Club Alpina

Just back after a weeks stay and to be fair we hardly stayed as were out and about as you should be on holidays. Ate at the pool bar once and the food was really good and reasonable. The drinks are too expensive especially as you can get cheaper while sitting on the beach being served at your sun bed. Staff were fine no complaints but wouldn't give it 5 stars as think they need to rethink the prices as not fair to large families on a budget.would we stay again ? No for us but not a bad hotel.

Stayed at the Alpina hotel aug/sept 2020. My partner has stayed there numerous times before so we knew what we were getting (although he hadn’t been there for roughly 5yrs). We were wrong! Arrived after a long journey in the early hours of the morning. Room was adequate although the balcony door wouldn’t lock asked them to fix it to which two of the staff proceeded to try and fix it with a kitchen knife (what this would achieve I do not know) for approximately an hour until my partner told them not to bother and asked them to leave. The room was clean where the eye meets, meaning there was a dirty sock under the bed which was kicked out when my daughter kicked it out while getting into bed. The microwave hadn’t been cleaned at the touch points (during a pandemic!). Room was dusty. The room we had ....117..... was by no means big enough for a family of four. As the balcony door wouldn’t lock we found it safer for the night for the children to sleep in the bedroom. Our sofa bed was like a concrete slab with a single sheet thrown over the top of it and a single blanket for two people! I know it’s hot in turkey, however when the air con is on it can get a bit chilly. The balcony overlooked what seemed to be an ex hotel with local people staying in it. This wouldn’t have been so bad but I felt like if we reached out we could touch hands and felt like all eyes on us. We complained to the night receptionist who was extremely rude and abrupt and said no cannot be moved. My partner ended up ringing jet 2 who were lovely and asked if we were ok to stay in room for one night and sort in the morning which we agreed to as it was late. We got the kids settled eventually and tried to get our heads down, was just nodding off when the shouting and screaming started obviously the room was the main thoroughfare from the pool, bar and entertainment which is another reason why those rooms are not suitable for families with young children. This went on until approximately 4am. Next morning we went to reception to ask for a room change. Jet2 has obviously been on the phone to the Alpina as suddenly nothing seemed too much trouble. We had a room change at about midday with the jet 2 rep wanting to make sure everything was fine. Vicky the rep was so helpful and friendly. The room we were moved to was beautiful, so clean, lovely view couldn’t fault it. Room 515 was brilliant for a family of four. The cleaner was also spot on! 1st morning we went to get breakfast round the pool and my partner was instantly recognised by the long term bar man Alex. Nothing was too much trouble. He was lovely to the kids on that 1st morning. That was to change! We had family staying at a hotel around the corner so we were over there quite a bit. The moment that Alex saw we weren’t spending money around the Alpina he didn’t want to know us. The customer service and so called friendly atmosphere went straight out the window. Why would we stay round the alpina when the other hotel was half the price?! My partner knows a few local restaurant owners and they said a lot of customers have mentioned the alpina’s prices and they said the alpina are charging 5 star prices for what is not 5 star food or drink. They said the alpina seem to be getting greedy which we agree with. There was also an issue when my partner mentioned about glasses being around the pool during daytime hours when there are kids running around. (My partners grandson ended up in hospital one year due to standing on glass. He needed stitches). Should they not have plastic glasses? This seems to be another serious accident waiting to happen. When he mentioned this to a staff member he was greeted with an argument and aggressive behaviour, to which my partner had to walk away. One afternoon we were walking down the street and saw Alex the barman walking to work. He said “where are you going” to which we replied “to see family” he said nastily “fine”! The attitude was disgusting. Our temperatures were not taken until a couple of days into our holiday then was taken religiously for the rest of the holiday. Pam did approach us and ask if it was us who wanted a test?! (It wasn’t us who requested a test!) That’s when the checks started! The gentleman who works behind reception during the day was rude throughout the holiday, in previous years he was lovely and helpful. Don’t know what’s happened. As I was collecting my luggage from reception to get on the bus I was approached by Alex (yes him again) who rudely asked if I had paid my bill. His exact words were “you paid your bill” whilst pointing in my face. As if we would leave without paying. As it happens we had paid the bill that morning. A bill which I think was extremely expensive. It was £90 for one nights drinks and breakfast. I don’t drink and neither did my partner that night due to the heat! We were most definitely ripped off! Unfortunately due to the rudeness of Alex at that point. I did tell him that evening exactly what I thought of his attitude and customer service. Which is very much out of character for me. Finally can I just mention 3 staff which stood out to us. There was a waiter (I don’t know his name) who was lovely every time he had very very short hair and was brilliant. The cleaner who does the pool area and zips about on the cleaning machine by the pool was very funny with my young daughter and always had a smile on his face. Also Pam who helped my parents when my father was taken into hospital for a minor incident and reassured them brilliantly. In previous years my partner has had a fabulous time at the alpina and has been about 15 times. The only problem He had had was when his grandson cut his foot on broken glass around the pool. The staff were fantastic then! The reasons we didn’t stay around the alpina this time were because: * of family staying locally and it was much cheaper to eat and drink elsewhere especially being a family of four with reduced income due to an unexpected pandemic. * Alex’s attitude when he realised we were spending our money elsewhere. * glass around the pool (due to previous experience) We stayed on a self catering basis so as a self catering customer we expect to be able to spend money wherever we want. We have already spent good money for the room. Regardless of whether we spent £1 or £500 in the bar we should not have been made to feel uncomfortable. Every customer should be treated the same. I have experience in hotels (being a former manager of a large hotel and worked in hospitality for over 20years) and understand the basic principles of customer service. This hotel didn’t reflect this and obviously we will never return and will not recommend to anybody. Bad publicity is worse than no publicity as the saying goes!

Got allocated Club Alpina after our original hotel did not open. On arrival got allocated our room, not too bad but the balcony looks right on other apartments about 20ft away. Drink was a tad on the expensive side 30 TL for an efes and 100 TL for a Morgan’s and coke even though you got 2 still about £5 a drink. The main bar/ diner really could be doing with some air freshener at night. The pool area was really good the soft sun loungers cost £10 a day but this comes off your bar bill, one way to keep you captured. Staff on the whole where really good Pam a great help and the wee taxi driver a gem, £2 roughly to go to the marina or blue port, £5 for Iclemer. My main gripe for me is it’s location quite far back in Armalutan so you really have a good hike to get to the front. On the whole not really for us more for family’s, would I return probably not but it’s a decent hotel for those on a budget bar the drink prices.