We booked our holiday for the second to last week of October, which is also the second to last week of season, and having been to Gumbet previously I knew to expect it to be quiet. Seeing the hotel in the Thomas Cook brochure and reading reviews on here made me think that we would have a brilliant holiday here but this was not the case. Not that the holiday was bad, I was just led to think that the rooms and things would be nicer because of the reviews.
The location of the hotel is ok. Situated about a 5-10 minute walk from Bar street where the main action is, it is on a main road, and there are restaurants and bars further up the road, and there is a small grocery shop next door when you can buy water and snacks. If you are planning to cook a lot you would need to make a trip to the supermarket, which is on the way to Bodrum and the dolmus (local bus) takes you for 2.75TL or about a pound. You can get it from right outside the hotel.
Upon arrival at the hotel we were taken into our room which was situated in Block C.It was on the top floor though, which having my daughter who is 19 months old was not ideal as it meant carting her and the pushchair up 2 flights of stairs every night. We asked for a room on another floor but were told there were none available yet when other people arrived during the week they got lower floored apartments that had not had anyone else in them.
The apartment that we were put in was clean-ish. There was a funky smell in the bathroom from the drains and it could have been cleaner. There was fluff and hair on the floor of the shower before we used it, and the shower head was a little manky, but I have seen worse. One thing I would advise to anyone considering in Gumbet would be the tiled floors in the bathroom, extremely hazardous when wet and there is rarely anything anti slip provided, there wasn't at the Queen's. The towels we got left were a mixed bag really. All were white but we had one huge fluffy soft one, and the others were crispy and fraying.
The door between the bedroom and living area wouldn't close as the door frame was coming out of the wall, and the cover-strip on the floor between the bedroom and living area was split and my little girl kept tripping over it, one occasion she sliced her toe quite badly on it. The balcony was terrifying for me as we were on the top floor. They are made out of glass panels and every time my daughter went out there for breakfast or to bring the beach towels in I would constantly make sure she didn't bang on the glass as it didn't look toughened in any way. There was also quite a big gap between the glass and the floor of the balcony, big enough for a crawling child to get through. The cooking facilities consisted of 2 rings which is fine as we ate out apart from doing beans on toast in the morning for the little one but if you are planning to come and cook you might need to bring pans and utensils as the ones in the apartment were poor. We also only had 1 glass in our room but were given some from the bar when we asked. The pull out bed that me and my daughter shared was awful to sleep on. It dipped in the middle and was so uncomfortable. I woke up with back ache every morning, and we were not shown how to fold it back in so it impacted on our space situation further. We also only got very thin blankets, and were not given more when we asked so paid to have the A/C on as it was very cold at night. The batteries in the remote for the TV had also ran out, and were not replaced which wasn't a major thing but I had to stay in ill one night and was so bored.
The staff were ok, I thought they would have been more hands on with all the people staying there but they weren't, and apart from playing chase with my little girl, they didn't really make any extra special effort, but they were always polite. I have to say that the Turkish night that the hotel host was brilliant, and probably the best one I have been to in Gumbet so far due to the comedy. The pool area wasn't that great. The kids pool was filthy and freezing, and the larger pool was not cleaned once while we were there and is just one depth, not the most ideal thing for the older kids that may have just learned to swim. The sun loungers were ok, but some were broken and the same people seemed to get the best ones each morning despite the signs that say reservations are not allowed until after 8am. We preferred making the short walk to the beach or going to Bitez beach by taxi for about 15TL.
We had a night flight home, and paid the £20 to keep the room on as we needed somewhere to shower and it is much less stressful doing this as you are not having to worry about your bags, although the hotel do have a dedicated bag storage room.
I might come back if I was on a girls holiday rather than a family one, but it is doubtable especially as there are nicer hotels in the Bodrum area, it is not really my cup of tea but it might be suitable for other people.
- Queen Hotel Gumbet
