"We stayed at Numa Konaktepe in Konakli for two weeks in mid-to-late August, travelling as a family of four with Jet2 Holidays. We paid around £5,500 for the holiday and, having now stayed here, I am genuinely surprised by some of the very high ratings. In our experience, this is a three-star hotel at best and certainly not somewhere we would return to.
The positives
Most of the staff were friendly, helpful and willing to go the extra mile. The iced coffee was excellent! The beach was also a pleasant place to spend the day, and on the days when they put on a barbecue, the food there could be very good.
Entertainment was mixed. Some of it was good, and one evening there was an excellent show featuring a group of international dancers which lasted around 35–40 minutes. That was probably the best entertainment we saw during our stay.
Unfortunately, however, there were far more negatives than positives for us.
Food – by far our biggest disappointment
The food simply wasn't good enough.
Breakfast was so poor that we eventually stopped bothering with it. There was no omelette station, no show cooking and very little of the variety or freshly prepared food we have experienced at comparable all-inclusive hotels.
At lunch and dinner the food was extremely repetitive and often very basic. Turkey seemed to appear constantly. Some dishes tasted stale or appeared to have been reused or reheated. We completely understand the importance of reducing food waste, but guests should not be served food that tastes stale.
There was also very little suitable food for children. Our seven-year-old normally loves spaghetti, but the spaghetti here was consistently cold and he couldn't stomach it. The chicken nuggets had to be specially requested from the chef and were poor quality. On occasions even the chips seemed stale or reheated.
There were some fish goujons served during our stay which were incredibly dry and hard. We actually watched guests lift the lid, look at them and immediately put the lid back down again.
When nicer dishes such as chicken were available, they tended to disappear quickly and didn't always seem to be replenished adequately.
The same issue occurred at the beach restaurant. On barbecue days the food could be lovely, but once salads and other items ran out, staff could be very slow to replace them or simply wouldn't replace them at all. On one occasion, only around half an hour into lunch service, they ran out of cucumber. Both of our children eat cucumber, but when we asked for some more we were simply told no. I found that unnecessarily unhelpful.
For an international family hotel, much more thought needs to go into both the quality of the food and providing simple, appealing options for children.
Drinks
The all-inclusive drinks selection was also disappointing. Local wine, beer and spirits were included, but international drinks cost around €8 per glass. That becomes extremely expensive very quickly.
We also couldn't simply order the sort of cocktails we would expect from an all-inclusive resort bar. For the amount we paid for this holiday, the drinks offering felt very limited.
Hotel layout, pools and smoking
Another major negative for us was the overall layout of the hotel. The main pool area feels incredibly cramped and busy. A large number of sunbeds have been squeezed into a relatively small space, alongside the small entertainment stage and children's waterslide/play area.
Looking out from the main part of the hotel, Block A, we found the whole area visually very busy and quite claustrophobic. There is very little feeling of space or tranquillity.
We actually asked to move to Block B at the rear of the hotel, where the outlook and general atmosphere were much calmer. We much preferred being in that part of the hotel.
Unfortunately, the quieter pool in this area is strictly for guests aged 16 and over, so our seven-year-old couldn't use it. This left us with a choice between the much busier and noisier main pool area if we wanted to swim as a family, or the calmer area where our youngest child couldn't swim with us. For a hotel marketed towards families, we found that frustrating.
Smoking was another issue for us. There seemed to be a lot of smoking around the outdoor areas, with people lighting cigarettes in many different places. I appreciate that smoking cultures and rules differ between countries, but I would have much preferred clearly designated smoking areas so that non-smokers and families with children could enjoy the outdoor areas without regularly being around cigarette smoke.
Family room
Our family room was badly designed.
The toilet/bathroom was accessed through one of the sleeping rooms. This meant that if someone needed the toilet during the night, they had to walk through the room where other family members were sleeping and potentially wake them.
For a genuine family room, the bathroom should ideally be accessible from a central hallway rather than through one of the bedrooms.
The rooms and hotel generally would also benefit from significant refurbishment. It feels dated and does not, in my opinion, live up to the standard suggested by its ratings or the price being charged.
Cleaning
Housekeeping was another frustration. The cleaners would knock in the morning, but if we were in the room or didn't answer at that particular moment, they often simply wouldn't return later.
On several occasions we had to find a cleaner ourselves and ask for the room to be cleaned or for towels to be changed. At times areas of the hotel also became noticeably dirty.
Guests should be able to leave their room during the day and reasonably expect it to have been serviced when they return. Housekeeping needs to be much more consistent.
Entertainment
There seemed to be only a very small entertainment team and they didn't circulate or interact with guests as much as we have experienced at other resorts. It actually took us a few days to work out who was part of the entertainment team.
As mentioned, there were some good performances, and the international dance show was excellent. But other nights were very underwhelming. One evening's entertainment involved giant teddy bears dancing around. Fine for small children, perhaps, but hardly an evening show for adults.
The hotel needs a stronger entertainment programme with more professional external shows.
Jet2 excursions
This isn't directly the hotel's responsibility, but as we booked through Jet2 Holidays it is worth mentioning our experience.
We booked two excursions. The second, involving the Jeep/buggy experience, was excellent and great fun.
Our first excursion was a very different experience. We were collected in a Jeep which, in my opinion, had far too many passengers packed into it. My husband, our two children and I were squeezed into the back with two other people, and my husband had to spend the journey sitting immediately above the exhaust area.
I raised this with the Jet2 representative, who told me he had never received that feedback before and said he would pass it on.
Would we return? No.
For approximately £5,500 for two weeks, I expected considerably better.
The hotel has some lovely staff and there are things it does well, but those positives don't compensate for the poor and repetitive food, inadequate children's options, inconsistent cleaning, dated accommodation, cramped layout, limited included drinks and very mixed entertainment.
The hotel needs investment: refurbish the rooms, reconsider the layout of the family accommodation, improve housekeeping, dramatically improve the quality and variety of the food, provide proper children's options, create better separation between busy and quieter areas, introduce clearer designated smoking areas and invest more in entertainment.
Based on our experience, I would rate Numa Konaktepe as a three-star hotel at best. I wouldn't stay here again, and at the price we paid through Jet2 Holidays, I don't believe it represented good value for money."
