Okaliptus Hotel

We knew the hotel as we stayed along from it last time. Here's our feedback: PROs LOCATION: Beautiful vibe, set under Eucalyptus trees. Beach hotel. CLEANLINESS OUTSIDE: Great. Swept & reset for each new day ROOM: Decent double room with sofa area. Not luxury but was fine. ROOM CLEANING: Lovely team daily housekeeping couldn't fault them. BED: Huge bed, comfortable enough AC: Brilliant a/c much needed in 36 degrees STAFF: Really lovely bunch who looked after us. Very hard working FAVOURITES: Love that you can sit under trees for drinks & there is a bohemian lounging area by beach & the outdoor restaurant - all so lovely BEACH SET UP: Sunbeds literally on the shore, waiter-service for drinks, easy access to the sea. CONs FOOD: Overall it spoilt our holiday and turned our stomach. We had half-board breakfast & dinner (both buffets). First impressions it looks like a nice enough offering but it is not. BREAKFAST: Catering for Turkish tastes only: Coffee machine: average, weak machine coffee Juice: fake sweet orange drink from powder full of chemicals (tang?) Cold buffet options: olives, salad, spam, curdled yoghurt + 5 uncovered, catering bowls of honey & jams put back out each day (after they've fished the spam out that someone dropped in), processed cheese Hot buffet options: overcooked chips, hard boiled eggs (no option to have eggs cooked any other way), cold slices of omelette on occasion, spam chipolatas (on occasion). I did like: tomatoes with cheese on (served twice) & the sliced fresh cheese & the watermelon slices & dried fig. Also pancakes (served twice) DINNER: Yoghurt dips that were reserved every day and not made freshly. Couscous salad served twice, meaning they put it out at beginning of week and then end of week (same dish) I did like: Fresh tomatoes & cucumber salad We loved: their rice, every night a different type & it was really good. Hot buffet options: awful concoctions and we're not fussy eaters. Just a few options each evening such as: Left over poor quality meat mixed in with aubergine Chicken drumsticks in sauce that tasted unfresh DESSERTS You can't say they don't have a lot of variety here, they offer at least 10 different desserts. But it is basically Mum's gone to Iceland, pink icing type things for kids. SUMMARY Food isn't fresh (apart from salad which is lovely) They serve it until they then put it in a random dish Very few hot choices No hot choices for non-meat eaters No seafood or fish at all (they are running it on a very low food budget) We paid to eat out elsewhere a few nights. We also paid to upgrade to eat their sunday a la carte which was nice. We don't understand how they can get everything else so right but mess up the food so much. A little more budget and creativity and it could be ok.

Beautiful, climatic place. Calm and quiet. It was very nice to be there. Near to the beach. The sunbeds were free for hotel guests. The food was delicious. But looking at the negatives: The staff does not know well English. We waited in reception for room’s key almost half hour. In room there was no shower towels, I had to ask about. They didn’t used templates with description what food is on the plates. In the city the prices are very high.

Stayed here on 3 occasions over past 3 years, would not allow last Sept as option on review. First time 3 years ago the staff were really friendly and management helpful, only concern then was food was poor and they did not explain that drink IE-Coffee or tea were not inclusive with half board cost so this was added on every breakfast time-which we felt was non transparent. Second stay was same, food not great and cold most evenings. We noted they give different treatment to people stopping by off the beach to order food and the standard of that is far better. Do not stay half board as you will end up eating out. It is on a great part of beach and the pillows and hammocks scattered everywhere on their part of the beach and live dj through the day make it a nice place to be to relax and soak up the sun through the day. The pool area is over grown and not much room for loungers either. Quite unsafe for elderly or young children around pool due to loungers almost touching edge of poolside making it difficult to walk round without risk of falling in. Drinks are very expensive, over priced cocktails too. Third stay of Sept 23...was an utter disgrace. My key would not work and I would have to ask reception to let me back into my room every time I had been anywhere (long walk from reception) they were rude about it and told me they needed a part, asked to be moved rooms and they declined. In the end they made excuse I had not been in room for them to fix the lock (why would I need to be?) A beach towel went missing and half a bottle of Gin as well out of room, totally not bothered when I advised reception who said they did not understand what I was saying. The final straw amongst other issues was room was above water pump to hotel grounds so I ended up with lack of sleep every night, gushing noise and pumping noises all night long.Then to be advised on check out of a bill for drinks which had drinks on it that I had not ordered! I refused to pay what we had not ordered and the manager insisted we pay, we refused and went through bill to highlight what had been bought. Eventually giving in he amended the bill. Take your own water or stop by at a shop if you arrive late too as they don't even offer a drink if you arrive on a late flight nor put water in the fridge. Such a shame, I had really enjoyed the first two stays here only to be let down by bad management at last stay and it left me never to wishing to stay here again. Great location but do not be fooled by the tranquil images, unless they review and do a major overhaul to how they treat guests they will lose repeat revenue. I never wished to leave bad review and raved about this place the first two times but if you look forward to going on holiday to be treated badly it really does make you feel really negative about somewhere. Found much nicer hotels now in Bitez due to being a frequent visitor and after speaking to other people they too have decided not to revisit the Okaliptus.