Sunrise Select Garden Beach Resort & Spa

1 reader found this review helpful

My husband and I stayed at this hotel from 6-20 July 2010 in room 2306.
Firstly, I should say that my husband and I have absolutely no complaints about our room, the cleanliness of the public areas or the bar staff (in fact, we would like to praise a particular member of staff, Ibrahim, from the Lobby Bar). However, there are several areas of this hotel which need to be addressed as a matter of urgency if you want to retain customers from the UK in particular.
1 It was apparent from our first day that there are not enough sunbeds around the swimming pools and that, despite signs saying that the sunbeds cannot be reserved for longer than 2 hours, most people were having to rise at 7 a.m. in order to reserve their sunbeds for the day. I am sure you will agree that having to set the alarm clock for such an early start is not desirable when on holiday. The 2 hour rule was never applied, such that some sunbeds which had been reserved first thing in the morning were still vacant at 5 p.m. Unfortunately, it was a case of "if you can't beat them, join them" so we found ourselves rising early in order to reserve our sunbeds.
2 The gardens are watered with recycled waste water, which is completely understandable in such a hot climate where water is in short supply. However, it is not acceptable for this to be done in the middle of the afternoon around the pool areas when it is windy. Apart from the foul smell, on one occasion my husband was sprayed with this water when the wind carried it. He complained at Reception and was told someone would take a look at what was happening, but an hour later the watering was still continuing and no one had appeared. Why this could not be done last thing at night or first thing in the morning when not many people were around is beyond me.
3 It is always nice to have a swim up bar and we were looking forward to making use of this facility. However, there is no point in having such a facility if there are no bar staff in attendance. In fact, the staff were most reluctant to step down to serve at the swim up bar, which defeated the object of it being there in the first place.
4 Lastly, our main complaint and the one part of this hotel which lets it down badly, is the Giardino buffet restaurant. While it was apparent that 80% of your guests are Russian, not ALL are Russian and your hotel should cater more for other nationalities. The choice of food was extremely poor and repetitive, the "English corner" was an absolute joke (do you really think that is the sort of food British people eat?) and why on earth was "Kid's Corner" cleared away at 9 p.m. every night? The worst part of this restaurant, however, was without doubt the absolute bedlam that ensued once it opened. If you weren't in by 7 p.m. then it was impossible to get a table and if you delayed eating until after 8 p.m. then the choice of food diminished. Because this restaurant is too small for the number of guests using it, the waiters were rushing around like madmen clearing tables so fast that you had to be careful they didn't take your plate while you were still eating! In fact, if you were a couple and both of you wanted to get something at the same time, then more often than not by the time you returned to your table it had been given to someone else! There were times when plates ran out, when cutlery ran out (it was almost impossible to find any tea spoons) and the staff were extremely dismissive. On one occasion my husband actually had his glass snatched out of his hand while still drinking! Things got so bad that when this same situation happened on our last night we complained to one of the supervisors who told us that the tables are cleared so quickly because that is the way the Russians like to eat! Well we are not Russian and when on holiday the evening meal is something we look forward to as a time to relax at the end of the day. Sadly, it was impossible to relax in this restaurant due to the "factory canteen" atmosphere and by the time we had finished our meals we were so stressed that we could not wait to get out. Incidentally, why are the chefs who serve at the carvery so reluctant to give a decent slice of meat? Time and again we were given what amounted to no more than 3 square inches of meat and if we asked for another slice we were give a surprised look! It appeared to us that the chefs had been instructed to ration the amount of meat given to each guest.
Following our complaint, we returned to our room late that evening to find a basket of fruit and a bottle of wine had been left obviously as a goodwill gesture. Neither of these were of any use to us as we were leaving the next day and couldn't take the wine with us. We had already received two baskets of fruit at the beginning of our holiday (as had most of the other guests) so fail to see how the management of this hotel could possibly think that this somehow made up for the poor service we had received. It would have been nice to be offered some other sort of compensation but when I enquired at Reception about the possibility of us keeping on our room for a few hours on the day of departure I was told that I would have to pay €30 since I had not booked through Thomas Cook (those guests who had booked through Thomas Cook received 3 extra hours free).
In our opinion, this hotel does not cater for British guests in any way and I have already been in touch with this hotel and made a formal complaint. All in all, we had a very disappointing stay at this hotel and would not consider returning under any circumstances. This hotel falls well short of the 5 star rating which it has been given and I can only assume that this situation will not improve in the foreseeable future.
For information, while I have received an acknowledgement from the hotel group's head office regarding my complaint, so far I have received NO response whatsoever from the hotel.

This was the best holiday ever. The rooms were spotless, laundry service was very efficient and very cheap. Food was exceptional, especially the italian restaurant. It was a great place to meet and make friends with lots of different nationalities.
What made it so memorable were the fantastic staff - nothing too much trouble, after only one day they knew what we were drinking and it was ready before we asked. Our glasses were never empty before they were refilled - yes they like to be tipped. Why moan about it - if our wages were equivalent to theirs we would be doing the same.

8 readers found this review helpful

This was a reasonably good value-for-money holiday for myself, wife and 14yr old daughter. The family room was spacious and well-equipped with excellent air-con in both rooms. Rooms were cleaned daily to a high standard. Good choice of food and no need to book in the a la carte restraunts, just turn up.
Soft drinks and fresh juice drinks were ok but the alcoholic beverages were very basic offering one (weak) local beer and locally branded spirits. The wine glasses at meal-times could do with being bigger, 2 slurps and its gone!
Good swimming pools and excellent private beach BUT beware of the recreation/lifeguard helping you to locate a sunbed and always expecting a tip for something you could easily manage yourself. I also noticed they save best located sunbeds for people later, take the towels off they had earlier put down making out they were taken and expect a tip for this. For a 5 star hotel this pratice is pathetic and gets peoples backs up. Beware if you have teenage daughters as the waiters/bar staff are a little too forward in their suggestions.
Apart from the last paragraph containing my complaints this is a well-kept hotel.

Just got home at the week-end, had a brill time hotel was just as stated in brochure and the hotel staff were fantastic, they all spoke English and went out their way to help. Food was great but not much imported alcohol drinks (could do with more branded alcohol). Management team were also very good, best workers at this hotel was the chambermaids the rooms were always spotless and beds changed every day. Would go back to this hotel and would recommend it to family's as well as couples. Only downside was there was not enough British guests.10 out of 10 from us.