Sunis Elita Beach Resort Hotel & SPA

I can imagine this being a 5* property when it originally opened in 2004 but 20 years of relentless use with minimal maintenance means the instances of peeling paint, chipped furniture and mouldy grout are too numerous to ignore- for a resort that closes in the lean season, this lack of regular maintenance is inexcusable IMO.

Based on our (2 a+ 2 c) 14 night stay at the height of summer (mid August) the experience at Sunis can hardly be described as relaxing. The place was packed to the rafters, the weak aircon in the lobby and other communal areas has already been commented on by others, the restaurant frequently resembled an assault course which required deft towel placing skills, quickly acquired at the poolside, to secure a table indoors. The food was tasty and plentiful, although as vegetarians, it did get a bit repetitive by day 10-11. What was very off putting however were the FLIES!!!!! which were absolutely everywhere. In fact, 3 of us suffered tummy upsets/ runs during the stay and whilst the symptoms were fairly mild and self limiting, what really surprised us was the guest manager's attitude when my wife flagged the issue to him. Instead of taking it seriously and investigating the source of the outbreak, he dismissevly suggested she go see the doctor rather than waste time speaking to him about it!

We stayed in 'Villa Olive' which was thankfully set away from the crowds and constant pounding music of the main building. It was also quite close to the quieter secondary pool (although finding a lounger was a challenge unless you are an early riser). Both the room and bathroom were a bit dated but clean, housekeeping was really good and the mini bar replenished daily.

The animation team appeared quite friendly and busy and the entertainment programme was quite varied with none of the shows repeated during our 14 day stay.

The location is in the middle of nowhere so it'll get expensive if you intend to get out and about during your stay. Dolmus to Alanya/Antalya take forever and the taxi fare to Side, which is barely 15 mins away, is €40. You should really consider renting a car if you plan on leaving the resort regularly- we paid € 300 for a Kia Picanto for 10 days through Garenta, Alanya but there is a car rental at the hotel itself which offers automatics for roughly €50/day.

Private transfer from Antalya Airport is €40-50 each way.

All said, it was not great, certainly not 5* but it could have been a lot worse so I'd score it 3 stars.

The experience at this hotel was an emotional roller-coaster. Let me break it down why. Please have the patience to read the full review.

1. Rooms - 2/5
We booked a bunked bed room in the main building, as we went with two pre-teen kids, so the extra beds were a necessity.
The room was small compared to the idea given by the official photos, the furniture was rather old, but clean.
The bathroom was also small, it was clear that it had seen better days.
The carpet in the common area at floor 2 has a lot of visible stains. I don't get it why they do not clean them or replace the carpet. For a hotel that says they are 5*, that's unacceptable.

2. Cleanliness - 4/5
The only reason I am not giving 5 stars is because of a stain on the room carpet (size of a normal plate) that I notified the hotel about. I saw that they tried to clean it, seemed to have gone, but a few days later it reappeared ('twas like a ninja-style stain).
Other than that, nothing to complain about.
The bed sheets were changed each time we requested.
Room was vacuumed each day, minibar refilled, towels changed.

3. Staff - 4/5
Yes, the reception staff does not know that much English and almost every other employee knows even less, including the entertainment team. But we managed to communicate somehow.
Most of the bartenders at the pool bar seemed annoyed and looked like they just wanted to get away from me, even though I was as polite as possible.
Not all of the staff was like them. Many were nice and polite.
I would like to especially thank Elif (hotel restaurant staff) for her gentle smile and above-and-beyond attitude.
I would also like to thank my man, my homie, my brother-from-another-mother, the bartender serving at the lounge bar during the evenings. I'm sorry to say I forgot to ask for his name :) .
Always with a smile on his face, making small talk while preparing the drinks (knows English and German), doing off-the-menu drinks for the kids.
To both of you ....... chapeau!

4. Food - 4/5
I read some of the comments from other users and they were complaining about the lack of diversity. That's absolutely not true.
You have different varieties of meats, at least 10 types of cheeses, multiple vegetables, fruits, fish, seafood, chicken, lamb.
There were some products that did not have a nice taste (from my point of view) - morning cereals, some of the salads, but that might be a cultural thing. Maybe that's the way they eat those in Turkey.

5. A-la-carte restaurant - 0/5
I separated this from the food section for a specific reason.
The tour guide told us at the meeting that we had a "a-la-carte" complimentary meal included in our vacation package.
We went with the Asian restaurant.
First warning sign was that I was made to choose the main dishes in advance, upon making the reservation, and only could choose from 3 dishes.
I went with the duck with orange for me and my wife and the sweet-sour chicken dish for the kids.
We had eaten these before at other Asian restaurants and thought we knew what these were.
Man, I was so wrong....
We get to the restaurant 10 minutes before the reservation time. There was no-one there - no chef, no waiters, no nothing... We took a stroll on the beach and returned 10 min later. Now the staff was present and some other guests started arriving.
We go in and are met by a seemingly disgruntled / bored maitre-d who did not speak any English at all. I wasn't expecting him to entertain us, but at least a smile, a more positive attitude, something...
We waited for the main dish for more than 1h (we were served some appetizers in the meantime). Note that we had told in advance what we wanted to serve.
When the food finally came, I saw some plain strips of duck breast and red cabbage, no oranges, no seasoning, nothing.
The sweet-sour chicken had 90% vegetables and 10% chicken breast.
We were made to feel like we were some beggars waiting for free food and should be grateful for what we receive, no matter how bad it was.
We left and told the staff not to bother with the deserts.

Bit of an odd hotel this, in that it's like 2 different places in one. On the one hand you've got the calm of the beach, the beach bar/restaurant and the quiet pool. At the opposite end of the scale you've got the mayhem of the main pool/bar and the main restaurant - both of which are too busy and too crowded. We were staying in the villa petunia, and found the rooms a little dated, and in need of some TLC (wallpaper peeling, cupboard doors wonky). Most of the staff are great, but you get the feeling some of them are just trying to make a few Euros on the side (no, I don't want to buy bingo/tombola/raffle tickets). Entertainment is not great. Overall, I'm not sure it's still a 5 star hotel.