I stayed with my family at this lovely hotel for a week, we all thought our rooms were very clean and nice. The rooms were quite small but over all we were very happy with the rooms. We got rooms on the 2:nd level overlooking the pool/ bar area.
The hotel is situated in a lovely garden setting just about 20 meters or so from the sea which was lovely. The hotel felt very relaxed and safe.
Staff was very kind and service minded which I always appreciate. The pool was not huge, but very pleasant to swim in with the bar only a few meters away, it was a perfect afternoon hangout place. One thing which was very annoying was that the people who had stayed at the hotel longer than us had some sort of system worked out which meant that they always put out their towels on the sun beds around the pool in the morning before breakfast, but they didn’t use them until a few hours after lunch, which meant that the "good seats" around the pool were taken (but vacant!) half the day until the guests returned to their "reserved seats". This so called “reservation of the seats” also happened at the hotel´s section of the beach (so if you want good places by the pool or beach get up early!). We never stayed at Hotel Dogans beach section since we though it was too small and crowded (and the beach was stony), instead we walked down about 200 meters to the right of the hotel (Kala Beach) where the beach was wider, and there was no stones to bang your feet against.
The only thing I can really fault about the hotel is its food. I think food at a hotel is a real hit or miss, and in this case it was not so good. We only had the option to book an "all inclusive holiday" for which all food and drinks were included, but we grew tired of the breakfast only after one day. Lunches and dinners are pretty much the same, the food doesn´t taste like anything which resulted in us going out for dinner and lunch almost every day (there are a lot of nice restaurants around). This hotel could gain a lot more business only by shaping up its buffet food : less food of a higher quality rather than loads of very bland tasting food. (The food served in their a la carte restaurant/ pub "My Way" was much better, although the staff there weren´t as nice as the ones in the hotels main restaurant.
So should you stay at Hotel Dogan? Well if you want a nice and clean and comfortable hotel in Side, close to the beach/ restaurants (the hotel is close to the buzzing old part of Side with all the shops and restaurants) I would recommend you tried it- I would come stay there again.
- Dogan Hotel Side
