So-so...

Written: 29 october 2021
Travel time: 26 september — 6 october 2021
Who does the author recommend the hotel to?: For a relaxing holiday; For families with children
Your rating of this hotel:
6.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 7.0
Service: 6.0
Cleanliness: 6.0
Food: 6.0
Amenities: 6.0
A lot of letters, just the same "novel" turned out. As a rule, most reviews are either “good” or “bad”. About Aria Claros Beach & Spa Resort 5 *, in general, a positive orientation. And I'm not "good" and not "bad. " I will try to simply describe the hotel industry and pay attention to some of the nuances. And to whom what is a “plus” and what is a “minus”, decide for yourself.
Well, I don’t even know where to start ...Probably from the end.


If we consider the hotel separately without being tied to the amount paid for the tour package, then it’s quite a normal hotel of an average size with a mark of 5 *. Not luxury, of course, but not an abandoned rooming house either. If you compare the cost with the available and not available benefits in the hotel, it is expensive. There is certainly the influence of modern pandemic times: prices are rising, everything is becoming more expensive, etc. , etc. Yes, yes, everything is clear. In general, there is no aftertaste of pleasure from the vacation, no joy and satisfaction.
Last year's vacation on the same dates in the same composition (2 adults + 2 children aged 11 and 10) was held at TUI Blue Tropical 5 * in Dalaman. I then noted that the tour package at that time broke records in terms of cost in family history (more details in the review about it https://www.turpravda.com/tr/sarygerme/TUI_Family_Life_Tropical_Resort_Hotel-h18800-r473677.html ). But in spite of this, there are no regrets about the amount spent, almost a delight (just absolutely, absolutely nothing is ideal, especially with my nasty character). We wanted to repeat this year, but alas and oh, as they say, the price for us was completely indecent. This is what I realize and, probably, even understand the state of affairs, but I can’t accept it : )). By the way, this vacation again turned out to be a record-breaking expensive one. Just a disgrace! We are impoverished.

So, Aria Claros Beach & Spa Resort 5 * was in the category of the lowest in terms of cost for the required dates and for the desired set of services: I wanted a large area with Wi-Fi, water slides for children and food without fighting for a piece of chicken.
It is clear that the most budgetary options remain in the already "cooled" by that time (late September - early October) areas of the Ege region. The air temperature is normal for us, but the sea - well, how lucky : )). The previous years, at least, were quite comfortable. And even in the region of Greek Thessaloniki, which is even north of the Kusadasi Turkish region. But this time, not everything is so smooth. No, the weather itself was gorgeous, especially at first. The sun is hot, not a cloud in the sky. And the sea was +25 C. Three days later, a very strong wind blew, and the sea quickly cooled down to +21C. I had to give up the morning swims, because it was completely uncomfortable to be outside until 10 am because of this crazy wind until the sun started to warm up. The pools also cooled down, but it was still a degree warmer there.


The area of ​ ​ the hotel is large. It seems completely endless because of all these slides and hillocks, descents and ascents.
But this additional walking load is a good opportunity to burn off the extra calories unwittingly picked up at the meal, smoothly flowing into a snack, and then transforming into the next meal on schedule. And, nevertheless, this feature of the hotel must be taken into account. If you cannot walk a lot and for a long time, if your knees are sore, you definitely don’t need to come here.
There is a bus between the reception and the beach. But he doesn’t go to the bungalow area, and there it’s still decently uphill. Sometimes an employee on an electric car can throw.
In general, if you forgot something in the room, then just like that you can’t easily rush. And the forgotten thing becomes not really necessary : )).
Green, without a riot of flowers and other horticultural sophistications, in places not cut. What creates the look, not to say that unkempt, rather rustic.
The infrastructure is noticeably worn out. Somewhere the steps are broken off, somewhere the coating needs to be changed, and urgently, rust and streaks ...

The beach is good.
Sand, fine. The sand is not loose, dense, does not muddy the water at all. Here, about small - maybe someone doesn’t really like it, because it’s small for a long time. And in some places islets of algae. They say they have sea urchins. The rocks on either side of the beach are definitely full of them. And so, when some algae touches the body, it is not pleasant, however.
The water is clean and transparent. Of course, the same algae, leaves and plastic utensils wash ashore. Well, with the dishes, the vacationers themselves are mostly to blame, and the wind helps, blows off the tables of the beach food and sun loungers.
The sunbeds are the most unpretentious plastic, often broken. Mattresses are offered to give softness. But, there are clearly fewer of them than sunbeds. Yes, and they look very shabby. We got by without them.

There are plenty of places for reclining both on the beach itself and on the territory near the pool, and under the pine trees, and on the green grass.
Umbrellas may be cute, but not very comfortable to use. There is no sufficient shadow, and they are low, which creates some problems for high personalities : ). However, as I said, you can always find a place under the crowns of trees or a stretched awning.
Initially, towels are issued on cards. Then no one monitors anything during the exchange: they threw dirty ones, as much as they asked, they gave as much.

A very decent water park. The baby zone works without interruption during the day. The so-called adult slides according to the schedule, I won’t say which one. In children, the indications vary, either 10.00-13.00 and 14.00-17.00, or from 11 and 15, respectively. I think it's not important, for those who are interested on the spot it will not be difficult to figure it out. It’s just that water slides are not my element, I wasn’t interested, but the children were already grown up, quite independent, somehow they kept track of everything.
Judging by the lowered pools somewhere up there, a couple of slides did not work, but the citizens did not suffer much from this, there were quite enough available.

There is a kids club. He did not work indoors, but in the shade nearby. I thought my cubs were no longer interested. But they somehow ran into the club themselves, met a female employee and regularly ran there, because of their age it is already permissible to come and go on their own. They shared something, drew, aqua make-up, the game "uno" ...
Another childish joy is ice cream. At certain hours in the middle of the day. At first there were several types. Vanilla is very tasty. But gradually there was no chocolate, then vanilla disappeared, and only popsicles remained for distribution, to the great frustration of the children. This ice is also not bad, but vanilla is tastier. I liked the small format of portions, it did not have time to melt in the heat. And individually wrapped.

No child climbers were found. We really don't need it anymore. But for younger children, the place is absolutely necessary.

Now about food. No culinary highlights. Some delicious, some not so good. Meat with vegetables, vegetables with meat, and so that a separate piece of meat - it was, but once, and tasty. Fish is always available, again, either with the desire for an addition, or it’s inconvenient to somehow leave it on a plate, but you don’t want to choke either. Surprisingly, there were no cutlets and other kebabs at all. The glazed service mode was kind of indifferent, sometimes transformed into a standard “dial it yourself”.
In the evening, I often had to look for a seat, when I found it, the next step was to get the instruments. Oh, and once there was a conference check-in. There are many guests, vanity, waiters run around, unused appliances are grabbed from the tables, annoyed guests rush about with plates. Here and there, outrage began to be heard. There was a riot, no less.
The fact is that some of the halls were blocked. It is clear that with a decrease in seasonal traffic, the situation is quite normal. But then a smart manager turned up and gave the command to open universal access. And life immediately got better.
Didn't encounter long lines for food. So, a little over what is being prepared right now, an omelet, for example, or in the evening from the chef.
For stays of more than 7 nights, it is allowed to visit an a la carte restaurant once to choose from: Italian, Turkish and Asian, I can be wrong. Reservation and simultaneous selection of dishes takes place at the Guest Relation. We visited Italian. The beef is great, the fish called salmon is some kind of strange, genetically modified or something ...a completely tasteless substance.
The beach offers fast food, vegetables, fruits, marinades. I don’t know what kind of flavor enhancers are present in nuggets, but, damn it, delicious infections : )).
We caught gozleme and donuts only on the day of arrival. Then this point was closed.

Actually, a lot of things didn't work. It is difficult to say what this is connected with: with the end of the season or with covid restrictions. It seems that these bars did not open during the season. Well, okay, we had enough available.

About drinks. A standard set of locally produced carbonated and alcoholic drinks. I’ll say this about the taste characteristics: when your reserves are over, and you want to drink passion as you like, then why not drink it. Alcohol is poured from huge bottles into which a pump is inserted, well, like on coolers with drinking water. Good or bad, it's hard to say. Seems to be OK. Once, on the occasion of the celebration, a little more than it should have been taken, nothing, not even a headache. Well, yes, yes, there is nothing to hurt : )).
Wine, however, from normal glass bottles ...with a volume of two liters each : )).
Uh, and there was no champagne, much to my dismay.
They make different cocktails. We're not into cocktails, so I won't tell. The children tried a couple of colorful liquids, no, the cleaner is more pleasant. Well, I mean, cola, sprite there.

About entertainment. There are a lot of paid ones, like bowling, billiards, slot machines and other motor boats. But there is also free table tennis. You can also swim in kayaks and pedal catamarans for free, the pedals, however, are broken. Volleyball, bocha, probably, aqua aerobics - I was not interested.
There are evening events, where without mini-disco and other shows. By the way, there are comfortable pads that you can take at the entrance to the amphitheater.

SPA center available, they say, big. That's what unpleasantly struck, so it's a paid sauna and hammam. Honestly, I have already stopped exploring this option during a preliminary virtual acquaintance with the hotel.
Somehow for me in the category of a matter of course in a Turkish hotel operating on the "All Inclusive" system ...But no, it turns out not by itself : )).


Yes, another paid trinket that we always had for free. In any case, that's how we got it. This is a birthday treat. So in this hotel it costs 25 euros. I thought that my husband's birthday is undoubtedly a holiday, but my husband will not forgive me for 25 euros for a piece of cake (if there is still a cake). He still doesn't eat sweets. Information about this charge somehow caught my eye in the descriptions of the hotel. And about the sauna, although it is there, of course, just looked. We will know.

About WiFi. The room was average scall, but was. The lobby is just great. And that's it! In the rest of the territory, only if you accidentally catch some wave, and the phone begins to squeak uncertainly with notifications. The children said that there is a children's club in the area.
It is, of course, understandable, you need to rest, and not sit on the Internet. But we needed to communicate with each other, to signal who was where. Yes, and on the Internet, sitting on the beach, you could also indulge, there are all sorts of tourist sites, news : )).

I got carried away here with descriptions, I almost forgot about an important component - about the number. Naturally, since we chose the cheapest hotel, the accommodation option was also the most economical. This is a standard bungalow room on the first floor. From the side of the street, let's say, it will even be minus one. There are no higher standards, there are already families. With the views, of course, you don’t really get around. You can only choose according to the principle closer or further from life, so to speak (see diagram)
Quite a decent room, obviously after recent renovations. Not even tight. I thought that we would push, no, we settled quite comfortably.
The air conditioner and refrigerator are ancient. Initially, the refrigerator was not cold.
They probably don't rely, which is strange for a 5 star hotel. 5 or not so 5 - I don’t understand much, but it’s indicated that way. Well, they were in the cart. We will assume that they also forgot to decompose : ))
Bathroom without complaints. Something smeared, worn, but clean, without moldy fringe. Everything worked, did not clog.

The first floor does not bother us. In this case, we are not very comfortable with the lack of privacy. Well, we don’t like it when people watch from all sides how you gnaw seeds, for example. And in shorts you can’t jump out to stretch in the morning. Actually, on the second and third in the bungalow, everything is also in plain sight. Having seen this nuance after booking the tour, I wanted to change it to the main building with a surcharge, which was already very painful for the budget allocated for vacation, or rather, already going far beyond its limits.
But the price has risen once again, besides, the curator at the TO suggested that this matter be done only through the cancellation of the existing reservation and the preparation of a new application, and there were already regular flights left. You understand, another arithmetic. There is no guarantee that our confirmed charter spots will be caught. I don’t know all this tour operator cuisine, but I think the girl just didn’t want to mess around. Well, okay, we decided that we would try to deal with this matter on the spot. In the hotel itself, at first we were told that everything was packed to capacity, and they could only offer some kind of super suite with an additional charge of 500 euros. Well, in FIG, it's better to stay on the lawn. On another day, they asked if there was a large departure of guests, they offered to move to the standard in the main building for 200 euros. And for 200 they are not very ready, but they went to look for the sake of curiosity. Absolutely the same room, only a full-fledged isolated balcony, and overlooking the driveway.
For information, if anyone reads my “novel” in an attempt to choose or not to choose a hotel, there, from the side of the main entrance to the hotel, are all technical services, a powerful laundry factory, food delivery and all that. In general, the movement is constant and noisy.
So we stayed with the original choice.


Here is another minus of the main building - elevators. There are several of them, but there were always crowds next to them. Or rather, at mealtimes, because the main catering unit is on the minus second floor from the reception. Once I only used the elevator and then with an adventure. I ran to the main restaurant for water, only there in bottles, in other bars you can take it in sealed plastic cups of 100 ml. So, I run into the lobby past the elevator to the stairs. Here the doors open, the elevator is empty. Give, I think I'll go, since I opened my arms like that. At the moment of closing, a couple squeezed in, they had to go upstairs to the third floor.
And the elevator, such an infection, went there, and not down, as I should have. And I pressed the first button : )). After disembarking a couple, the elevator went, damn it, to the fifth! Having captured passengers on the fifth, we finally went down, having previously stopped again at zero (lobby) for replenishment. Oh, and I dashed off : )).

Living in the main building is undoubtedly more convenient from a strategic point of view, everything is close by. Yes, and sometimes to sit in a beautiful setting, again, is pleasant.
Interesting posters are hung on the walls in the building. Like walking in an art gallery.
The lobby is pleasantly decorated in modern trends. Well, the lobby bar is great for its location and views. The furniture and the bar facilities are old-fashioned, shabby. But everything can be forgiven for sunsets.
And the sunrises are good too. Seen on the day of departure, but forgot to capture.

I can’t say that the Aria Claros Beach & Spa Resort 5 * hotel is bad, I can’t say that it’s great.
It's just that our auras didn't match, I guess. Or the price matters: )). He left no emotions behind, everything is smooth, one of many. Our children, by the way, are delighted. The only thing they grumbled about was when the vanilla ice cream ran out.
I hope my "novel" about Aria Claros Beach & Spa Resort 5* will be useful to someone : ))
Translated automatically from Russian. View original