Kaya Palazzo Golf Resort

I booked a suit but unfortunately it was horrible.

• The bathroom door was broken.

-The sofa was damaged & worn-out -The room service did not clean the trash bin & left it without charging.

• Today, one of room service members opened the room without Knocking the door even one time, it is a horrible place.

The value paid is matching to the quality

Ok as always a totally transparent and honest review.
Firstly I chose Turkey as it seemed to be the place to go and this hotel ticked lots of boxes for me and my 2 teenage sons - I paid £8000 for a week which is a lot of money for a week in Turkey and to be honest I expected a lot more than what we got (I could have booked the Four Seasons in Egypt for the same price which is an incredible hotel). I chose the hotel due to it having: Swim up room ✔️ 3 seperate sleeping areas ✔️ À la carte restaurants ✔️ Golf course ✔️ On arrival at the hotel the first impressions were good - we were greeted with champagne (ok sparkling wine but it was a lovely gesture) and check in was fairly quick which after a long day travelling was perfect, we got to our room at around 10pm but were informed there was no food available until 11pm in the night buffet. We decided to just go to sleep as we were all tired. The room was nice, very spacious, a little tired in parts but clean, our room had 2 bedrooms a living room and 3 bath rooms, however the corridors leading to the rooms are really tatty, the flooring is badly stained and the whole area needs a tidy up. Upper floors are more palacios as we had a late check out and our temporary room and was more updated and modern.

My youngest son was sleeping downstairs and the first issue arose at bedtime when the blind would not close - the blind is huge (floor to ceiling) and covers the main patio doors and upper windows, without this the sun streams in early and there is no privacy at all. We were told there was an issue and they would send out someone to fix it (it was never fixed), to be fair they did offer to change our room but having unpacked everything the thought of repacking, moving and unpacking again was just a hassle so we said we would wait for the blind to be fixed instead, sadly it wasn’t. The patio area, decking etc was pretty shabby and a few of the gates were hanging off, the steps into the pool were also quite unstable. The pool itself was lovely. The restaurants - to my dismay (I should have read the small print) except for the main buffet restaurant all the other restaurants have an additional €50 per person charge, per visit and wine, and premium drinks are not included either. The main buffet restaurant is nothing short of carnage, it’s loud, busy and full of many rude people and screaming children - it was seriously my idea of hell. One evening I waited 20 minutes to be offered a drink and then it never arrived, the food was typical buffet hotel food that you get in any 3-4* hotel, there was nothing special about it at all. Breakfast service was a little better than dinner but not the best and certainly nothing like 5 star service when paying so much money. One morning we were playing golf and arrived very early for breakfast, as I attempted to get some strawberries at least 30 fruit flies flew out of the bowl. Needless to say this put me off completely. The Al la crate restaurants were all excellent, great service and delicious food, particularly the Italian. The spa was excellent, overpriced but lots of variety, the ladies working in the spa are excellent and my massages and reflexology were both fabulous.

We hired a VIP cabana for 2 days (Maldives style with steps into the sea and a jacuzzi) - mainly to get away from the crowds - we were never able to get a sun bed by the pool the whole week we were staying as the usual selfish folk were up early and putting their towels out in true European style. The staff running the cabanas were truly excellent and the service was fantastic! Very expensive if you want lunch and champagne (€500) but very good and highly recommended.

Staff were ok (a few really incredible) but on the whole not very friendly, particularly in the bar near the pool, again not 5 star service in any way. Often you could sit in the bar for 10-15 mins and get no service at all. Guest relations were always excellent and eager to help - thank you to the whole team. We played golf once, the course was lovely and we had a fun 18 holes. The golf team were friendly and accommodating and there’s some great ladies clothing in the pro shop.

In my honest opinion 5 star should be a little more refined than this hotel, maybe 5 star for facilities but definitely not service. I did find some luxury aspects….cabanas, Palazzo lounge, Al la carte restaurants but ‘luxury’ costs more and quite a lot more here - on top of what you’ve paid already. The basic options are not luxurious at all sadly.

Sadly many of the guests were incredibly rude, I even watched one couple walk away after their toddler peed on the floor in the patisserie - neither parent thought it appropriate to let someone know or actually clean it up - totally disgusting and disrespectful.

It has the potential to be amazing with some small tweaks and listening to clients and taking onboard feedback.

I don’t usually leave negative reviews. I normally try to make the most of a situation, enjoy the holiday, and simply make a note not to return. But Kaya Palazzo Belek was probably the biggest gap I’ve experienced between what was advertised online like on Booking, the hotel’s own website, and through the travel agency,and what we actually found when we arrived.

First of all, this resort seems to tick the boxes of a five-star hotel, but does a very poor job of actually maintaining that standard.

The hotel is badly maintained. There are cracks everywhere, from floors to ceilings, and I don’t mean the kind of cosmetic wear you barely notice. Some genuinely made us question how well the property is being looked after, especially travelling with two small children.

Cleanliness is maybe a 5/10, particularly around the restaurants, bars, pools and beach. There’s mold, stained sunbeds, food waste left around, dirty surfaces, etc. The bars often look like a cocktail war zone, with spills and ingredients all over the counters.

The coffee is bad, but honestly, that’s nothing particularly new at an all-inclusive resort in Turkey. The cocktails, though, are maybe a 3/10. Order the same cocktail from three different bartenders and you’ll probably get three completely different drinks.

The food itself is around a 6/10. Nothing terrible, nothing memorable. The bigger issue is everything around it. The “clean” plates aren’t always that clean, something you unfortunately discover after picking one up and the tables, chairs and other furniture are visibly worn and poorly maintained.

The beach area was one of the most disappointing parts. The sunbeds are extremely dirty, with everything from melted ice cream to old food stains on them. Many are broken, and so are the mattresses. This isn’t the occasional sunbed that has seen better days, it’s enough of them that you notice it immediately.

Our room was okay. Old, but okay. The cleaning staff seem to do what they can with what they have.

The air conditioning is hit or miss. We had three rooms: in two, the AC worked fine, while in the third it barely did its job.

And the internet is terrible. Once you leave the main hotel building, especially around the beach and pool, it’s almost nonexistent.

I definitely wouldn’t recommend this resort. I know one review probably won’t change much about the condition of the hotel, but I do think people should know what the reality looks like before booking, especially considering how differently the resort is presented online.

For a hotel marketed and priced as a five-star resort, the problem isn’t one or two small things going wrong. It’s the overall lack of maintenance, cleanliness and attention to detail that you see almost everywhere.