Trendy Lara

Firstly let’s begin with the room, we booked a 2 bedroom “suite”. The term suite has to be used extremely loosely, it has to be the smallest suite we have ever stayed in. No living area, no sofa, front door opened straight into 2 single beds, with a door on the left to our bedroom with a double bed. Never in a million years a “suite”, went down to reception before unpacking to be told that was the biggest room they had. 8.6k for 2 weeks….. anyway it’s a room…. First morning went down to the pool, to find the most cramped sun-bed experience I’ve ever had. If you want one by the pool be prepared for 7am wake up, if you’re not fussed about that then you’ll need to be down before 10am as all will be taken. Not enough room or subbed for all guests. Quickly realised we would have to pay for cabana daily at 100 euros, first time arrive was excellent, 2nd time pathetic. 3rd day we went to the beach, lasted an hour, crap. Back to the cabanas! Food…. Buffet is excellent, good variety and the fruit is the best I’ve experienced in turkey (5th visit, 4 different hotels). Specialist restaurants which you have to pay for, Mexican brilliant, sushi excellent, steak crap, 170 euros for a meal which honestly i could have done better with. What chef cooks a t-bone steak that’s half an inch thick? And try’s to pass it off as a 70 euro meal, outrageous. Italian crap (not a pizza in sight for the kids). Ended up hiring as car and eating out of the hotel 5 days/nights. When I spoke to customer service and explained all this (by this point I’ve spent 1k on extras) all I got was a what’s app (see attached pic) posted a short review 3 days before I left, got a note pushed under my door asking me to come to reception regarding my online post, I deleted it. Nothing was addressed, posting this on our last day. Will be taking the same review elsewhere also. Having stayed at others in the area, I’d suggest the titanic or something along those lines, far higher quality for similar money. Oh and to top it off, got into the room on the 2nd day and it’s boiling hot, contact reception 40 mins later maintenance arrive, apparently nothing they can do as the the roof gets hot….. air con is on 24/7…. When I explained that isn’t how cars work he shrugged and left. INTERNET SPEED… wow, unbelievably slow. Fastest tested was 7mbps, slowest 2.5mbps. Never used it all the trip, 4G was miles quicker and if using the internet hotel connection, it continually dropped out. Kids club is very poor, continually closed. Infact we’ve only found it open once. Teen club is basically non existent. Our children noticed there was a sand art section one evening. 20 euros for something that should be done in the kids club!!!! Someone did hand in my daughters handbag so not all was lost lol. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to fire away.

Our 2nd time at Trendy Lara and what an amazing holiday we had. Kids entertained throughout the day. The staff never stop. Foods plentiful and delicious. Grounds are spotless the entertainment team are amazing everyone of them but our faves were Ozzy, Ali, Yuleman and Charlie. Hardworking. Will return next year for our 3rd visit if these are still here. Thanks for wonderful holiday and amazing memories ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We had a brilliant time, couldn't fault it. The catered for my grandson allergies and we were able to pre-book his meals. Rooms were cleaned daily and kids loved the snack bar and the ongoing ice cream. The little boat down to the beach was also good..at the beach the facilities were excellent. Looking forward to going to their new hotel next door

I hope my review helps other families make informed choices for their holiday, its such an expensive thing to do these days that its important to have as much information as possible. In summary I do feel that the overall average score for Trendy Lara which was around 4.6 when I started writing, is a fair reflection of the resort overall and I will break down each part of our experience. I'll do my best to offer objective thoughts so that others can consider them. Family of 5, staying 10 nights from 21/08/26 until 01/09/26. All inclusive with transfers. Cost £7500 +(£300 for A la Carte and Cabana) Value I feel that we did get value for money from our package holiday, it should be noted that the overall cost for the holiday is with the package provider. This was Tui, who we have always used and got a good enough service (I feel they are on a downward trajectory but that's for another review of Tui and not the resort). Resort Layout Grand open reception area from the main entrance with plenty of seating and places to lounge, this is the lobby level (L) in the lift and has the main reception, guest relations, lobby bar, sports bar, world cuisine restaurant and the late night buffet (great feature). There are 3 blocks for the rooms, A, B and C. We were in block B which is the most central but it isn't really far for the other 2 blocks compared to other resorts we have been to. Each block has 7 floors and 3 lifts. The hotel could make a small improvement of making the stairwell easier access and better signposted as it is hidden behind two doors which are marked as fire exits. If you don't mind getting your steps and flights in then it is quicker than waiting for the lifts at peak times, we were floor 4 which was roughly 12 flights of stairs. The lower ground floor which they call the basement (B) in the lift, is where all the amenities are including the main buffet restaurant. Getting around the rest of the resort is straitforward, all the pools are close together, the slides and kids splash park is just across the main path that runs to the right of the pools, the rest of the a la carte restaurants are dotted around the main stage area which has the lunch snack bar and food corner next to it as well as the ice cream stand. The kids disco area is right at the back end of the resort in the gardens and to get to the beach you head out to the left side of the resort as you face out from the blocks and there is a boat that takes you across to the beach. Overall I really liked the layout of the resort, everything was very easy to get to and not that far spread out, the front two pools near the pool bar have all the activities at them so if you prefer a slightly quieter hang out then the back two pools will be more to your taste. Room We had a 2 bedroom family room with sea view and balcony. This was a twin room with its own bathroom, balcony and full set up and a double room (two single beds together so super king size) and a sofa bed with a large bathroom and a balcony. The rooms were adjoining with a small hallway and each hand a mini fridge too. The rooms were a really good size with some of the best storage I've experienced on a holiday, each room had a 3 door wardrobe with a small 5 drawer in each, there were also two bedside tables in each room with two drawers in each, 2 drawers in the counter, a drawer in each dressing table, a slim drawer above the fridge and two deep drawers in the bathroom counters. Really good if you like to keep your room organised (our two elder girls are great at this we aren't 😅). The balconies were okay size but only enough for 2 people so if you like sitting out on the balcony as a family on holiday there is limited scope for that, but okay for 2 of you. The mini fridge re-stock was excellent, every day the fridge was always topped up in both rooms, I didn't catch the guys name for this but he does an excellent job and deserves some praise. The rooms were always cleaned every day and the team sometimes made animals or patterns with towels or sheets which was a nice touch. If you like hot drinks in the room they could do better at changing the cups more regularly and if you are very particular about cleaning then you may find fault with the cleaning standard, its not at the top end and some shelves or areas were missed but for us this isn't a major issue. I'm not sure on the age of the rooms but they look like they are due some investment soon, flooring was getting the end of its life cycle and small areas of wear and tear, again, not a problem for us as the pros were far and above the cons but if I'm being critical they could do with a refresh which would take the overall score up a couple more .1 on reviews. Overall we were very happy with the room and felt comfortable and at home when we spent time in it (which wasn't much really). Pools, Slides and facilities Really liked the pool layouts, each pool seemed to have its own micro atmosphere which was quite unique. Pool temperature was ideal although I appreciate this is an individual thing. It was between 35c and 39c each day so the pools were refreshing, clean and well managed. The slides and the kids splash park were great, plenty to keep all ages active, same with the room in that there could be a bit of investment to give them new life but they were still brilliant and lots of fun for my 11 year old thrillseeker and our 3 year old really enjoyed splash park. We didn't use the games room in the main area as it was all extra cost games, I think this should come as part of the package personally and would be a good edition to the entertainment package on offer. We used the gym which was good quality and had everything we needed to keep up our movement whilst away, the option to use some of the spa (sauna and a couple more bits) was nice although we didn't find time for that. Plenty of toilets around the resort which were always kept very clean. The only criticism I could make is that the drinks service could be improved, one more bar and more poolside service would take the review score up another .1 for me, the main pool bar gets very busy, the people working it are great though and I like that water bottles are just stored in fridges that you can grab at your own pleasure, that was a nice feature! Overall we were very happy with all these features at the resort and other than a bit of investment to bring some things back to new condition its a minor thing. Food, Restaurants and Cabana We tried 4 of the a la carte restaurants for our stay and we booked the cabana for one day. Whether they keep this as a feature or not may come into question, but if you book the cabana for the day which is €105 they throw in an a la carte with it. On reflection I probably would have gone for another 2 more days in a cabana. Let me explain the rationale and also my thoughts. In total we spent £300 for 1 cabana day and 3 additional a la carte. The cabana service is excellent, I didn't catch the guys name but whoever was on that service on the 29/08 was brilliant and couldn't do enough for us. I will caveat this with the fact that there were only 2 booked that day so if all 4 were booked (there are only 4 in the whole resort) it may have been different but anyway. The service was great, a morning snack service, followed by a la carte lunch and then afternoon fruit plate with all drinks delivered and anything else you ask for. If you value a bit of private space and personal service then I would highly recommend it even just for one day. Here's where I will be frank, the a la carte restaurants aren't really a la carte in my opinion. It's a variation of what you can get in the buffet but listed on a menu. It's not restaurant level dining in terms of food and taste. That being said, the service by the team is really good. So, if you are looking for some finer dining than the buffet, you should lower your expectations to the point that you won't get that, but, if you value time away from the crowds, a more personal service and a more private evening, then there is still some value to be found, kids under 6 are no charge, 6-11 is €10 each and and everyone else is €20 each, so for us it was €70 (unless it is the steak house which is €15 and €30) for more privacy, personal service and to be waited on. It really depends what price you put on that. As I previously said, on reflection I probably would have gone for 3x cabana days which also gave 3 evening meals, I think that is the best value you can get if you want it. Due to the above, the main buffet is very very busy, there's no way around it, its huge and there is plenty of options available, there are slight variations from day to day but nothing exceptional. The food standard is good, it's not 5* quality for me personally but it was good quality. At peak times there is limited space and sometimes they could do better at giving more options, for example when it was Chinese night they only had one place for noodles so it had a huge unnecessary queue. That being said, we all always found something to eat every night, without having some days away from it (A la carte) I think it would have been more of a problem. Breakfast is busy as well but we chose to sit outside for breakfast and I have to say a huge shout out to Kamal who provides service at breakfast outside, really went above and beyond to make our breakfast perfect every morning, a really wonderful person who was exceptional at what he does and really had an impact on our holiday, so a big big thank you to Kamal! As for the day time food, the snack bar was good, limited menu but good, the food corner was awesome, kebabs were great, then there's a burger stand, pizza, chips/wedgies/onion rings, a waffle stand, bar and fruit bar. We really liked going here for lunch and didn't get bored of this area at all. Ice cream stand close by as well which the kids loved. Entertainment and activities Another great thing about the resort is the entertainment team, there is so much to get involved ewith every day if you are interested. This list is endless but highlights are water pools, darts, football, patong, volleyball to name a few, the entertainment team really throw themselves into the activities with you and make it great, big shout out to Ozzy and Velihan, two really great guys who made these experiences all the more fun and are a credit to the entertainment team! The night time entertainment was also good quality, if you want a good seat its best to arrive early because it does fill up, but the shows were great and enjoyable. Later on we retreated to the sports bar, we weren't a fan of the main area, it felt a bit like an airport lounge, bright lighting and just lots of seating with little character, personally I think there should be some darts, pool and other activities added that are inclusive and not paid, it needs a better design, but again, not major, plenty of people enjoyed the space, we went outside on the balcony and wet up there which was to our preference. Overall Resort Review The resort is worth my 5 stars, if I could break it down its about 4.6/4.7 overall. We had a great time and so did the kids, there are some things that can be improved but this didn't really impact our holiday in anything more than a small frustration that is really pretty common on a holiday with 3 children 😅. We aren't in the practice of going to the same resort more than once but that doesn't mean the resort isn't good enough for a revisit because it is 😊 Hope this helps someone book a holiday that suits them!

Excellent food, great staff @ spotless accommodation 👍🏻