Rixos Premium Tekirova

Our usual destination in the area was closed for refurbishment so we chose an upgraded premium holiday and tried Rixos Tekirova. Booked with the promise and expectation of a luxury, exceptional experience, also opted for upgraded deluxe room to make it a special holiday. For us it was 3 weeks spent in a less than ideal environment. Feel cheated on many levels. Week 1 - ⭐️⭐️ - Dominated by Russians Week 2 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Overrun during local school holidays Week 3 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Food quality and service standards rose to top notch - but only temporarily for duration of 3 day conference. Overall our experience - ⭐️⭐️ Positives: - Comfiest and and largest bed ever - exceptional sleep comfort and quality. - Turkish smoked salmon at breakfast each day - best quality encountered anywhere europe-wide. - Direct access to superb 1-hour walk on the Lycian Way to Phaselis Bay and historic ruins (turning right outside the hotel gates, and right again into the woods at the minibus park at rear of the site). - Just 3 days of a conference in the hotel, everything temporarily upgraded but for 3 days only - Italian Prosecco, Italian red wine, salmon caviar… Negatives: The Room - upgraded to luxurious deluxe room - but dated and a disappointment. - Marble washbasin with cigarette burns on 4 corners… - Generator - loud, intrusive, vibration, intolerable, running from 8 a.m. daily, continuing throughout each day. - “Garden view” from balcony was not a garden view as described. - Kitchen directly below room - constant early morning noise, toxic smoke, burning oil and cooking smells in room, glass recycling at midnight…. - Restaurant barbecue area smoke blowing on to balcony. - Balcony rendered unusable for the duration of 21 day stay. Other Areas: - The heated section within the main pool was too densely crowded to swim. - Impossible to escape cigarette smoke - a constant. - Stunning narrow outdoor verandah with sofa furniture at the main bar with views overlooking pools - completely monopolised and spoilt by hotel staff using it for smoking (spa staff, and shop staff from the indoor premises adjacent) unpleasant environment, and smoke made the area unusable for guests (with lung issues). - Staff constantly on mobile phones - everywhere. Even when guests waiting to be served. - Spa Zone - a quiet adult area, families not being challenged by staff at the entrance. Signage confirms “children under 9 strictly not allowed in the sauna” - but predictably it was noisy, shouty, stressful and overrun…..It’s the usual - token signage showing the rules - all completely disregarded - to the detriment of other respectful guests. Bar Areas: - Bar staff - throughout (with the exception of pleasant staff at the pool bar) - there was something notable and VERY ODD with the dismissive, avoidant unfriendly and “off” attitude of many of the bar staff during our visit to each of 5 bars here at Rixos. (I write this compared directly to all other positive experiences in 30 different hotels in this area and in Turkey as a whole) - Even when no other customers at the bar, staff were avoidant, turn their backs, hide in back rooms, walk away, ignore and despite ordering with pleasantries (and in native Turkish), service was reluctant and unpleasant. There was a decidedly odd culture with the bar staff - and it was restricted solely, very specifically and only to particular hotel. - Management would be very well served to try Mystery Shopper guests to observe for themselves the actuality of what was going on here. - They would also do well to review the CCTV camera footage to see how avoidant the staff were (Nov 24) - This was the single most upsetting element, encountered every day for the first 10 days of our stay here. - Some bar staff were directly unpleasant, specifically in the main hotel and Lotus bar. - We went to eat three times in The People’s Restaurant - sat each time at a table to order, very few other guests seated - staff observed but completely ignored us such that they turned their backs - we waited, yet each time we had to leave without being served and without eating. Management need to view CCTV footage what’s going on here. Rixos Tekirova - good for families certainly, others, (based on how it was in November) maybe not so much. I wasn’t unhappy to leave. We won’t be returning. Additionally, and only as a direct result of our experience here, (21 nights for a special holiday, in an overly expensive but poor room allocation and the deeply upsetting attitude of bar staff) I’m unlikely to actually book with the Rixos chain again.

The hotel is nicely located, the staff is polite and helpful. Unfortunately, the hotel rooms are not very good quality (damaged), probably due to the large number of guests with small children, both local and Russian. If someone is planning a trip with the intention of a quiet and high-quality rest, then rather due to the large number of children, the noise is omnipresent and the culture of the guests from Russia leaves much to be desired (feet on the tables in the lobby, lying in swimsuits on the sofas in the lobby, children running and screaming in the lobby - in which an adult should be able to calmly drink a drink, to which the staff does not react at all and for this unfortunately 3 stars because it is very far from the concept of luxury

This is the second time we came. We would highly recommend it. The food is great as are all the staff. Guest relations surprised us with some birthday balloons and birthday cake- what a lovely gesture. The Indian food chef Jitender made lovely Indian food and we ate it everyday. He is truly a great chef of Indian food. Separately, I really like their grilled food they made. They even have heinz mayonnaise which is great. Everyone seems to speak English and I had no problems with this. What a great place and we look forward to coming back again. Room 2295 nov 6th to Nov 10th.

We had fantastic holiday with the kids. Lots of activities, heated outdoor swimming pool made the difference. Personal concierge service on WhatsApp was also super helpful. Our girls who looked after us were fantastic a pure magicians with the bookings restaurants and kids club. Big thanks to Merve and Yagmur xx

The pool villa was excellent, Our guides Merve and Yagmur helped us during the week in every programs of the hotel. Thanks Rixos Premium is a real paradise for children. The nature and the environment are amasing. The quality of the foods is top top.