Defne Star
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About
Welcome to Defne Star Hotel, your Side “home away from home.” Defne Star Hotel aims to make your visit as relaxing and enjoyable as possible, which is why so many guests continue to come back year after year.
Close to some of Side's most popular landmarks, such as Tyche Tapinagi (1.3 mi) and Vespasianus Aniti (1.3 mi), Defne Star Hotel is a great destination for tourists.
Defne Star Hotel features room service. Plus, guests can enjoy a pool and an on-site restaurant, which have made this a popular choice among travellers visiting Side. For guests with a vehicle, free parking is available.
If you like Asian restaurants, Defne Star Hotel is conveniently located near China Corner.
Side is also known for some great historic sites, including Temple of Apollo and Monumental Fountain (Nymphaeum), which are not too far from Defne Star Hotel.
Defne Star Hotel puts the best of Side at your fingertips, making your stay both relaxing and enjoyable.
Location
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Staff: preferably if you speak German, they react much more willingly as most of the guests are from Germany. But mostly very kind and helpful.
Restaurant: Great variety and perfect quality. Very bad coffee, just instant coffee from the machine and american coffee. Not even at the bar a "real" coffee. That was really sad. In case you book ALL INCLUSIVE, you will be given your own table with your room number until the end of your stay. I liked it, others may not.
Beverages: Cocktails just basic,nothing special, but OK (Turkish alcohol brands for ALL IN guests) . But the wines and beer were great.
Rooms: spacious and clean, the bathroom was great, excellent water pressure, towel racks on the balcony, blackout curtains, sockets on each bed side. I don´t know if they have double beds there (king-, queen size), we had 2 separated beds pushed together, might be a problem for couples.
The Resort: They really care for all the plants and trees there, all looks fresh and beautiful. Never used their pool, but it was clean and nice, enough sunbeds, you can lay under the trees/palm in the shadow. All buildings after renovation and clean.
There is a small water slide, never seen anyone there however.
The beach: the sandy hotel beach is only few meters from the hotel, enough sunbeds and parasols, some are refurbished. Water sports like parasailing, tubing etc. just few meters from the hotel.
The sea is nothing for snorkeling lovers however.
But when I then gave a quiet and objective criticism with my own, beautiful photos after the vacation as a rating in July 2022, although 5.4 out of 6 stars is still very good, the Defne management resorted to measures that were as outrageous as they were drastic.
As every year, we booked two weeks at the Defne Star with our friends, six of us, on December 22nd, 2022. As always, at the end of March 2023, I asked for 3 rooms at the Akdeniz by email, which, as in previous years, was confirmed by a receptionist.
8 (EIGHT) days before departure, on July 5, 2023, the travel agency informed us that Defne had canceled our booking. Inquiries about the reason were not answered by the organizer, the travel agency, or us. My call to Defne was not answered, nor were two emails. Finally, it turned out, confirmed by the organizer and travel agency, that Defne had put us on the "blacklist" because they probably don't tolerate any criticism. More and more guests who express even the slightest criticism are doing this, dozens of similar reviews confirm this.
So 8 days before arrival, Defne deliberately and intentionally destroyed the vacation of our four friends and us, an act of "guest-UN-friendship" that was as shameless as it was brazen. If you treat regular guests like this and are completely resistant to criticism, you will hopefully pay the price for it at some point. It seems that nothing has been learned from the "Defnem disaster".
Well, since we got our money back in full, we were able to spend it elsewhere, where responsible customers and their money are still valued, instead of giving the thumbs down shortly before departure in the "Grand Mufti manner" when regular guests give "only" 5.4 out of 6 stars and express objective criticism. Anyone who books anyway should be careful about what they have said/written/expressed beforehand and always smile in a friendly manner in Defne, and never criticize, otherwise you will be put on the "blacklist". There are now totalitarian managers in hotels too, and not just in countries known for this.
The restaurant is a disgrace - a huge, smelly dining room. The rude, sweaty waiters wear dirty clothes and it's best to avoid their path as they might run you over. The food is disgusting and old: they start with steamed green beans, peas or spinach, which are then served hot as a side dish for two days. After that, this food turns into cold snacks, even chicken or fish cooked yesterday. After a few days, these ingredients are mixed in unimaginable combinations, covered in mayonnaise and served as salads. After a few more days, this fermented mass is made into a casserole. Old, dried-out cheese and sausage end up in rolls or "pide". Nothing should be wasted!
The bars offer the most disgusting and cheap drinks you can imagine. The beer is so watered down that it seems non-alcoholic. Tequila Sunrise is served without tequila, guests of the hotel are not given tequila. When I asked the bar manager about this phenomenon, he simply refused to talk to me. Who am I? The chairs have been in use for 30 years, almost all of them have sagging seats. The service in the bar is the same as the waiters in the restaurant. The only somewhat acceptable ones are the Turkish tea and coffee.
Massage in the hammam - to keep up with them, a despicable caress. The sauna is not heated at all.
The rooms are cleaned in the evening, and not every day either. The bed linen and towels are changed once a week, everything is old, worn and torn, there are holes and patches on the sheets.
The sports activities are limited to water polo, beach volleyball and darts, nothing special.
The evening shows are poor and far below the average Turkish standard.
The internet!!! It only works on the computer for three minutes at most, after which each computer is automatically disconnected from the network: a very clever way to save costs too.
The only positive thing about the hotel are the beautiful trees on the grounds, the pools and the wonderful wide beach.
Only the night receptionist was really kind and helpful, the ladies on day shift seemed to think that they are superior kind.
"Try to get a room on the higher floors. There is a special pool for children with slides, it gets very noisy when they are in motion."Read full review
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