Tui Blue Xanthe Resort & Spa

Not sure how all the other reviews are 5 stars as this definitely isn't a 5 star hotel. Rooms are small and very tired with holes in the blinds, no blackout blinds. We spent the first 2 nights in a room that smelt of sewage/mould when the air conditioning was on. It also wasn't cleaned properly. We complained after the first night but they did nothing. On the second night we couldn't tolerate the smell and had to turn the a/c off and slept in 30 degrees heat with no a/c or even fans (they said they didn't have any fans which I find hard to believe). After 2 days we were moved to another room, also tired but at least the a/c worked. The mini bars were barely cold also. It's a shame because after this my husband came down with a fever for the rest of the holiday, which I think was down to illness caught from the mouldy air conditioning. Legionnaires is spread like this so I think the hotel should take this more seriously but they don't as I saw other people complaining about the stench. Waiting staff are rushed off their feet and short staffed but they try so hard. A couple of occasions we waited for meals at the pool bar which never materialised so we gave up and left. Hygiene is not a strong point. The tables are often dirty if you are not the first family to use it at meal times. I watched as a staff member picked up all the apricots from around the dessert buffet, piling them on a plate, dropping one on the floor and picking it up and putting it back on the plate (she didn't throw it away!). Another time we saw fruit flies all over the fruit. My daughters had sickness a couple of times, I think from the buffet. Special mention for Ercan who was an excellent waiter. The pools are amazing but nowhere near enough sunbeds. They are all reserved before breakfast despite hotel policy saying they don't allow it. I complained a couple of times when I saw just towels on sunbeds all day long but nothing was done so we usually had to leave our stuff under a tree to go for a swim. Entertainment is really poor for a 5 star resort and mostly in German. All staff speak German preferentially and few speak English properly so it's difficult to communicate. We were there for 10 days and looked for Samet but never saw him. Positives are the location and the gorgeous beach. We made the best of the situation but it definitely didn't match the 5 star experience we were promised and it definitely doesn't match the majority of reviews on here. We'll not be back.

Please save your money and book another hotel in Side, we arrived at 3 am to a room with awful smells of poo and wee, the room had terrible damp damage and water leakage on the ceilings and bathrooms. We complained and was then moved to another room with thankfully no smells but it had again damp damage on the ceilings and walls, checked out after 6 hours, was in another hotel by 9am , 5 star no chance, hotel is dated and old and in desperate need of a refurb.... they knew they had a sewage issue on this part of the hotel and still checked in guests to rooms that were affected.. lol ... Side is such a lovely place i recommend Barut hotels, we moved there, night and day compared to this dump

Great hotel with amazing food, lovely pools, and top entertainment — Samet in particular was fantastic and really made the trip fun. Rooms are a bit small if you’re more than two people, but everything else was spot on!

Hotel was very nice, staff were very friendly and helpful, especially Samet who couldn’t do enough for us and made the whole entire 10 times better. best experience I’ve ever had with a staff member on holiday!