Golden Lotus Hotel

+ The staff at reception were very kind and helpful. Even if some of them did not speak English they always strived to help us out whatever our problem. Most of the restaurant staff worked really hard and were very attentive - while unfortunately some were behaved so disgustingly it marred our perception significantly.
Although the rooms were a bit outdated, the beds were really comfortable, and the views were great as well!

+ The location of the hotel was very nice, the rooms that overlook the sea (and also the pier) offer a nice view of sunrise - worth waking up early! The hotel is right at the beach, so you can easily stroll down for a dip in the warm and clear water. It has it's own pier (most in the area don't have this) which is well shaded and has plenty of space for lounging (beds are extra charge there though) - while the pier itself also goes well into the sea enough that you can jump right into the deep water. Both from some of the rooms and from the pier as well, you also have a breathtaking view of the lovely mountains surrounding Kemer. You are also close to the city center itself, so you can easily walk around and explore.

+ Most hotels in the area usually do some sort of show or performance in the evening, such as belly dancers or musicians singing. I find that these events are usually really loud and annoying after a while. Golden Lotus did not organize such events too often fortunately, so it was a good change of tone to just sit back and have some drinks by the pool after dinner.

- Even within the hotel the constant harassment for tips was really tyring after a while. It's understandable that this is part of the culture, but some of the waiters' behavior was just plain disgusting. In the bar we were refused drinks at first by one of the waiters doing their shift saying: "we paid for the hotel, we did not pay him, we can go drink water" - yeah, all inclusive huh?... He did start joking around afterward and served us, but it wasn't really funny honestly. One of the spa personel was acting smug for the first few days just because we did not immediately sign up for massages and dared to simply ask for towels for which we paid the deposit already. I am not really sure how they are expecting me to give every staff member money every day just so they start behaving like the way they are paid to by their employees. If that salary is not enough for them then they should take that to their boss and not to me.
Moreover some of the waiters were constantly flirting and hitting on women members of our group despite clearly seeing they were taken already. This again we found very unprofessional behavior. The hotel should educate their employees that both this sort behavior and the hounding for tips is probably not really suitable for the quality they wish to embody. These experiences significantly spoiled the trip for us.

- The rooms were kind of outdated, with some broken equipment and doors. Overall the hotel felt a bit dated in regards to facilities, to truly be a 4 star hotel they would definitely need to renovate it.

~ The food was unfortunately mostly bland. But that did vary by each day, sometimes there were some good choices!