Wow Topkapi Palace Hotel

7 readers found this review helpful

what a great holiday arrived at 2.30am found rooms after walking around for 20mins,food alright a good selection always somthing to eat no matter what your taste.super pools great slides also a small childrens pool.the only problem being was the russians who where arrogant and could not wait to be served kept pushing in they wasted more food than they ate.the entertainment crew where great kept people happy, good shows,Has a good beach and lots of things to do on the water.Overall a great holiday will try to go in the near future.

3 readers found this review helpful

ON ARRIVAL .noisy reception.shocked to find reception was also bar area
left to find our rooms after checking at 2am .very dimly lit so it took a while.
ROOMS.very dated.dark and in need of revamp.air con crap,more like a small fan than aircon ,mould in bathroom.mini bar replenished every 2 or 3 days and not daily as stated.dont watch a lot of tv on holiday but would have been nice to see more than 1 english channel (BBC world news),german and russian channels were plentiful.to be fair the bed was very big and comfortable and the sheet were clean.
FOOD.ok but geared to eastern european taste ,bit of a battle to get a table .russians and german guests dont understand the concept of manners and queing .water bottles already been opened on some occassions,tables not laid and had to get cutlery on regular basis.so called waiter service almost non existant unless you were rude and arrogant.germans and russian guest are very greedy and throw away more food than they eat.marine restaurant crap.turkish and italian restaurants very good.

BARS.cant believe main reception was also only indoor bar open after 6pm .cant get near the bar . only 1 barman .when you got a seat the waiters were very few and far between .in credit to the waiters they were very busy and always polite there just were not enough to serve all the people in the area.can only get certain drinks at certain times at certain bars,very confusing and a little annoying.
POOLS.very large pool area with a lot going on.a little noisy for us personally but we enjoyed the relaxing pool a lot,indoor pool needs updating but nice area to relax and staff very good.
OVERALL.there is a language barrier.most staff seemed to be fluant in russian or german but english was not a strong point.if they are catering for english guest they need staff to be able to comunicate.the complex shops were very expensive ,£20 for a bucket and spade.
FLIGHT .we flew with thomas cook but wont use again ,i am 6ft 6in tall and of normal build and it is quite obvious that i need extra leg room but i refuse to pay an extra £50 to sit on a seat that i should be given anyway due to my size.would they give people under the average size a discount,i dont think so.

2 readers found this review helpful

Sorry Thomas cook WOW Topkapi hotel is by no way a 5 star hotel,i would deffinetly say 3 star. We arrived early mornings of 20th october 2008 to be introduced to a double tired looking hotel room, dirty carpet, no tea making facilities which one would expect in a 5 star hotel bedroom, this was no way a 5 star hotel room, we then found no essentials in the bathroom at all, the small details were not present at all, the bath hadnt probably had a good clean for months, the bath curtain was ripped in 2 places and the water litterally came out. The next morning we upgraded to a family suite WOW, by paying the $100 per nite suppliment. Having already visited the region 2 years ago and stayed at the Barut lara hotel we were expecting standards better than Barut, this could never be the case.
The food well id rate it 4 out of 10, and im eating turkish food 5 days a week normally. We were told in the Thomas cook brochure that this hotel has a water aqua park,Foe the love of GOD it had three water slides, and a water dome which scratched my back 13 cm. Please guys do not sell it as a 5 star it isnt a 5 star, i was so upset on this holiday not being able to warm up the babys milk in our room and neither able to have breakfast as restarunt closed at 9.30am

This has to be the worst holiday my partner and I have ever been on, on arrival 0400 hrs we were told, very bluntley and in poor broken english to fill out the usual forms etc, all this time are cases were outside the reception out of sight at the front of the hotel, thinking that they were being loaded up onto one of the bell-boy's trolly's it was utter shock when we were told to go and grab are cases and told that we had to find are rooms ourselfs with only minimal directions to the room from the man at reception, finding are room then took almost an hour, what a discrace. This hotel is full to the brim of extremely rude and arrogant russian's the trip down to the restaurant was a complete shock, it's total carnage with being shoved left right and centre from these arrogant foreigner's, i dont think they have ever heard of queing, its a nightmare trying to get a table and when you do one of you has to wait as if you both get up someone will immediatley sit at your table, the food is utterley disgusting, cold and all tastes the same, it is the same slop day after day for all three meals, on the other hand if you do manage to get into the restaurants these are delicious with alot better service, we loved the mexican and italian, although they are hard to get a seat in and can only be used once a week. The pool's are ok, not brilliant, and again trying to find a sun-lounger is a nightmare as they are all took over by the russian's, water park is good fun, although only open at selected times so not all-day, the pool is a very noisy place as they have a very annoying women shouting stuff most of the day for the pool games etc, when she eventually shuts up then you have loud dance music, all day from 10-6 it's so loud its like being in a nightclub so there is no chance of ever being able to relax and sleep by the pool, are room was ok, not 5* as thomas cook had stated more 2-3*, old dirty stained carpet, chipped wardrobe's and desk, bath was also chipped, no bidet as expected in 5* rooms, air-con was ok, nice balcony with good view of pool although again very noisy even though we were on 4th floor due to the mouthy women and music, the beach is very nice if you can get a sun-lounger, murky sea and limited area to swim in but quieter than the pool, beach and pool bars are not the best, very poor service with russian's again always getting serverd first even if you are there first, food is always cold so alot of up-set tummys, and lots of nasty wasps around, evening entertainment poor and very short so left bored most night's, I would not recommened this hotel at all, its utterly horrendous, no rep availiable so felt very isolated as were extremley out-numberd by nasty russian's, would never return to here or Turkey ever again, have never been so glad to get home!

1 reader found this review helpful

well i was really looking forward to this holiday,on arrival i was told i had to wait till next morning to get my bag because there was no one to take it to my room and all i was told was my room is the last building on the right.no help with finding it.
first two days were good but then it went down hill,food was the same every day and everyone in our group(6 of us) had food poisoning and i spoke to about 60 english people and they all had food poisoning.i would not recomend this place to anyone and i would not recomend thomas cook we only saw the rep once and that was when we had to pay for our day trips.poor poor holiday avoid this place

This hotel is not worthy of 5 star finesse thomas cook give it We usually book five star so hoped for much more Unable to relax by the pool as the music from animation team was so loud you couldnt even hold a conversation this was continous from 10am This was meant to be a family hol for myself, husband ,2 teenage sons and my elderly mother I can honestly say that all age groups were disappointed my sons could get nothing to eat after 9pm at night. The entertainment was very short lived lasting about 40 mins and again so loud Lots and lots or russians who think they own the place they are very rude The food was never hot and my son and I both became ill with horrendous diarrhoea which lasted ten days after our return and left us very weak and debilitated. There was very little cleaning done in the grounds on the walkway to our rooms there was a plate of stale food a cup and a bottle which remained there for the whole of our stay. Do not use the taxis outside the hotel they tried to take you to places you do not want to go to and charge you for the pleasure of it. One thing we found was that the hotel staff were very helpful and pleasant nothing was too much trouble.
We will not book with Thomas Cook in future ther planes need to be taken out of service on the way there the people at the very front of the plane got wet heads from leaking water above the overhead lockers If you are thinking of going here think again.

wow topkapi. one of the worst holidays ive ever had. my partner and i, will never visit turkey, let alone wow topkapi, ever again because of it. russians and germans seem to be considered first amongst all the guests, the english seem to come last in any consideration. the food was awful too, we were both ill, we believe, because of it. this was the general concensus amonst quite a few of the english staying there at the time. my recommendation is don't go.

6 readers found this review helpful

Before going to Topkapi we were a little worried because there were so many negative reviews! However we didn’t need to be worried. We travelled as a family of 5, 2 Adults, and 3 children (12,14 and 17.) Flew with Thomas cook, was delayed both there and back, and didn’t get the seats we wanted on the plane.
We went end of July/Beginning of August, so expected hot temperatures, and boy, we wasn’t disappointed! It ranged from 35-41 the entire time we were there which was lovely! Although not everyone quite enjoyed the heat as much as myself…
The hotel complex is amazing, absolutely gigantic! Beautifully built. It is very well kept and there were always staff around tidying, cleaning, etc the map your given really does come in help for the first few days!! The rooms were simple, not the best in the world, but your not really in your hotel room much so it wasn’t as issue. The AC worked brilliantly, we kept an extra electricity card in to keep it running all day.
The food was great, although speaking to some other people while we were there, they seemed to think compared to other all inclusive places it wasn’t very impressive, but I certainly liked it! We only ever used the main buffet and never booked any of the other restaurants, but we didn’t need to as there was more than enough variety - saying that, 2 of our group are vegetarians, and thought food for them got a little repetitive… Deserts were my favourite, AMAZING! Very tasty, and the best thing was you could have as much of whatever you wanted!! Especially nice were these little puff pastry like puddings, drenched in golden syrup, the literally oozed with it! The ice creams were well hidden, but once you find them you remember the route, offered corneto type ice creams with a choice of as many scoops of ice cream as you wanted from; strawberry, chocolate, caramel, lemon, vanilla.
The pools were great, as were the slides, slight queues for the slides but nothing too much, we did find to get the best sun-beds, as with where you go on holiday you are best to reserve them early in the morning. The beach was lovely, offered lots of sun beds and hammocks to lounge around in, it also had many water sport activities. The beach pavilions’ were excellent, very comfortable and provided lots of shade, and wasn’t too expensive, however you don’t get the waiter service your told you will, if you want a drink you have to go down and order it yourself, order lots more than you can eat at lunch, as it’s the only time they bring food, and at in the afternoon they bring you down fruit (watermelon.) I would recommend the scuba diving, I think it worked out around £50 per person in English money, but was well worth it, amazing experience!
The animation team…. What to say! They were UTTERLY AMAZING, really did love them! (Zhenya, Hakan, Todou, Great guys!) They were all very friendly, and so full of energy! Never ran out of enthusiasm, most of them spoke English pretty well which was a bonus (and the majority of them were very good-looking!) they have a club dance which they do at the end of every show each night, there is always something different on; Turkish night, magic night, bazillion street dance, monks, beach party etc and they also do the club dance by the poolside each lunch time, this was very fun! Great catchy little tune with a great dance to it, and they try get everyone involved. (just to note, the beach party was in my opinion the best night activity throughout our 2 weeks, was so much fun and definitely not to be missed! Music, dancing, drinking games, firework displays…)
The only slight negative we had, which has come up in all the reviews, and is sadly true… is English people are a big minority there, which wasn’t a problem at all for us, the problem was the Russians, which seemed to be the majority, were very rude and they didn’t have any manners, which was a shame, but can’t be helped. It has been said the hotel “isn’t for English people” I don’t think I’d agree, as I would more than happily go back tomorrow, but I guess it wasn’t very English orientated.

3 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned from a week at Topkapi and thought it was fantastic. It suited us, our children and grandma. The buffet food was so good that we didnt feel the need to try the restaurants. Plenty of cooler, shadey areas to relax in during the midday heat. No queues to speak of on the water slides. Cleanliness superb. Beds could have been more comfortable but that would be nit picking! We still hadnt found everything by the end of our week and hadn't even begun to explore The Kremlin Palace next door that is also available to use. Age limits on banana boat so don't get the kids excited about going on them before you go like we did! Never had a problem getting sun beds by the pool. Can't wait to go again.

5 readers found this review helpful

We were slightly worried after reading some of the comments but we were proven wrong.
This hotel is wonderful.
Our family apartment was superb. The kids (12 and 9) loved having thier own rooms up the spiral stair case and we loved the free mini bar and wonder**** views of the sea from our room.
The food was great, huge choice every day and my son ate 35 ice cream scoops in 3 days - teenage fun!!!!!
The whole place is spotlessly clean and our rooms were of a high standard.
There are a few cats walking around but that means no mice.
All the staff were friendly and very helpful and the rep Jamie was great.
Dolmus bus goes from right outside and there is a cash machine on the corner of the hotel outside.
We have booked to go back next year something we have never done!
We hired a car and had an explore of the area. The roads are safe to drive on and are the best was to see Tureky.
I can't understand the people who complained about this hotel - they must have stayed else where!
Go for a turkish bath with a swedish massge at hotel but haggle down the price, it was two hours of bliss AND get it done at the begnning of the holiday and your tan looks amazing.
We had a great time, would recommend this hotel, check out their web site!!!!