Flamingo Hotel Review at rivoli6.com

Flamingo Hotel, Belcegiz Mahallesi, Olu Deniz, Turkey.

We (2) travelled to the Flamingo Hotel, Olu Deniz, with Anatolian Sky Holidays in June 2006. We flew from Birmingham to Dalaman. Although ostensibly an Excel Airways flight, the plane was actually an Air Malta Airbus. We had paid extra to be seated together, and were, indeed, seated together. However, because of the number of empty seats, a certain amount of seat-swapping took place among the other passengers. I found the plane uncomfortable because of a shortage of legroom. The seat pitch appeared to be a little on the mean side. We left Birmingham approximately 30 minutes late.

We arrived at Dalaman at approx 2300 local time. We were met at Dalaman Airport by Anatolian Sky minibus drivers, and, reassuringly, were on everybody's lists. The transfer to Olu Deniz took about 90 minutes.

Our room was in the part of the hotel known as Flamingo 1. This is the older part of the complex. The Flamingo 2 part of the hotel is the newer part and some building work was still taking place here when we visited.

Overall, we were happy with the Flamingo, and were we to return to Olu Deniz would have no qualms about staying there again.

There are, however, some observations that should be made.

As a consequence of comments read on the internet, we asked to not be located on a ground floor in Flamingo 1. This request was fulfilled, whether by intent or accident we do not know. This proved to be a valuable piece of information, as the Ground Floor of one of the Flamingo 1 blocks is actually below the level of the pool terrace, and does have the appearance of a basement level. At least one of the guests visiting at the same time requested, and was granted a different room after being allocated one on this floor. The water heating sytem, and other ancillary equipment, is also housed within this block, and I would not be surprised if this equipment generated a degree of noise - although I cannot confirm this. There were also a number of insects in and around the complex (unsurprisingly), and I suspect the ground floors are probably visited by more "little friends" than the higher level rooms.

Our room was spacious, with a good view of the pool terrace area, and was furnished with twin beds. It also had a tv (which only had 5 channels on it - the 2 English ones being BBC World and VH1). It also had air-conditioning. Storage space was poor, and an opportunity was missed to provide extra storage, considering the amount of floor space available.

A steep part of the busy main road into the town is close to the hotel, and the noise of vehicles labouring up the hill can be quite noticeable. Visitors will also discover that the Call to Prayer from the local mosque can be heard at 5am, although it caused us no problem.

The hotel bar is not particularly well stocked. In particular, the choice of soft-drinks is very poor. The waiting staff are pleasant enough, although those unfamiliar with the culture might find them a little over-bearing. Additionally, we were a little annoyed when a friendly breakfast conversation became a pretext for selling tickets to a Barbecue & Belly Dancing event.

The hot water supply was a little unpredictable. The hotel seemed unwilling or unable to provide an adequate hot-water supply at those times when the, normally reliable, solar water heating system was unable to cope with demand.

The first item listed on the information sheet in the room was to the effect that it is forbidden to bring food or drink from the outside into the hotel. This was reinforced by a prominent sign near to the entrance. I thought this short-sighted, and believe that if the hotel provided a little more added-value in certain areas, they could increase revenues without being heavy-handed in a way that antagonises its customers. The breakfast choice was another bone of contention. Although it is understood that a Turkish breakfast consists of Bread, Cheese, and Fruit, it seems petty to not provide cereal free of charge, particularly as the majority of customers are British, and would like a little cereal for breakfast. There were empty seats on the plane, there are empty hotel rooms, and many businesses are experiencing reduced revenues. Businesses under these pressures need to be nurturing repeat business rather than penny pinching.

Snacks provided during the day proved uninspiring, and we were glad we didn't have half-board, as the general food quality was ordinary.

The Welcome pack provided by the tour operator stressed the importance of not flushing toilet paper down the toilet, because of the local sewage system's inability to deal with waste of this nature. This point was also the first thing mentioned by Fiona, our Anatolian Sky rep, at our welcome meeting. We were, therefore, quite stunned to discover, on our return to our room following this very meeting, that the maid had unsuccessfully attempted to flush the contents of our waste bin down the toilet. Unfortunately for her, and us, she had been unsuccessful in this, and most of the tissues and other paper items, including our airline baggage tags, were stuck in the bottom of the toilet. Judicious use of a bent coat hanger retrieved these items from the said toilet, and we disposed of these items ourselves in the rubbish bin. From that point on - knowing that the maid was flushing tissue down the toilet, we were careful to not put anything but minimal quantities of tissue into the waste bin, and undertook to dispose of our own waste in the rubbish bin adjacent to our accomodation block. We did consider the possibility that the maid was related to a plumber who was called out to unblock the plumbing system when "tourists" flushed prohibited items into the system. We also considered the possibility that the aforementioned maid had some sort of grievance against the hotel, and was surreptitiously causing problems with the sewage system by way of revenge. Either way, she wouldn't get my vote for Employee of the Month.

Overall, the Flamingo was a reasonable place to stay, and anyone planning to go to Olu Deniz can plan a stay here with a reasonable degree of confidence.

It should be noted that the Flamingo is about 15 minutes (slight uphill) walk from the SeaFront and could be quite demanding for the less able in hot conditions.

Olu Deniz town (village?) is best described as a small shopping/restaurant centre. It has a number of bar/restaurants, a number of mixed-goods shops, and a number of establishments selling trips, activities and other experiences - all of whom have representatives on the street actively encouraging passers-by to part with their cash. The beach is good, with plenty of seats and shades to hire.

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