Не оправдал ожидания Didn't live up to expectations

I had a rest in Mardan at the beginning of October 2013. As soon as the weather turned bad at home, I desperately wanted to extend the summer. I tried to get into the Max Royale, but as usual, there are no empty seats. Then to Mardan, especially since I wanted to compare the two hotels that are most quoted on the Anatalian coast. Since I was in Max Royale four times and everything was absolutely fine there, I will give my review in comparison of these two hotels.
So, Mardan Palace. Tez tour met at the airport. They put me in a shaking bus, waited for more tourists and drove off. Our hotel was second in line. Honestly, I expected, given the status of the hotel, something else. So in Max, with the same Tez tour, the trip was on a separate minivan, it was the same with Natalie tours, and with Odeon. The hotel is considered an elite one, they carry it as with an individual transfer. The representative of the Tez tour escorted us to the reception desk and left safely, leaving us to solve the settlement issues ourselves. We booked a Superior room (45 sq. m. ) - we were with a child. When processing the documents, I, for no apparent reason, asked if there was any other number. I was immediately offered a Studio Suite (56 sq. m. ) for an additional fee of $150, and of course I agreed. A room in the Dolmabahce wing, this is the central building, on the 5th floor overlooking the central pool and the sea. He asked to quickly bring the suitcases - after 5 minutes they were in the room, asked to quickly bring the bed for the child - after 10 minutes she was in the room.
Now about the room - the interior is decorated in oriental style, two adjacent rooms without a partition - a bedroom and a living room, not very large, two sofas, two TVs, a desk, a coffee table. Max's standard room, 80 sq. m. , seems huge compared to the one in which we lived in Mardan. In the mini-bar, among other things, there are two bottles of strong alcohol - whiskey, vodka and gin. The bathroom is in marble (or similar stone), has a bathtub with a shower, and a separate walk-in shower with my favorite large shower on the ceiling. But here's the problem, you get up under the shower - a tap sticking out of the wall interferes, move closer to the door - water starts to flow through the doors to the floor. There are Roman blinds on the windows and balcony doors, you raise and lower them like blinds by pulling the chain, and so, I figured, in order to raise or lower the curtain on the balcony door, you need to pull 17 (! ) Times. There is no soundproofing of the room - in the evenings singers performed in the lobby - the door did not save at all. Especially windows and balcony doors (two of them). Below us, people went out onto the balcony in the evening and just talked in an undertone - with the windows and doors closed, every word was heard.

Many have written about the stunning interior of the lobby. Well, I don’t know, such an amount of gilding per square centimeter of the surface, in my opinion, is too much. But, let's write it off for oriental flavor. The chandeliers are big and impressive. In general, the lobby seemed small, perhaps due to the lack of daylight coming through the windows, perhaps due to the massive staircase that is located in the middle of the lobby. Max has huge windows across the entire lobby - everything is literally flooded with light, and you can also see the sea.
The main, but not the last, disappointment in Mardan is the territory. Very elongated, it turns out in one side of the hotel building, in the opposite - the beach and the sea. According to my estimates, it is 500 meters to the sea. Although they say that the train goes, but, you see, it is not very convenient to depend on someone when you want to go to the sea. Between the buildings there is a huge pool, you can go directly to the sea only on one side along a narrow path. Around the pool, the sun loungers, frankly, are arranged in one row and I don’t know how in the season - are there enough of them for everyone to lie down by the pool.
After Max Royal would not recommend Mardan for tourists with children. Everything is somehow poor for them: a summer pavilion, next to a small pool with slides, and, perhaps, that's all. The restaurant has a small table with a name for children. What's on it? The same as for everyone, plus there is a refrigerator next to it with some jars. Whether business in Max - a separate huge territory with attractions, the amphitheater, 2000 sq. m. only indoor premises with three cinema halls, its own restaurant in the children's club and a separate hall in the main restaurant, lounges, etc. And opening hours. It is very inconvenient in Mardan: from 10.00 to 12.00, and from 14.30 to 18.00. In Max, from 10.00 to 22.00, while the children will be put to bed at the time you specified. As they say, feel the difference.
We visited a seafood restaurant. The prices are decent, the menu is not large, though the staff tried very hard, and the dishes are well prepared. We went to a Turkish restaurant, it is less glamorous in terms of entourage, but also nothing.

The advertised white sand beach is something. The beach is very small, both in width and in length. The sand is pleasant, of course, in the heat it remains cool, well, all the garbage is visible on its white background, which is not in a hurry to clean up. There is also a beach restaurant, right next to it there are sunbeds. And in the sea such a monster is issued - a pier. Why a monster? Huge, towering over the sea by 3 meters, if not more, standing on iron pillars, with a diameter of half a meter. At the same time, it takes a significant part of the sea, to the right of the pier after 2 meters there are already buoys - there is a place for water equipment, for swimming there is only a piece of the sea on the left 20 meters wide. The main squalor, I can’t pick another word, these are the so-called places for elite hanging out at sea - gazebos for 75 euros, three on the beach and several on the pier. Measuring 1.5 by 1.5 meters, with dirty mattresses that people cover with towels, a small dirty wooden table is attached, on which waiters place orders. Who saw the gazebos on the pier in Max Royale? Look at the photo on the hotel website - you will understand my indignation. There is a bar on the pier, which is very convenient. True, I once asked for cognac there, they brought it in a dirty glass. Called the bartender. He took the glass, took out another, washed it and poured brandy into it from a dirty glass! Poor changing cabins and paths on the beach. I have not seen this for a long time, and certainly did not expect to see it in Mardan.
Hotel restaurant. I will not write about food, food is like food, there are dishes of Azerbaijani cuisine (as without them), Indian, Thai. I didn’t like, to be honest, the organization of the restaurant, again in comparison with Max. Firstly, the dishes are arranged in a row, you can only approach them from one side. People walked one after another from one end to the other, looking at the covers and choosing their dishes, as a result, a large queue lined up. If in Max Royale the waiters have a division - some are responsible for cleaning the tables, some for drinks, then here everyone is for everything. Considering that the waiters first of all sought to clean up the dirty dishes, and also that there were clearly not enough waiters, you had to wait for the waiter to come up to you, even if you had already called him.
The spa center is not bad, steam rooms from +30 to +120 degrees, a pool with hydromassage, a good vitamin bar. The only thing is that there were no towels in the locker rooms, not to mention bathrobes and slippers, as it was in Max Royale.
I was surprised by the extremely small percentage of hotel employees who understand not only Russian, but also English, especially in the lobby. An extremely unfriendly person, you won’t wait for a smile, at a meeting almost no one, having met you, will not greet you. After the Max piano, this is very striking. Housekeeping is something! As many as two people come for cleaning, what they do is just not clear. It is noticeable only that the beds are covered. I deliberately left a glass of unfinished beer on the table, they covered it with a napkin and left it as it was.
Generally speaking, I did not like this hotel very much and, probably, I would not go to it again. But I repeat that my personal impression was in comparison with the Max Royal Hotel, which costs an order of magnitude more expensive.