Marbel Hotel

We stayed at Marbel Hotel by Palm Wings for seven nights as a family, and while I wouldn’t necessarily describe the hotel as bad, I do think it’s important for families travelling from abroad to know what to expect before booking.

The biggest disappointment for us was the food. The variety is very limited, with many of the same meals repeated throughout the stay. After several days, it became quite difficult to find something different to eat, particularly when travelling as a family with children.

The location was also not quite what we expected. Although Ladies Beach is only around a five-minute drive away, there was no hotel shuttle to the beach during our stay, despite us expecting one to be available, so you need to either take a taxi or use the local bus. The hotel itself is also situated opposite residential flats, which means the surroundings don’t really give you that holiday resort feeling.

We also felt that the hotel was much more geared towards its domestic Turkish guests than international holidaymakers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having predominantly Turkish guests, of course, but international families should be aware that the overall food, atmosphere and entertainment didn’t feel particularly tailored towards people travelling from abroad for a typical resort-style holiday.

Another major concern for us was the alcohol. The drinks available appeared to be inexpensive local brands, and I would personally recommend being cautious. My husband was told that a drink he was being served was whisky, but after looking into it further, we believed what he had actually been given was vodka. He subsequently became unwell for several days during our holiday. Obviously, I can’t say with certainty that the alcohol itself caused his illness, but based on our experience, I would definitely advise guests to be careful with the spirits and how much they drink.

The children’s entertainment was another disappointment. There is an animation team, but during our stay the evening entertainment became extremely repetitive, with essentially the same children’s show each night. If you’re staying for seven nights or longer, it becomes boring very quickly, especially for the children.

That being said, I don’t want this to reflect badly on the animation staff themselves. Valerie in particular was lovely, friendly and made a genuine effort to engage with guests and the children. The issue isn’t really the people delivering the entertainment; it’s the lack of variety in what they have available to offer.

Overall, this isn’t an awful hotel, but unfortunately there wasn’t anything that particularly stood out to us as a major positive either. It provides the basics, but it doesn’t offer very much beyond that, and I don’t think it gives the full resort experience that many families travelling abroad may be expecting.

If you’re booking on a very tight budget and simply want somewhere affordable to stay, eat, have a drink and use the pool, then Marbel may be perfectly adequate. However, if your budget allows you to spend a little more, particularly if you’re travelling with children and want good food, varied entertainment and more of a resort atmosphere, I would personally recommend paying the extra and choosing another hotel.

We made the most of our holiday as a family, but based on our experience, I wouldn’t choose to stay at Marbel Hotel by Palm Wings again.

It’s a very nice hotel the location is brilliant like a 20 min walk from the sea I went with my friends in June and all the staff were great especially Veli top bar man. The rooms were clean and very spacious. It’s peaceful as in little to no noise.the amenities were good just wish the gym had abit more equipment. Value for money was great worth every penny. The atmosphere was nice very laid back and allowed us all to relax and enjoy the holiday.