Akra Sorgun Tui Blue Sensatori

This hotel is outstanding When I booked and read the reviews I couldn’t understand why people kept coming back . But now I can !! The staff were wonderful , spotlessly clean . In October we could always find 4 beds around the children pool and we did go to the beach a few times too . Pools a little chilly but the sea was lovely . We did also use the indoor pool which was really lovely and very quiet . The main buffet is great . We had breakfast everyday here and you can never get bored !! The waitess outside where we sat knew are order after one day and when I celebrated my birthday brought a Buck’s Fizz for me ! They have a great kids section and even had jars of baby food. We also went to all of the restaurants that were included these were all quite nice My favourite place was Thea’s coffee shop , ice coffee was amazing and at 3 or 4 pm they have a hot desert which were amazing The food huts on the beach serve traditional Turkish cuisine and these are also amazing . Rooms were comfortable and big enough for a family of 5 When travelling with children you can request a baby bath ,potty, step , bath and shower products . They provide children’s bedding when you have a cot . We actually had two cots and still had lots of room . The tui reps for this hotel were incredible, the entertainment crew went over and above . My only criticism would be that in early October the entertainment should still be outside it was far too hot in the show lounge. But there was alot of choice of entertainment for the kids shows and then the adults after, bingo, quiz, singers in most bars , singers flown in from the uk!! Airport tranfer is about an hour we were lucky on the way and had a mini bus with one other family going to the same resort so it was direct . The way back was not so good. A coach picked us up and it took well over 2 hours and he stopped and a road side shop and encouraged everyone to get off to buy souvenirs. We didn’t get off !! I will definitely return to this hotel in the next few years it’s out of this world !! Very spoilt by staff on birthday . Laid a beautiful table at our evening meal , brought over a cake . Bottle of sparkling wine left in the room. A lovely experience

Our second stay at the wonderful Akra Sorgun Tui Blue Sensatori. We stayed for 14 days in April-May (family section: room 1304) and we loved it so much, we returned last month for 9 days in October (family section: room 1217). And the weather in October was even warmer and better with no rain! We love and appreciate this resort so much, we plan to return next year. PLUSES: + Check in upon arrival at the reception was smooth and easy. Fresh juice and Turkish delight aka Lokum offered at the table nearby + Our arrival was late so we missed dinner but we were so happy and thankful that the hotel buffet restaurant is also open from 22:30-06:00 for night owls with a delicious limited buffet! + Free and stable Wi-Fi throughout. We even saw people working with their laptops at the beach! + King sized beds are quite comfy + The hotel’s mini market is convenient and has everything you need and more. The shop keeper inflated our floatie which we brought from home for a couple of euros + The handbag-clothing store was fabulous. Good quality stuff at fair prices! + The reception staff remembered us and they were very warm, welcoming, and gracious. We were surprised to receive a complimentary fruit and wine tray delivered to our room on the second day. + Water pressure and water temp in the shower and bath is very good, very warm very fast! + There was always an abundance of pillows and extra towels stocked up in our room! + There is a small fridge in the room, drinks and snacks are re-stocked every day + Buffet main restaurant was outstanding. Every night was different theme and the staff work very hard to decorate and make it memorable. The 3 are à la carte restaurants included in the stay were very good: Ocean, Olive, and Safran. We tried the Aqua Grille (paid) restaurant too, it was good. + Swimming pools are all very nice but water was quite cold surprisingly (21c). Definitely colder than the Med sea (24c). Indoor pool was also nice but also cool. Not crowded at all. + Plenty of sun loungers available at any time of the day near the pools and on the beach. + Housecleaning staff was always courteous and did a good job at cleaning our room every day. + Fluffy bathrobes and slippers are provided + Nice to have a pillow menu as well! + Beaches are clean and are slightly rocky so no real need for water shoes. The Med Sea is nice, around 24c which was warmer than the pools (21c) + The live entertainment and music was good, especially the multi-talented violinist and pianist at the main bar was excellent every evening + Mini movie theatre is GREAT, as was the outdoor cinema which featured movie night once a week + Thea's Café is fantastic for coffee and cake any time of the day (even has small sandwiches too) + The Döner kebab, Gözleme, jacket potatoes, and hot waffle stands at the beach were all FANTASTIC. The nice lady at the Gözleme remembered my son's fave Gözleme! + Pro photography service was great! We did a family photo session in May and were very happy with their services and results. + The small game hall (arcade) is great for kids, fun and affordably priced + The billiards and table tennis, as well as bookable activities like archery and French boules was much enjoyed and appreciated + The hairdresser was great as well, excellent hair cuts! + Small issues communicated to the front reception desk were very quickly resolved, and within the hour (no sound for 1 of the TVs, no fan in the bathroom) + Although we didn't use the Kids Club in October, we did in April and my son enjoyed it very much. The Kids Club staff are wonderful. + Public areas and restrooms were always clean and well maintained. Gardens are immaculate! + We were there for the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey on October 29 and the hotel did a marvelous job at commemorating the historical day: decorations, foods, educational materials. Very impressive! MINUSES/AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT: - The sound level in the main show room is a little too loud for us - The Aqua Grill (paid) restaurant was good but unfortunately, it was very busy and crowded the night we dined there. It took one (1) hour for our dinner to arrive. - Very popular activities get fully booked almost immediately. Example: the archery activity booked up very quickly every day, despite our best efforts to reserve. TUI needs to hire more sport and activity reps. - The outdoor cinema was only 1 night a week. Please offer this more than once a week (and with more recent movie than Terminator 2!) TIPS: * Pro photography service on site was very good. A great way to remember your wonderful family holiday! * A classic Turkish shave at the on site Turkish barber/hairdresser is an absolute must! * Visit the lovely town of Side, only costs a couple of euros. The bus stop is just in front of the hotel and is super easy. It's a nice little day trip to the harbor where you can stroll around, shop, look at the boats, visit the Roman ruins and the Apollo temple. * If you want extra soft bed and comfort, a bed topper can be requested at no extra cost. * Change your euros to Turkish lira for small change for tipping, it is much appreciated by the staff and for the bus transfers to/from the airport * If you are staying at the beginning of the season, do not book too many extra excursions at once. The weather is still unstable and rain may cause cancellations. SUMMARY: Overall, we enjoyed both our stays at the Akra Sorgun Tui Blue Sensatori, in April-May and in October very much. We rarely, if ever, return to a hotel and moreover, we've never returned to the same resort in one year. But this resort simply ticks off ALL the boxes for us. There is a reason why there are so many guests here who are repeat visitors, returning year after year. SPECIAL RECOGNITION: * Emes at the front desk reception was very helpful, very attentive. * Mhemet Ali, our fantastic server at the Safran Restaurant who remembered us from our previous stay. * Oguz, Chiat, and Cuneyt at the Ocean Restaurant who worked so hard every day. Always attentive and friendly. * I forgot her name but the housecleaner from our previous stay was so lovely. She even remembered us when we returned in October! * The Head Chefs at the main buffet were always so kind and friendly. They should offer a Turkish cooking class for guests! Thank you to all the wonderful and amazing hard working staff, both customer facing and behind the scenes. We look forward to returning in 2024!

Bit late writing this review as I did a review for our July stay here and TripAdvisor would not allow another one until 3 months had passed. We stayed for 15 nights in Sept it was our 10th visit. We must start with how excellent all the staff are and need to mention Ayup in the outside adult bar, Ishmail in the lounge bar both these guys were so good very friendly and our drinks were ready for us before asking. Aisha in the outside entertainment bar was absolutely lovely great personality very friendly and again our drinks were ready for us. Sergan and Ogur in the a La carte were fantastic great service as always and also Atilla in the ocean. Our waitress Dorgul in the adult only buffet for breakfast always remembered our coffee order and we were greated with a lovely smile first thing in the morning. Sorry we cannot remember everyone's name but to be completely honest everyone of the staff we spoke to were fantastic, plus the food is very good in all the A La carte restaurants and pretty good in the buffet. These are mainly the reasons why we return year after year. We must also mention Omer in guest relations he helped us to celebrate our 50th anniversary and was always so helpful The grounds are extremely well cared for and a beautiful sight from the balcony together with the adult pool view and sea. We are really looking forward to our stay again this Sept and cannot wait to see all the alterations. Thank you to all from Carol Anne and Graham Launder

This place oozes luxury and quality. The hotel is exceptionally clean and the staff work extremely hard to ensure you have a memorable experience. The food and drink is the best we have experienced and we have stayed in a few Sensatori hotels in different countries. The kids club is superb and very safe. The grounds and the private beach are beautiful. So much to do and see - you’ll love it!

Spent 10 days relaxing with in the all adults section of the hotel. Round the pool not too busy and quiet with occasionally a guitar soloist. Hotel spotlessly clean everywhere. Even in the grounds there are staff going around tidying up leaves etc. You will be spoilt for choice at the buffet, something for everyone including the veggies. Different Theme each day and the gala evening was special. Obviously the wine in the main all inclusive restaurant is free but if I could make a suggestion? that the hotel offers a different choice of wine if we do not like the free red/white. More than happy to pay a charge for this, as you do when dining at the al la carte restaurants. Well worth a trip to Side, by bus or order a taxi at reception to pick you up at the door. Do shop around if going for bags, having been there we thought the bag shop in the hotel sold the best quality and bought from him confidently. Final point. The staff are wonderful, they make the hotel so friendly. Special mention to Nazim who looked after us at the cabana and Eren in the restaurant.

We visited this hotel in May this year as a family of 2 adults and 2 young children. We did have some issues with Tui prior to flying, mainly to do with very poor levels of communication, but this all changed as soon as we boarded the plane at Manchester. The aircrew was brilliant on both legs of the journey, and this was also the case by the team at the hotel. We couldn't fault this hotel at all. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, and the overall ambience was excellent. Standards of housekeeping and maintenance were superb, and nothing was too much trouble for any of the hotel staff. Food was good with plenty of options at each meal sitting, and the quality of the drinks was also good. Now we did visit at a quieter part of the year, so accessing sunbeds was never an issue. Also, the beach area rarely had anyone on it. Peak holiday season may be more challenging in this respect. The holiday highlight for our daughter was the kids' club. Run by Tui staff, there were sessions every morning and afternoon, which she never missed. As a parent, if you want some relaxation time away from the kids, this is brilliant. Booking for the sessions is completed via the Tui app in advance, so you need to be early to book a place. Tui could improve the kids' club by having some multilingual staff working there as many of the guests are from other countries in Europe, meaning some of the kids will struggle with communication. As many others have said, Side itself was easily accessible by using the local bus service with a stop directly outside the hotel. The town is really worth a visit with an impressive array of Roman buildings and ruins, much more than we imagined. Finally, prior to booking, I had considered reserving a swim up room. These rooms in the family part of the hotel had direct sunlight for most of the day, so they are definitely worth considering. We were offered a paid upgrade when checking in to the hotel, so it is possible to choose this option during your stay if the hotel is not full. We decided against this as our kids wanted to play with other kids at the main pool, but it's worth considering if you want a bit more privacy. On our first ever trip to Turkey, we couldn't have picked a better hotel. Brilliant for families with children and private areas, including a pool for adults only. It caters to everyone. We would unreservedly recommend this hotel to anyone and would absolutely go back if ever visiting Turkey in the future.

We came here 7 years ago and it was amazing back then, we was suprised as the hotel was different. All the food you want ~ drinks were amazing and the staff were so helpful and couldn’t do enough for you. This was such a relaxing holiday for me and mum. We stayed at the adults only swimming pool and it was nice and quiet. Beach was amazing too~ only down full was swimming pool was far too cold but beach was lovely and warm! I have to say one thing or 2! We asked the reps about different restaurants and asked about going onto the harbour restaurant ~ we found the reps not very helpful as they said they didn’t know. I find that hard to believe. In my opinion the reps should be promoting the restaurants. Also I had a really bad toothache, I spoke to the rep through the app and she said I could get antibiotics if I ask reception the pharmacist would send them to the hotel. When I went to reception I got told I would have to pay £100 to see the doctor + fees for antibiotics. Feel like the reps need training as they gave me the wrong information. Apart from them 2 things this hotel is by far the best sensatori, just a shame on the new issues I had.

In October we made our 18th visit to this wonderful hotel, realizing after we arrived that we had already spent 18 months of our lives staying there. As expected, the welcome on arrival at reception was again of a high standard and although we arrived early we were soon comfortably installed in our well cleaned and stocked (personal items and bar) room. The high standard remained throughout our stay. It was soon obvious that the standard of cleaning throughout the hotel remained as high as always and we must congratulate the housekeeping personnel for keeping it so. Needless to say our first port of call was the Restaurant to enjoy some much needed food. Again, the quality and choice available from Breakfast through to Dinner was of an extremely high standard which continued throughout our stay, with the various theme evenings adding more enjoyment to the taste buds. Lunchtimes were spent at the Ocean and Olive Snack Restaurants with some excellent menus available. Also the Gözleme, Kumpir, Doner and Waffle stations served great tasty food. The a-la-carte restaurants, Ocean, Olive, Safran, Aqua and Tarcin were again delightful venues to enjoy excellent tasting food Thank you to all the Chefs and kitchen staff for such excellent quality. Once again the excellent service from the staff in all restaurants continued throughout, not just for us but to everyone who needed them, the Restaurant Captains were once again everywhere monitoring, and serving where needed, and the Head of Food and Beverages would be seen regularly checking at each restaurant and he must have walked many miles throughout the day. As before, it was a great pleasure to enjoy drinks in the bar areas with super service, smiles and good conversation throughout from the lovely staff and we thank them very much for their kindness. The wonderful beach was our main daytime residence and we were well looked after by the beach man, beach bar staff and beach guard. Because of our age and medical condition we were not able to enjoy the many physical activities offered by TUI but Boules became a regular and enjoyable daily event for me. We were again able to enjoy the evening entertainment in the Lobby/Piano bar and the Clubhouse Bar, from the resident musicians and groups/bands brought in by the hotel. The entertainment held at the Boardwalk and the indoor Show Lounge with a good resident TUI cast and visiting live tribute acts plus some circus performances was great to watch. An extra enjoyment for us was of course the helpful and happy conversations we were able to have with the Hotel's guest relations personnel, the TUI personnel , the reception and administration staff and most importantly being able to see the hard work they put into helping other guests or solving any problems that occurred. An important high level of commitment for the hotel. Another wonderful holiday sadly came to an end but in the last few days we were also able to get an idea of the renovations and alterations that were being planned during the hotel's winter closure and this gave us another reason to be excited to return after it re-opened. Again our most grateful thanks to General Manager Çağdaş Akkaya and all the hard working Barut and TUI Blue personnel at the hotel for keeping it a most definitely 5 star establishment.

We visited at the end of October for 2 weeks and were not disappointed. The hotel was spotless. The grounds well maintained and the room very pleasant. The staff couldn't have been more helpful especially Durgul in the main restraunt for breakfast and lunch, Tugba in the Clubhouse bar and Okan in the main bar. All of them were a credit to the hotel. When we checked in we were told that the hotel was at capacity but the hotel and grounds are so large that it did not feel like it at all. There was never any problem with getting loungers at either the pool or the beach no matter what time of day you strolled down. With the variety of restraunts and bars plus entertainment there is always something to keep you amused. The hotel is a bit out of the way, which is good for the relative peace and quiet but if you want to go anywhere it requires getting a taxi or a dolmus from the stop right outside the gate but this isn't too inconvenient. The hotel was closing at the beginning of November for a complete refurb but honestly there were a lot of things wouldn't need done. It can only make it better.

My husband and I returned home from our 2nd visit to this amazing hotel in mid October - we broke our rule about going to the same place twice and have to say will probably be going back! There is little to nothing to fault at this hotel the staff are all brilliant from the cleaners and gardeners to the restaurant, bar staff and Guest Relations everyone is friendly and helpful. All of the Al a Carte restaurants have amazing food and staff, the buffet Restaurant is great with it s themed nights etc. Whilst it would be impossible to comment on everyone there are a few standouts: Restaurant - Durgal is an absolute joy. So friendly and hard working she literally never stops and nothing is too much trouble. The lady who makes omelettes at breakfast every morning is also lovely and has a great memory. After a couple of days my husband was chuffed that he didn't need to tell her what he wanted, she just remembered. Safran - the food here is outstanding as is the service given by Mehmet Ali, he spoilt us so much! He is a credit to himself and the Hotel, going out of his way to decorate our table for our wedding anniversary is just one example. Butterfly Bar - we were served most evenings by a lovely young man he ws always smiling, who I think was called Bekir - I'm so sorry if I haven't remembered that correctly. I do know he was from Mugla. Lobby Bar - here we met our Butterfly Bar barman from 2022 Mehmet - he remembered us from the previous year and was always ready to make me the best Amaretto Sour!! We spent most of our time at the Adult Pool and were kept well supplied with drinks all day by Cebrail - he must cover miles every day! He was always on time for Malibu o'clock!! This years entertainment was a huge improvement from 2022 - well done! Elizabeth, our TUI rep was lovely and helpful when we needed her. We recognised so many guests from our stay in 2022 and it was really nice to meet up again with some fellow Geordies and Scousers that we met last year!! We'll be checking the reviews next year with interest to see what is made of the renovations and the building work next door and so may see everyone again in 2024!!