Labranda Mares Marmaris

We have been many times to this hotel and we love it but because of the way customer service seems to have gone downhill I think it will be our last..having to go to the jetty at. 0630 to get a bed is not right.standing in the queue in lobby bar to get served and Turkish/Russian speakers go to front of the queue and push in and get served is not good..also the attitude of the lobby bar staff has gone downhill..miserable and unhelpful..one person serving and five standing doing nothing and ignoring customers. The food is superb and if you tip the waiters which we always do they go above and beyond to help you ..trying to book late check out is impossible which makes a long day when you get picked up at 1800 and check out at 1200.

On arriving to the hotel it looked clean and welcoming. We were even more excited on seeing the room we had been allocated was even better that expectations- we booked a family bungalow and we had a lovely sea view. The hotel is generally clean and the cleaners do a fantastic job. Sadly this is where my praise for this hotel ends. The buffet restaurant whilst plentiful food has the same foods pretty much every night with only slight variation. This also seems to be very geared up to meet expectations of the Russian guests. You self seat at a table and get your own drinks at a bar and self service buffet style foods. The waiters are supposed to bring you water however not once did we have water poured for us though the tables around us would. My daughter only drinks water and with this not being available at the bar the only option is to get this from the waiters which left me having to get up and ask them to pour me a glass. It became painfully obvious that some waiters avoided the English guests- I say some as on our final night we have a more friendly experience when we moved to a different area of the restaurant. It was the same experience with the clearing of plates between courses- tables around us would be cleared we would be left with ours on the table until we left. There is one large pool and two smaller pools. If you want a sun bed be prepared to get up early- there is certainly many more guests than sun beds- same goes for the beach area though there are more there so chances are higher of getting one. The beach area is beautiful and we enjoyed our days there. The snack beach bar also serves lovely lunches and a much better experience than the buffet. Evening entertainment, if you are lucky enough to even get a seat to watch is poor, and again repetitive same things each week. They push bingo but it’s not free be prepared to pay £5-10 to join in. The ice creams near the pool are not included and come at a high cost, there is no access to ice lollies or ice creams for children outside of the meal times. Overall I have to say we were disappointed. This was not the 5* experience expected or that we are used to. The area is beautiful and one positive to this bad experience is we went out more and visited some lovely local bars and restaurants and although we will be back it will not be to Labranda Mares. Reading previous reviews I can see management are very defensive and I will assume comment here will be the same. Sadly this also is disappointing to see that the opinions of your service users are discredited and not taken on board.

The hotel and the rooms are very nice very well located but the food and the hygiene were extremely poor and the manager was not professional at all saying for the price you paid this is what you get instead of saying we will work on being better .

I am seeing a lot of negative reviews and I am not surprised at all. I had a bad experience myself. The room we were initially given was hot with a poorly functioning and noisy air conditioner. The curtains were not blackout. I complained about it and was told that the noise from air conditioning unit is normal as it is old. Really! I demanded a different room, only to be told that the hotel is fully booked but when I offered to pay more, I was given the option to select from a few rooms. So I had to pay an extra £270 to get a room with less noisy air conditioner. Unfortunately this one still does not have blackout curtains. There's plenty of food and options to select from but for certain drink you need to pay (I don't drink alcohol so not too much fussed about it). The pool area is overcrowded and small but you can manage to squeeze in. There is no sandy beach but plenty of sunbeds, if you are early. The entertainment services are not impressive and the dedicated area is full of people who are smoking. Most days I have left early due to no space and the smoke. I wrote a review on Google about my experience a few days ago, with a reply from management that I will be contacted by the guest relations team in the morning, but this is day 6 now and I have had no contact. I am still here and have a few more days to go. I visited another hotel yesterday and I was surprised to see the difference in terms of what they offer. Unfortunately, I will not be coming back here, based on my current experience.

Well what can I say… Just got back after spending 11 days here and will not be returning to the hotel or Turkey. When we arrived at 6am in the morning we went straight to the room as we had been travelling for a long time. The room was dusty and there was a cobweb in the corner of the wardrobe. (Which was still there when we checked out). We went down and told reception who said our room will be cleaned later. It’s meant to be a five star hotel. The room should have been cleaned and spotless. The furniture is old and dilapidated. The rooms could do with a much needed make over! Balcony sliding door gets very hot in the sun and gets stuck often, be careful you don’t burn yourself. The lighting in the room is terrible. There is no central light, just one over the door and 2 lamps. At night it made the room too bright, so couldn’t stay up to read as would keep the others up or to dull to brighten up the room. One lamp was covered in electrical tape. Nowhere in the shower to place your toiletries. Towels had a hole in them. After we inspected the room, we went to breakfast and be prepared for self service. Been to many hotels around the world and used to being seated at a table and a waiter to get your drinks. Don’t expect this at Labranda. Was met with the waiters standing around with their arms crossed and saw chefs texting or having conversations on their phones. Most Staff are very indifferent, especially if you require any assistance eg. For finding a clean table or needing clean cutlery. They would rather stare at you then say hello and if we did say hello, it came from us first. Staff need to understand that people have already paid to come on holiday so shouldn’t expect a “tip” when doing the bare minimum. Pros: Good healthy variety of food. Enjoyed the main restaurant theme nights. Food tasted better the first week we were there though. Hot drinks available 24/7. Lobby is nice and bright but not as grand looking as we’re used to. The slides are fun in the pool, lifeguards try their best to keep guests safe. Acrobatic theme night was the best of the entertainment. Easy to get a bus into Marmaris or İçmeler with the bus stop outside the hotel after a mini trek up the hill. 30TL cash pp. Water sports is great. My daughter and I went on Mabel which was great fun, even got photos costing 600TL so we can have the memories forever. Cons: sunbed situation is ridiculous don’t expect to find a bed after 9am. Difficult to get a table at meal times. Uneven surfaces, and hilly, have to be very able walking around the hotel to and from the beach. Smoking outside in the restaurant area shouldn’t be allowed. You should be able to sit outside for dinner without inhaling smoke. Waffle and ice cream vendors shouldn’t be allowed to be sold by the pool. It should be in another location. Management saying they are not part of the hotel is wrong, they shouldn’t be there then. NO ice cream is served as all inclusive, just ice lollies served in the main restaurant at meal times. Expect Lidl or Aldi flavoured drinks. Nothing fancy and watered down versions of alcoholic cocktails! They don’t have coke cola at the bar. It’s Pepsi. On at least 3 occasions I had to phone reception and ask for toilet paper as we had ran out and for towels after our room had been “cleaned”. Karaoke night should be called “Russian Night” and don’t expect a big ‘stage’ to watch the entertainment. Bar staff condone pushing in if you speak the language. Hotel shop is a rip off. They have the prices labeled but make them up on their calculator. If your flight is late in the evening, don’t expect late check out. Asked about 3 times in regards to this and was told they could only let you know if they had availability after you checked out. Didn’t bother ask when we eventually checked out because clearly they don’t want the extra money. In the end, We ended up using the Spa facilities but don’t expect much. There’s only 1 shower for females and it’s communal. Special thanks to Duzgun who looked after us at the Sultan bar, serving my daughter “Shirley Temple’s”. Also Serhat who looked after us on our last 2 days. He made sure we were well looked after during meal times. Some of the staff need to follow their lead on customer service. All in all 2 stars and that’s thanks to Duzgun for raising the bar! Needless to say, I will NOT be returning to this hotel.