TUI BLUE Side

What a wonderful place for a holiday. Location is great, straight onto the beach. The place is very peaceful and quiet everyone is so friendly, from the hotel staff to the spa and hairdressers were so helpful and attentive. The rooms were cleaned and well stocked daily to a high standard and we had a lovely sea view. There were plenty of sunbeds available and plenty of space to lay back and relax. The food was incredible, presented beautifully and always plenty on offer, they seemed good catering for any allergies anyone might have. Plenty of options for drinks too. The evening entertainment was good with a lot of variation. We especially enjoyed the group acapella who were amazing. This is a hotel we will definitely come back to as we enjoyed it so much.

Fantastic stay in great hotel. On arrival warm welcome. Food in the restaurant is top notch with many choices. Good selection of hot, cold and sweets. The hotel is cater all dietary needs . Clean and comfortable rooms. The house keeping is super. The reception team is polite, friendly and happy to help. The restaurant staff as well as the bar staff very lovely and attentive. We have had amazing stay and we're looking forward to our return. Thank you TUI Blue Side for making our holiday memorable.

It was a pleasure to stay in this hotel. The rooms are lovely. Hotel very clean. Food in the main restaurant super even for someone with food allergies like me. Staff are friendly and very helpful. Good selections of drinks. I would like to thank you to all staff at the hotel for making our stay welcome and wonderful. We will definitely return.

This review is graded as 5 star only to get viewers’ attention, we rarely look at reviews with 1 or 2 stars (my mistake also) and miss important facts thinking its only one or two miserable people complaining. I assure you we are well-travelled professional people who embrace all cultures. This review is not malicious, it is all factual, we have written to TUI directly who have offered £300.00 or £476.00 in vouchers - not acceptable we paid just under £3,000 per couple for 7 nights, case is now pending with ABTA, and we will go to arbitration if needed. Airport Transfer to Hotel We sat on the coach for approximately 45 minutes prior to departing on the journey to the hotels. The driver announced the hotel drop off list but again English was very poor, it was extremely difficult to understand which worried us as we feared that we would miss our stop. The driver took a massive detour. We were at TUI Blue Xanthe and then went on to another hotel to come back to TUI Blue Side, when we could have got off earlier. We were the last passengers on the coach, and the journey took approximately 2 hours. Travelling Time We arrived at Manchester airport at 10:00am and did not arrive at TUI Blue Side until 11:38pm local time. Our whole journey took 11 hours and 38 minutes. We lost a whole half day off our all-inclusive holiday package. Arrival at TUI Blue Side We arrived at 11.38pm local time and were checked in by Ahmet who did not give us a pleasant reception, upon sight. We were given cold towels and when we asked why not hot towel, his reply was “yes I said cold towel”. We received no welcome drinks and was later advised that this was because the bar is closed. This is a very poor excuse. Once checked in, Ahmet asked about allergies, which I told him about. He seemed annoyed by the number of allergies I was telling him - I am anaphylaxis, and he proceeded to give me a card with allergen symbols on to give to the restaurant. When going to the restaurant there was no one to give the card to, we were so exhausted I just chose food that I knew I was safe with. The waiter who got our drinks, English was poor. I asked for a glass of water with ice and lemon, and he still did not understand after several attempts of us trying to explain what I wanted. He then proceeded to bring me soda water with lime juice. He asked us if we were hungry which we said yes, we did not eat food until Monday 8th September 2025 at 12:03am, where the selection was very limited. We lost Monday 8th September of our all-inclusive package due to sleeping late. Monday 8th September – Evening While getting ready for dinner we lost power, and we had to notify the hotel/sound check act people ourselves, they were completely oblivious. The power outage had only affected our side of the hotel. The live act in the Romance Bar was doing their sound check which shorted the electrical supply, we were intermittently without power for approximately 45 minutes. No one came to apologize to us for the inconvenience. Tuesday 9th September 2025 - Morning Being Questioned My husband and Brother-in-law were questioned about being in the hotel lobby. We felt that this was due to being of colour and not being TUI Blue Side usual cliental. On speaking to Nadine - TUI rep about this in the afternoon her reply was; “this is because we do not wear wrist bands at TUI Blue Side” and proceeded to wave her wrists in front of my face. I explained to her that “We know what wrists bands are and that we are all professionals and well-travelled”. Nadines reply; “yes, I am too”. I had to tell her, “We are not taking about you, we are talking about us, the guests”. Nadines mannerisms were of blank stares and flippancy. Tuesday 9th September – Late Afternoon My sister (room 2101 then room 4219), became unwell after eating lunch in the restaurant with stomach cramps and diarrhea. Went to see Nadine – TUI Rep and Peter Raes– Hotel Concept Manager. Nadine was the one who we eventually interacted with about our concerns. We explained to her that the hotel is completely geared up for German people – food, service, language etc. No issues with that - if I had known prior would not have chosen this resort due to language barrier. We explained about the lack of communication from the hotel team – like having to chase them for a coffee in the main restaurant to them not understanding us with them saying, “English no good”. To hard uncomfortable stares from some German guests who were the majority. Nadine’s feedback was; “Yes, some of the older German people are racist” “I know my people, they are racist” This made us feel even more uncomfortable, we are of colour - British, staying in a hotel where the German guests did not welcome us, nor the staff who made it clear that we were not important and our needs did not matter. Tuesday 9th September 2025 - Evening We ate outside of the resort due to feeling uncomfortable and knowing that we would not be waited on. Buffet was poor based on my allergies, no one to communicate effectively with. Tuesday 9th September 2025 / Wednesday 10th September Early hours Sisters symptoms worsen. No all-inclusive received. Wednesday 10th September 2025 Husband was called “chocolate” referring to his skin colour, by a photographer downstairs near Theas Coffee Shop, photographer claimed his name was same as my husband too, when offering photographs for memories. This is offensive as guests of colour. Wednesday 10th September 2025 Sister is still very unwell and now bed bound with stomach cramps and excessive diarrhea, told Nadine who said to go and see the nurse. I did that and she said to me “I have no medicine you go to pharmacy”. Brother-in-law went to pharmacy in mall and took advice, purchased medication, sister taking that. I went to guest relations and spoke to Erkan who was a pleasure and support. He arranged for the chef to make my sister some chicken broth soup which was brought up to the room. Romance Bar Live act every night, was told by one of the entertainment team that they have been trying this for about 3 weeks now and wanted our opinion. Sister is sick in bed and recorded the noise volume which she shared with reception team upon moving room. They agreed it was loud; we gave my sister and brother-in-law the room move as my sister was so poorly. Husband and I could have done with a room move but persevered and did not go back to the room until we knew the act was coming to an end which was around 10:30pm – 11.00pm. I have a video of the location of the Romance Bar in conjunction to our rooms. Thursday 11th September 2025 Sister sick in bed all day, we encouraged her to come down to the restaurant for some change of scenery. Another British couple we met gave her some UK Imodium to take prior along with the medicine purchased from the pharmacy which was not as fast acting. On the way down to the restaurant the photographer took a photo of my sister without consent. She asked him what this was for and why did he do that without her consent. His reply was “Chocolate skin” and “for hotel album”. This is not acceptable. Thursday 11th September 2025 – Evening Sister and I were in the lobby bar and were asked by Ehran how things were. We started to explain, his reply was “English no good”, his colleague Dogus was next to him and started to translate while laughing. My sister asked about calling people of colour chocolate he shrugged his shoulders and expressed that this is normal. We tried to educate him, by letting him know it was offensive, Ehran shrugged his shoulders while pulling his face as if to say what is your problem. Lack of support – TUI Rep Nadine did not contact us to find out how my sister was doing nor how to find out how we were doing as a group being the only people of colour on resort. Knowing what she knows is absolutely appalling. We were constantly fobbed off by Nadine, and the staff in resort. We were simply not welcomed with exception to Erkan. We were a nuisance they did not want us there. Topping up fridge I went to reception and asked them only to top our fridges up with zero coke as we are diabetic. They did not understand and asked me to write it down which I did. Over a period of 2 days – no change. We happen to go back to the room and met the young man who was doing this job – I had to do it myself as he did not understand either. Friday 12th September 2025 Sister is still very ill. I went to the Guest relations - Hacer she was rude and started to talk to another person over me who had just left the area. When I told her she was being rude she seemed taken aback, again all speaking in German. Julia – TUI Rep came over, and I explained everything that was happening to us at the resort, we also relayed this to the Guest Relations – Hacer; Nadine walked in and listened, she was aware of everything, nothing was being documented. We kept having to repeat ourselves over and over again. Julia said that my sister should go to hospital as she would be dehydrated and would need electrolytes. A taxi was arranged, I took her, and we spent the night in hospital – Ozel Akdeniz Hospital. Julia apologized for all the problems we were facing and was the only person to say that they would write up the complaint and give me a reference number. However, this did not happen, I learnt from Peter - Concept Manager that the next day she was “off sick”. Nadine was very unsupportive and did not even tell us that we needed to take our passports and show the Turkish stamp – we had to call my brother-in-law to WhastApp the information to us at the hospital. The hospital was very unaccommodating and appeared to dislike us on sight. They would not manage the stool sample; they told me to do it and did not give me a mask or gloves. They did not wash my sister – I had to do this Every time we asked for a plastic bag to put over my sisters hand, so it didn’t get wet when I was showering her, they kept saying 5 minutes, but no one came we had to improvise. Saturday 13th September 2025 Doctor came to do his rounds and said that her stool sample confirms E-Coli which is very serious. Throughout the night on Friday 12th September 2025, my sister did receive care. The doctor suggested that she should stay in for a further 4-5 days, (we guess this was due to getting money off the insurance). My sister said that she wanted to go home. The doctor via some interpretation said, “if you want to go home, I will write you fit for fly and prescription for antibiotics. My sister said she was feeling better and wanted to go home. The hospital interpreter relayed this back to the doctor. We were due to fly home on 14th September 2025 early morning. We were also told to get to the pharmacy before 13:00 on that day as it closes. I then went back to the hotel to shower etc and obtain fresh clothing for my sister as we had nothing with us. Nadine walked into the reception lobby and ignored me. She then went to speak to another German guest who had come after me. I got upset as she did not even ask me how my sister was or me. I said to her “don’t you see me standing here?” Nadine made some excuses saying she was looking after another guest – today she still has not asked if my sister was OK. I stormed off down the corridor to my lift so I could pack, I just wanted to leave. Nadine chased after me and I would not stop, Nadine turned and shouted, “oh f**k!”. I turned and told her not to swear at me. After I had packed, Peter – Concept Manager and Dincer Surek – General Manager came over to me and took me to a quiet part of the lobby bar. I explained everything that was happening start to finish including my sister being sick, I broke down and cried. I told them I just wanted to go home with my sister. I told them that we had arranged a private transfer as we could not bear going on the long coach journey again. Dincer confirmed that the word chocolate for people of colour is used locally as a compliment but should not be used with guests. He also used the “N” word in full to me in front of Peter to justify his reasoning of the use of the word chocolate. Peter confirmed that the hotel will put on a private transfer for us and then drove me back to the hospital where he also checked in on my sister. Later on that afternoon in the hospital we received a visit from Senay and Kerry (TUI Reps) we also told them everything. Senay did help with some translation at the hospital and said that she would do a write up of complaint – again nothing received. On the same evening the hospital tried to discharge my sister, apparently because she said that she was going to self-discharge. My sister was going to self-discharge but in the morning as we were flying home. The doctor had gone back on his word, no fit to fly note or prescription received. The hospital began to behave maliciously and stopped the drip treatment because they wanted more money. We could not communicate fluently and the interpreter that we met upon arrival came to assist. The hospital nurse became rough with my sister to the point that the cannula needle was sticking up through the top of her hand. At this point I was back at TUI Blue Side, my sister had telephoned me to let me know what was going on. I went immediately to the TUI Rep in reception, her name was Fine, I proceeded to explain. Her initial reply was, “I am sorry my English is not good”. To which I calmly replied, “that is disappointing”. Fine took exception to me saying that. I asked her to reach out to Senay for support, which she eventually did, but she became abrupt with me. I rang Senay to explain what was happening at the hospital. She said to give her number to my sister, which I immediately did, Senay did not answer her phone. The hospital ejected my sister from the hospital at 5.00am on Sunday 14th September 2025 and roughly removed the replaced cannula in the toilet saying, “leave, finish”. My sister was not even dressed. Another nurse came in and told her “5 minutes”. That morning, we picked my sister up on the way to the airport, from A&E and settled the bill. Housekeeping Were not thorough, we were left one day with no tissues in the silver container. Foot towel which had been used night before was left on shower floor – housekeeping did not remove. Saw dirty bucket of water which was used to clean rooms – I have photograph. NAR SPA I only noticed this sign outside the NAR Spa after my sister, and I had our treatments: Spa etiquette - you would receive robe, slippers and locker... We received no robe or slippers, even though we saw other guests walking around in them. I had 1 x Turkish bath and massage; my sister had the same. Why were we not treated the same as everyone else, was this due to our colour? Overview • We did not have a holiday and are totally exhausted by everything, in fact traumatized • My sister is still sick as of date of letter and has received 2 x course of medication from UK GP • The staff at TUI Blue Side discriminate against people of colour • The TUI Reps in that country discriminate against people of colour • The TUI Reps do not tell the truth and cover for each other with the hotel in conjunction TUI have falsely advertised this hotel: This hotel is not chilled or restful and nor is the music act sophisticated. • There was a weekly loud pool party, where the music projected itself up to the silent sun terrace • The live music in the Romance Bar was excessively loud and the same songs sung badly by different entertainers’ night after night. • Screeching noises of Abba, Whitney Houston and Boney M night after night. Hotel Ethos on all TV Screens in Bedrooms: "On behalf of all Staff of Tui Hotel, its truly a pleasure to extend our warm welcome. Please rest assured that no effort will be spared to make your stay with us forever memorable and most enjoy". ~ General Manager Dincer Surek We will never travel with TUI again this whole experience has been extremely stressful, painful, exhausting, we are truly traumatized. This is a week’s annual leave that we will not get back, annual leave is for rest and recuperation, and this definitely did not happen. Today 10/12/2025 - still pending with ABTA, sister is slowly recovering but not 100%. UK tests confirmed E-Coli, Salmonella, C Diff and some other long name bowel virus' that I cannot spell. TUI are rubbish they don't care.

To be honest I can say that this holiday was unbelievable for me the hotel was magnificent and staff is helpful I stayed in the 1210 and view was really good and the reception was really professional and I am really grateful to the Yılmaz he was really helpful and that was really nice