!!
If you are travelling on your own this Hotel is a great place to meet new friends. Unlike some of the more expensive hotels the clientele are down to earth and around the pool everyone seems to mix and enjoy themselves. Most guests at the hotel were from the UK but others were present from Russia, Denmark, Turkey and Germany.
Breakfast is traditional Turkish and enough for a light start to the day. If you want a 'proper' English breakfast there are plenty of cafes and bars offering that for £1 or you can get one at the pool bar for just £2. Worth special mention is The Sarah Restaurant & Fun Pub just across the road from the hotel. The meals there are superb, service excellent and prices very reasonable.
The hotel is great value and will be completely renovated in the Autumn so it will probably cost a bit more to visit in 2010. The only thing that would make the Club Dorado perfect would be the inclusion of a fridge in the rooms. There is a space where one could be but I suspect it is left out to afford the bar some trade. Air conditioning and room safes are extra and cost £20 a week. (You probably need to budget for Air Con especially in peak season as tempretures can be in the high 40C's). All of the rooms are quite spacious and have good bathing and toilet facilities, telephone and basic satellite tv channels. Another big bonus is that the hotel has free Wireless internet so you can take your laptop and keep track of your e-mail etc! (You can ask the bar staff for Internet access if you dont take your own PC).
PS: Armutalan council enforce a strict no music policy in hotels and bars after midnight which Club Dorado abides by, making it ideal for families.
I would highly reccommend the Club Dorado and would have no hesitiation about visiting again. Thanks to Daryl, Adnan and Jimmy for a great fortnight :)

2 readers found this review helpful

club dorado formerly ares hote...what a lovely place!!! After abandoning another hotel due to poor standards and being put here it was more than I could have hoped for! Entertainment almost every night and staff really freindly and helpful...food...well I have put on 7 pounds as I have been eating 4 course meals every day and have had a fabulous time. Rooms are spacious stylish and airy...maid service daily would go back tomorrow. No complaints whatsoever very very well managed hotel...

2 readers found this review helpful

when i arrived at the hotel i knew it was going to be a great start to my hoilday all staff smily and very welcoming.
room was always clean, freash towels everyday and hot water couldnt fault it. baby pool is a good size plenty of room for you to sit and watch your little ones, big pool also good size, large choice of sunbeds around.
there was a lovely selection of foods and salads, i cant think of any disapointment.
fantasic cant wait for next year.

2 readers found this review helpful

Having read some of the previous reviews I felt it only right to offer a sensible but honest review.
I first stayed at the Club Dorado some 10 years ago, then called the Ares. At that time I had a wonderful holiday and feel ashamed it had taken me nearly 9 years to go back!
The Hotel has been re-named Club Dorado.
It is now an All Inclusive Hotel which upon my return last year found quite strange due to the fact it is so cheap in Turkey.
I have done All Inclusive before in different parts of the world and everywhere is different.
The Club Dorado is no exception. They offer Locally produced drinks from a side bar from 10am until 10.30pm and food 3 times a day with snacks in between.
I can honestly say, for the money I paid I was more than happy with what I received.
Yes, maybe food was a bit repetitive and chips every night(Would suit most Brits! Especially kids!)but there was always something to eat, the salad range and fresh bread was always spot on.
Anyway, i very much doubt anyone travelling to Marmaris would intend on staying within the confines of the Hotel for the duration of their stay.
Eating out is certainly not expensive.
The rooms at the Dorado are as you would expect at a 3* Hotel, clean, basic with fabulous views!
The hot water system in Turkey runs off solar panels so once its gone its gone but you soon work out the best times to take advantage!
The bed was one of the most comfortable I have slapt on!
Regards the staff, reading some of the previous comments I must have been staying at a different Hotel.
Sarah, the owner wanders around all the time, saying hello and being sociable even though her English is too good. Her son, Ibo, the Hotel Manager tirelessly keeps the rest of the staff in check. Yes maybe the younger men did have a bit of a face on them but they certainly did me no harm.
I don't want to make the Hotel sound better than it is, I am a divorcee in my late 30's who has travelled the world to many different places but always get drawn back to Turkey.
The Intention of my visit last year was to sound it out for my 2 children to see if it would be suitable for them (Aged 9 & 7).
We travel there in June!

I can honestly say this has got to be the Worst place I have ever stayed in, breakfast was awful, stale cereal or rubbery fried egg with toast, but you could get a great English breakfast in the Café next door, oops did I mention that it is owned by the management of the hotel. The all-inclusive bar only stayed open till 10.30pm, but the management conveniently had a 'pay for' bar in the grounds. I caught the young bar man stealing money from my handbag, but when i complained not much was done about it!! he was still serving there the next day.
These people don't care if you're happy, they just want to get as much out of you as they can, be it money or anything else they can get their hands on.
But if you like over-sexed waiters calling your room at 1.45am when you are fast asleep to pester you (cos they didn't take the first 20 hints) then this is the place for you. Oh and you definitely need to like COLD SHOWERS, we had 1 day of hot water all week.