KNOWN AND UNKNOWN CORNERS OF UTOPIA.

Written: 26 june 2012
Travel time: 31 may — 13 june 2012
Who does the author recommend the hotel to?: For business travel; For families with children; For recreation with friends, for young people
Your rating of this hotel:
7.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 7.0
Service: 7.0
Cleanliness: 7.0
Food: 8.0
Amenities: 10.0
Rested from May 31 to June 13, a family with a son of 8 years. I hope that in my review you will find a lot of useful information about the hotel. We bought the tour back in January and planned to celebrate my husband's birthday in Utopia. We were preparing for the trip for 4 months: we studied reviews, chose a room and excursions. We sympathized with those who wrote negative reviews and believed that this would not happen to us. Three times I wrote to the hotel about organizing a holiday for my husband and accommodation in the room I liked, we were promised to fulfill all our wishes. When the time came, we packed our bags and with a positive attitude to the very top scale went to rest.

TRANSFER AND EXCURSIONS.
We flew with Ural Airlines, tour operator Coral Travel. The flight went smoothly without any delays. At the Antalya airport, we were put into a large comfortable air-conditioned bus and after 15 minutes we were already on our way to Alanya.

Our guide was Alena, she was interesting about Turkey, about excursions, in general she told a lot of useful information. As a result, 3.5 hours passed unnoticed. On the way, we stopped at 3 hotels, where we stopped for no more than 2 minutes. When we entered the territory of Utopia, the remaining half of the bus tourists stuck to the windows and everyone looked at our hotel with admiration. Two families with children came to Utopia. Alena escorted everyone to the reception and left.
On the way back, we were accompanied by a guide, Elena, who was laconic and reminded us of herself only twice: when we drove up to the Turkish sweets factory and to the airport. The return transfer took 4.5 hours, because we stopped at hotels 5 or 6 and tourists were waiting for a very long time at each hotel. In general, the return transfer was very tiring. We arrived at the airport an hour before departure, the check-in for our flight was already in full swing. After registering for duty-free, we only had 25 minutes left.
I would like to note the unsatisfactory work of the hotel guide Parviz. Instead of a tour of Alanya with a visit to the Red Tower and Dim Cave, he sent us on a Jeep safari tour, where we pretty much swallowed Turkish dust and visited Turkish villages that were of no interest to anyone. When we returned to the hotel and washed off the Turkish dust, I filed a claim with Parviz for the replacement of excursions. To which he replied that it was more interesting in jeeps, that we were taken around Alanya, that we looked at the Red Tower and the port from afar, stood near the walls of the fortress, and if you didn’t get into the cave, you’ll get there next time.
Therefore, dear tourists, be careful when ordering excursions from the hotel guide Parviz.

CHECK IN HOTEL.
We arrived at the hotel at the beginning of 11. At the reception they gave us to fill out a questionnaire, we put $ 20 in our passport and a note with the desired number in the villa. We were given bracelets and sent to breakfast.

After breakfast, we went to the reception in the hope that they would immediately give us a room. But we were told, approximately, the following: “Dear guests, all rooms are occupied, so you will spend one night at the Atlanta Hotel ***, where our driver will kindly take you. And tomorrow morning you will receive the desired number. I began to resent that tomorrow my husband would already have a birthday, that I could not even book a restaurant and we could be left without a gala dinner. Then at the reception they made a copy of our questionnaire and asked to write all our wishes, which they once again promised to fulfill. In addition, they said that tomorrow a fruit basket and a bottle of wine (a gift from the hotel) would be waiting for us in the room. We took our suitcases to Atlanta and returned to Utopia, walked, swam, and after dinner we went to Atlanta and our positive mood dropped exactly to the middle of the scale.
The next day, the mood rose a little, because.
we were promised the desired room in the villa. Arriving in the morning at the reception, we were handed a card from room 3005 (in the main building) and wished us a pleasant stay. It was clearly not the number we wanted. Opening the door of the room, we saw another gift from the hotel: an uncleaned room, dirty towels and our positive went into the negative. One pleasing view from the balcony was the sea and the beach was in full view. We left our things and went to breakfast. When we returned, the room was cleaned (the sheets and towels were changed, but the floors were not washed). We also did not notice any swans or hearts made of towels, no fruit, no wine, although my husband had a birthday. While my husband and son were swimming in the pool, I went to the guest relay desk, there was Aidzhan. For a night in Atlanta, we were promised one free visit to the a la carte restaurant and spa center, fruit and wine in the room.
I booked an a la carte fish restaurant with Ayjan for the evening, asked for fruit and wine for my husband in the room, and took a receipt for a free classic massage for 2 people. Aidjan also invited animators who helped me organize a holiday for my husband in the hotel cinema. Many thanks to all of them for this.

CLEANING OF ROOM AND REPLENISHMENT OF THE MINI-BAR.
The minibar was replenished daily after dinner. Upon arrival at the bar there were: 4 bottles of water of 1.5 liters, 1 bottle of Coca-Cola and 1 bottle of fanta of 1 liter, as well as 2 bags of juice. We drank only 1 bottle of water a day, but the husband and son consumed juice, cola and fanta daily, so our mini-bar was replenished every day with what we had drunk during the day.
The room was cleaned daily. The bed was changed for the first time after 5 days, then they began to change every other day, and for the last three days they changed every day.

Our room had a double bed which was always made up with two sheets for single beds. It was not at all comfortable to sleep, because the sheets were constantly knocked down and crawled out from under the mattress. The floor in the room was washed only once in 14 days. After dinner, our son always slept and we put up a "do not disturb" sign. But one day, when there was a sign on the door, the maid flew into the room, not paying attention to her son, opened the closet and started looking for something in our clothes, and then left with the words “SORRY”. In the reviews of tourists, I read that such behavior of maids is the norm for Utopia, so be prepared. Shower gels and shampoos were not replenished every day, you had to ask. In addition, the clothes on the balcony dried for a long time for 2-3 days, so calculate the set of clothes based on this. If you want to change towels, put them in the tub. If you throw it on the floor, you risk getting your towels back.
On the day of departure, the room had to be handed over before 12-00. But at 11-1.2 maids came to us and began to change beds and clean the room. In Russian, English, even Tatar (which is a bit similar to Turkish) we tried to explain that we needed at least 10 minutes to reforge our suitcases. But these ladies were talking nicely among themselves, but they did not pay any attention to us. We had no choice but to close our suitcases and leave the room.
When we handed over the card from the room at the reception, we were told that now we are listed in their database and if we decide to come again, we will be met differently. For regular guests in Utopia, a room of your choice with a bottle of wine and fruit, geese-swans with flowers on the beds, bathrobes and other delights of life.

VILLA No. 4100.
Walking one evening, next to one of the stairs, I saw the inscription "ROOMS 4100" and next to it was a down arrow. Going down the arrow, I found 11 rooms, each with a separate entrance and a direct view of the sea (see photo).
These rooms are located under the relax pool and only a few dozen steps separate them from the main building. I have not read about this villa anywhere in the forums and it does not appear on the hotel plan. The guest relay told me that this villa is already 2 years old. It was very interesting to see what these rooms look like. I was allowed to take a photo of the vacated room 4110 (only they haven't cleaned it yet). The standard room of this villa is 1.5 times larger than the rooms of the main building and other villas, the floor is carpet, the furniture is newer, LCD TV, instead of a bathtub there is a shower cabin, two armchairs. Everything else is the same as in other rooms. The room is designed for 4 people. This room is much more comfortable than the standard room in the main building or villa.

SERVICE IN THE HOTEL.
Service in restaurants and bars, let's say, is not up to par.

For lunch and dinner, it is better to come 5-10 minutes before opening or an hour and a half after opening, otherwise you risk not finding a free table.
In the lobby bar, the bartender offers children alcohol: I witnessed how he offered two boys of 10 years old to pour vodka into cocktails.
But the gardeners in Utopia are the best: they are constantly dripping something, planting, watering. Thanks to them, there are a lot of flowers in Utopia, especially near the villas. Just beauty. Huge thanks to them for their work.
There is a bus to the beach every 15 minutes from the main building, but we didn't use it. We always walked to the beach.

ANIMATION.
I really liked the animation, both daytime and evening. For 14 days, only two times there were invited shows for the evening program. The rest of the time, Utopia's animators do everything themselves. My son was delighted with the mini disco and kids club.
Does the hotel have a tennis court.
It is free (balls and rackets for a deposit), but reservations must be made in advance with the animators near the main pool.

NUTRITION.
I won’t write much about food, it is varied, for every taste and color. You won't be hungry. Especially tasty things were cooked on the street: both meat and fish and vegetables. We overate on watermelons and melons, but the apricots and peaches were not ripe. All sorts of sweets, we did not even have time to try all this variety. Our favorite breakfast treats are crunchy chocolate donuts. We miss them very much. Alcohol is all local, but you can drink. The lagoon bar has very tasty cocktails (with rum, whiskey, brandy ... ), belis.
There are high chairs for kids, from porridge every day there was only rice, which is more like a milk soup, from which rice needs to be caught (which the tourists did). Powdered mashed potatoes were also found. A lot of boiled vegetables and meat.
Their soups are mostly mashed potatoes, without meat, almost always very "spicy".

We went to the a la carte fish restaurant. The table setting and service are better than in the main restaurant, but the food and drinks are the same without much frills. Therefore, if you do not have a celebration, then there is no point in overpaying for a restaurant. The cost of the a la carte restaurant reservation is 15 lire per person, and another $ 5 tip.

AQUAPARK.
The water park is open from 10-12 and from 14-16. Lots of pools and slides for both kids and adults. Next to the children's pool there is a playground for children. The water park is located in the shade of pine trees, so it's not hot. The animators there hold various games both on the water (water polo, aqua aerobics... ) and on land (yoga, darts, belly dance... ).

SEA AND BEACH.
For some reason, the sea upsets everyone, but we liked the sea. The first days we swam from the pier, the water was still cool, so the most from the pier.
When the concrete pier (or breakwater, as it is also called) was painted, they swam to the right of it, if you look at the sea. Entry into the sea is pebbly, but this is a plus for us (no need to shake off the sand and a good foot massage). We went to the sea 2 times a day: in the morning, after an early breakfast, and in the evening, after dinner. At this time, there is almost no one on the beach. People begin to pull themselves up after 10 am, then free sunbeds can not be found. After the storm, the sea became muddy and algae floated to the main beach, and the water to the right of the breakwater was always clear in the morning and evening.
We lived in the main building and went to the sea and back only on foot, it's more interesting. The first days we went to the sea through the main entrance downhill (or uphill). Then, they found a shorter way: they reached the -2 floor, from the amphitheater to the right they went down the green stairs and along rooms 4100 went to the pool. We also went back, only with a stop at the relax pool.
This path seemed to us very convenient, because we do not have to go uphill and down the mountain.

SPA-CENTER.

The spa at the hotel is just amazing. There are two saunas (with water vapor and dry), a Turkish bath, pools for adults (1.5 m), children's (0.43 m) and a jacuzzi, a gym and a hairdresser. Near the saunas there are dispensers with water and juices. Very nice resting places with comfortable sunbeds, pleasant color music and candles. All this (except the hairdresser) can be used for free for an unlimited time. The SPA center is open from 9.30 until the last client. For a fee, massages, peelings and other pleasures. Prices are lower than doing these procedures at home. I advise everyone not to go to the hammam in the city to a public bath, where the sea is full of people (although it is a little cheaper, but not much fun), but to go to the SPA at the hotel, you will not regret it. Hamam costs $40.
This treatment includes full body peeling with special massage texture gloves, foam massage and full body massage with aromatic oils, plus a chocolate mask (foam massage and mask for children free of charge).
Administrator Denis is very friendly and sociable, speaks good Russian, English, German. You can always negotiate with him and get a discount on spa treatments. In the price list prices are higher, sometimes 2 times higher, he makes discounts "only for you". And if you bring him a present: pickled or salted mushrooms, salted herring in a jar, smoked beef or horse sausages, sprats, he will also give you a gift in the form of a free spa treatment or a good discount on spa visits.
My husband and I went every day to the sauna and the cool pool. We were very satisfied and after the hammam we signed up for 5 massage sessions.
Algae contains iodine, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, silicon and other substances that our body needs. Ideally, you must first do a wrap, and then mix massage, then the effect will be even better. I am delighted with the Utopia SPA. Denis left me his email. address: dansoz1980@mail. ru. Who will be interested in a list of spa treatments or prices, you can ask him.

TERRITORY.
The hotel is very well designed, from all sides it looks very nice and from every corner there are magnificent views of the surroundings. Since the hotel is on a mountain, there is a light breeze, which is very pleasant in the heat. The territory is cleaned constantly, every day the pools are cleaned with a vacuum cleaner.
Dear vacationers! after 18-00 do not climb into the pools, especially do not let children go there, because at this time an inconspicuous self-cleaning system is activated using various chemical components for cleaning and disinfecting water.

That's basically all the highlights of our holiday.

In conclusion, I want to say that, despite some unpleasant moments, we had a good rest. Overall impression - the hotel is good, but the reservation system and room service are terrible. And after the "hospitable" reception with which they met us, there is no desire to return there. We realized that Utopia is not our hotel. We were unlucky and did not find our dream hotel in Utopia. Maybe you'll have more luck! But to find out, you must definitely visit Utopia at least once. Have a nice holiday! ! !
Translated automatically from Russian. View original