Paloma Pasha

We’ve just returned home from a 1 week, all inclusive stay at the the Paloma Pasha Hotel in Turkey, and felt this hotel needed an honest review. The stay was fair. It wasn’t fantastic, but equally wasn’t disastrous. Upon arrival, the hotel seemed very impressive and luxurious. However on closer inspection the hotel is actually quite run down and needs some TLC to bring it up to standard. The downstairs toilet area and shower drain in our room, smelt of sewers for the entirety of the stay. The food wasn’t great. There was a real lack of variety and for someone who will eat most things, I found myself skipping meals as there was just nothing that I wanted to eat there. We paid extra for the all inclusive plus option, however believe this to be a massive con. Every guest had exactly the same colour wrist bands and nowhere in the hotel did it outline what the “plus” guests would be entitled to compared to the regular paying guests. Whilst the staff were very friendly, they also smoked behind the bars and seemed completely disinterested in hosting at the kids club. One member of staff sat on her phone for the majority of a session. When the smoking issues were mentioned in a survey to the hotel, it was responded that “all public areas were non-smoking”, however our experience was that ashtrays were provided in all communal areas and smoking was freely encouraged. There are lots of cats in and around the hotel which was fine, however the kids club area often smelt strongly of cat poo and there was even cat poo littered about the play area (see photos) - which is HIGHLY unacceptable. The daytime and evening entertainment was a bit lack lustre, with hardly anything put on. This was a big problem for us, as there wasn’t much in the local area to do and we’d specifically chosen this hotel as a good amount of entertainment was advertised. The outdoor pool was freezing - expected for the time of year of our visit. However the inside pools were equally as cold. So much so that the baby pool caused our toddlers lips to turn blue within a couple of minutes of being in there as she was so cold. The toilets in the public areas were disgusting and not cleaned anywhere near enough. Half of them didn’t have lights on, so we were expected to use in the dark, the others had doors that didn’t lock or close properly. It really wasn’t ideal having to go back to my room each time I wanted to use the toilet, simply because I’d rather do that than use the dirty toilets. The games room was dilapidated and bare. All in a we found more negatives than positives with this hotel. It absolutely shouldn’t be rated or advertised as a 5 star, when a 3 star is better suited. I would highly recommend anyone considering this hotel to read previous reviews on it, especially if you have young children.

Stayed here for 5 nights after a tour of Turkey. The hotel has all the facilities you'd expect from a 5-star hotel, but it lacked the service and maintenance standards you might expect. That being said, we had a very enjoyable and relaxing stay. Between the beach, the pier, and the pool, there is an abundance of sunbeds to be had. But if you're like me and don't like having a dip in the sea and prefer to be by the pool, much of the pool area is in the shade so the beds that are in the sun all day get reserved quite early. The sunbeds at the pool are really uncomfortable, and the towels provided are well past their best. Between the main buffet restaurant and the al a carte restaurants, there is a wide choice of food and the food was tasty. The Wabi Sabi was especially good. The buffet restaurant is large and gets very busy, which makes it feel more like a canteen than a relaxing place to enjoy dinner. The staff are all incredibly friendly.

So definitely not what we were expecting, we wouldn’t say this was a 5 star at all - more a 3 or 4 star. Starting with the good, cats are lovely, rooms clean, food and drink always available. You can’t not enjoy the view, the setting couldn’t be better if you enjoy a nice secluded holiday! Locals nice and friendly hotel staff. There’s places you can go for a walk too so you like to venture out there’s that :). Now for the bad, as we came in October the weather wasn’t great - very windy especially at night which made the pool freezing in the day (at no fault of the hotel) so bring spare warm clothes if you come around that time. Food wasn’t the best, if you’re a picky eater there’s definitely few options and the selection is very same-y day after day. Some of the chicken we got at the buffet was raw. They’re putting lots of the activities away and haven’t restocked some things for two weeks (eg, water bottles, food on the menu - they tell us “finish” and to go somewhere else - , ice cream in the bistro, etc) . Not a lot of things to do in the day unfortunately, there’s a very small selection of games on the bottom floor if you’d like to check that out though. The same music plays everyday which can definitely get irritating. They haven’t been washing up their cups and have been giving out cardboard cups for drinks instead (you can see the plastic and glass cups in the sink) whilst saying the plastic and glass ones are “finished”. The next thing doesn’t really affect the experience but the staff have very long work hours - working from 6:30 to around midnight which leaves little time off for them, which our family found saddening. Some of the plates in the buffet hall were dirty but not all of course. Overall, our stay was just okay. Not good, not bad, just ok. Now I know I’ve just stated everything my family and I found bad but just know that this hotel isn’t a bad hotel - just not up to par with a 5 star hotel as it’s acclaimed to be. Thanks for reading! :)

Gorgeous hotel, loved every minute, clean everywhere you look, friendly staff, cocktails lovely, silent space at the jetty was a favourite place, rooms beautiful, a la carte at Quentine lovely. We would 100% recommend and come back Oh yes great hot chocolate Love this hotel ❤️ Only negatives some food not as hot as it could be in main restaurant under the lamps Loved the silent place on the jetty but you need to make it more obvious. People with Bluetooth music, kids running and shouting. But when it was silent it was amazing could totally relax and de stress.

Awful experience for anyone flying out soon, please make sure to ask for actual photographic evidence of the pool availability. The hotel reassured us on arrival that it would be opened the next day and after 4 days (we checked out early) it still hadn’t made much progress at all. I will upload some pics of the hotel and pool from 3 days ago along with the awful food from the “compensatory day trips!” (Please don’t be tricked into going on these as they are awful and you’re only allowed 1 x soft drink pp for the full day despite being all inclusive!!)

This hotel is just perfect! Nicely situated next to the center of Özdere but very quiet. Magnificent seaview from our room (407). The food is exquisite. Especially on Friday when they served Turkish specialities. A small tip concerning the food: don’t just serve burgers and soup in the bistro at night, add some Turkish dishes like durum, pita, çiğ köfte. We enjoyed the a la carte restaurants. The Wabi Sabi serves excellent dishes, we preferred that one! The hotelstaff is very friendly and offers an excellent and professional service! Our favorite bartender: Efe. A trainee in this hotel, hire him, he is the best! During our stay, a severe storm caused some damage and the pool was closed for almost our entire stay. Nevertheless, we had a perfect stay. The hotelpersonel did everything they could for the guest to still be able to have a nice holiday, providing free excursions etc. Having a pool to be able to swim in, is what guest expect on a holiday. Having a perfect stay without acces to a pool, is a credit to the hotelstaff who did an amazing job. We will come back, for sure! Thank you for your hospitality and for giving us these unforgettable moments in your wonderful hotel! Saskia & Emre