Arsi Blue Beach

Right, after reading so many hit and miss reviews about this hotel I decided before we went to write one whatever our time was like so here goes! We arrived late Sunday evening greeted by a very friendly gentlemen who, once we had checked in helped us up to our rooms with our luggage. We where then shown to the restaurant and supplied with food and drink by the same gentleman who realised we had a long day traveling even though the restaurant had been closed hours earlier. We found that a nice touch and it was appreciated! He also helped us a few days later after our bathroom door decided to lock itself! He came and sorted it! I also found most of the other staff friendly and welcoming, with a couple of exceptions! I would like to think of these exceptions as a 'language gap' but still some of the staff could do with a little word from management.
Going onto the food, if your a fussy eater this probably isn't the hotel for you. I am myself and just about got through the 1st few days. I ate mostly off the grill as this was mostly chicken or turkey. All the other foods where rice and stew type dishes which if these are your thing then great but if your expecting burgers or similar think again! No grill on the lunchtime menu, grill is strictly breakfast and evening meal times only. If you fancy chips and onion rings for breakfast that's fine as they are available forget about them for lunch though! Maybe take some from breakfast and sneak them in at lunch! Last few days we never bothered with lunch and dinner and ate out at local restaurants which are cheap with good food!

Amenities at the hotel are OK pool area is OK was always clean and tidy while we where there. Can be a bit of a pain on the 1st day when you are asked about using the spa facilities for extra £££. Tbf to the sales guy he tried the hard sell the 1st day but then left us alone. Also sales guys there for a shopping trip and a tattoo shop! The shop one don't do as they try the hard sell and the sales guy at the shop(owner maybe? ) would rather cut off his head than have a woman boss apparently! Tattoo one though is different. Great tattoo studio and my brother in law did get a tattoo done and still has his arm so great all round!
A good supermarket is 5 mins walk from the hotel as are some nice restaurants and some other shops selling usual shoes shirts etc. Worth a walk just to get to know the surroundings.

Walk to the private beach is at the side of a main road and then through a tunnel. Bar there is ok but not included in the all inclusive service and sunbeds are chargeable but not too expensive.

We had a lovely sea view room but the downside to this is road noise. Road outside the hotel is very busy and the patio doors do not really insulate the noise, also air conditioning unit in our room was noisy but was better with a little manoeuvring from me too stop the rattle! I compared the room to a typical premier inn room. But with a little bit more storage. You will get that reference if your from the UK.

Overall the hotel isn't really set up for Brits as it's mostly eastern European, Russian and Turkish people that stay there, which is fine as why should everyone cater for Brits. Just be aware of this before you book. Oh and the lifts are a nightmare, limited to 4 people but this rule is largely ignored and DOES lead to the lifts breaking down with people in them! Can't blame the hotel for stupid people though!

One last bit of praise though. We checked out stupidly early Sunday morning and the guy on reception was exceptional, couldn't do enough for us. Thank you that man!

Anyway. Review over. We took the risk and had a good if not great holiday. Is it a great hotel? No. It's adequate. Is it 4 stars! Again no that needs reviewing although I do think the hotel has given itself those stars! Thanks for reading!

Decent hotel, but clearly not 4*! The rooms are ok, but the cleaning person comes only if you ask, otherwise doesn't even take the trash out every day. The restaurant is fine, still, does not offer too varied food and labels are completely missing, employees are eating in the same time with the customers, you have to wait in line behind them to take something...