Granada Luxury Belek

Looks like luxury. Feels anything but. Extremely disappointing for the money.

Where do I even start?

Granada Luxury Belek is certainly an impressive-looking hotel. The building is grand, the complex is huge and there are plenty of pools. The slides also kept my 12-year-old son entertained for hours, so there are positives.

But once you get past the impressive appearance, the cracks start to show very quickly.

For what this hotel charges, I expected a genuine luxury all-inclusive experience. Instead, it feels like you are constantly being given opportunities to spend even more money.

€3 for popcorn and €3 for candy floss for children at an all-inclusive resort? Seriously? The onsite shops charge ridiculous prices for basic crisps, sweets and snacks. The fairground costs extra. Bowling costs extra. And then there is the constant push to spend more.

The animation team are particularly relentless with the bingo tickets. We said no repeatedly, yet they kept coming back time after time. Being asked once is fine. Being repeatedly hassled after you’ve already said no is not.

The food — the biggest disappointment

The food is, quite frankly, mediocre.

Day after day. Night after night. Same stuff, different day. Very little imagination and very little variation. You quickly get bored of it.

And the main restaurant? Feeding time at the zoo.

Massive queues, people everywhere, noise and chaos. Management can write whatever they want in their responses to other Tripadvisor reviews defending the food and dining experience, but guests aren’t stupid. When review after review raises the same issues, perhaps the problem isn’t the guests.

The à la carte restaurants are another frustration. We struggled to get a booking, yet somehow a table could apparently be found if we were willing to pay €50 per person.

That says a lot.

If I’m paying for an all-inclusive holiday, I shouldn’t feel like I’m constantly being presented with the next thing I need to pay extra for.

Drinks

The drinks are nothing special either. We’ve barely seen a drinks menu during our stay, and nothing about the drinks service has screamed “luxury”.

Smoking — completely unacceptable

The smoking culture around this resort is honestly disgusting.

People smoking around children and babies, blowing smoke into communal areas as though nobody else exists. Even more disappointing is seeing staff members smoking while serving guests.

On one occasion, a member of staff was actually smoking in the shop while serving my 12-year-old son.

In a family resort, that should be completely unacceptable.

The slides

The waterpark is one of the things families are paying for, yet two of the limited slides come with restrictions that are difficult to understand.

One is 18+, while another has a 60 kg weight limit.

So you’ve got a family resort where children are one of the main target markets, but some of the slides are effectively unavailable to them.

Why?

Carat VIP — what we expected from this hotel

The one thing I will say is that the Carat VIP à la carte restaurant was genuinely very good.

The food, service and overall experience were exactly what we expected from a hotel like this.

And that is actually what makes the rest of the experience even more disappointing.

Because the Carat VIP showed that the hotel is capable of delivering the food, service and attention to detail that you would expect from a luxury resort.

That is the standard we expect from a hotel like this — not the exception.

Unfortunately, the Carat VIP experience felt like exactly that: an exception.

The bottom line

This hotel is a perfect example of looking luxurious rather than delivering a luxury experience.

The building is impressive. The pools are impressive. The grounds are impressive.

But luxury isn’t just marble floors and a huge swimming pool.

Luxury is good food, good service, attention to detail and feeling valued rather than feeling like you’re being constantly encouraged to open your wallet.

For the price, I expected considerably more.

Instead, we’ve experienced repetitive mediocre food, average drinks, constant upselling, expensive extras, overcrowded dining areas, persistent bingo sales pitches and a smoking culture that is completely inappropriate for a family resort.

Our son has enjoyed the slides, and that is probably the biggest positive we will take away from the holiday.

But would we come back?

Absolutely not.

For the money, there are far better options in Belek. Granada Luxury Belek may look like a five-star luxury resort, but based on our experience, the actual holiday experience is very average at best.

Impressive from a distance. Disappointing up close.

We came home in September 10th after a 10 night stay and as a family we had an amazing experience at Granada. Upon arrival at night we could see the hotel from a distance and as we drew closer and closer to the main entrance the Hotel was just stunning. Like many people we had read many reviews both positive and negative and have to say that first impressions were excellent and the reception staff were very welcoming and we didn’t encounter any language barriers. We were checked in very prompt and in our room writhing about 20 minutes. We stayed in room 2403 a 2 bedroom family room which was spotless and had everything in we needed. The next day our holiday rep met with us at 11 am and we booked several excursions. The hotel grounds are spotless and the staff work very hard to keep it that way. Pools are well maintained and there are lifeguards everywhere which is very reassuring when you travel with children. We found the restaurants and snack bars always well stocked and well presented. Evening entertainment was so good and a great atmosphere and again the staff on rollerscates really looked after us and brought our drinks every evening even knew our order by heart after a couple of days so wouldn’t even need to ask. We booked the beach cabana B1 through guest relations again who were so well attentive and had an amazing day and the staff at the beech were amazing reallly made us feel special. Overall we had an amazing holiday and would like to thank all at Granada for making it special and have booked again for next year “can’t wait”