Goldtrail Holidays Review – Hotel Etap Altinel, Bodrum

The Holiday from Hell

On the 1st to the 8th  of August 2009 myself and two of my close friends decided to book a holiday to Turkey.

We all work full time and despite being well travelled individuals thought due to ease (lads being lads) that we would book our weeks break a few weeks before departure and to make things even easier and book an all inclusive to make things even easier. We were booked into the 5 star Hotel Etap Altinel near Bodrum.

Note: Although this sounds like a ‘lads’ holiday, (which in essence it was) it was more of a chilled break . We all work full time and have very busy lives, one of us a professional rugby player and the other two take rugby quite seriously so it was never going to be a 6 night bender, more like a planned 2 bigger nights and the others spent playing some cards, having a few quiet drinks and enjoying each other’s company.

The all inclusive didn’t come cheap either, 3 of us sharing a room came to just under £2100. However we felt the spend was almost justified with the hotel being rated as a ‘5 sun’ by Goldtrail and having all our drinks and meals included and only being able to travel at peak time.

It’s still the most i’ve ever spent on a 7 day holiday though! We’re all very easy going guys and don’t often like to complain, but the facilities, staff and eventful bit of food poisoning tipped us over the edge!

Here’s the lowdown on what simply wasn’t up to standard for a 3 star never mind a 5 star hotel!

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