Gold Island Selected

The lobby is beautiful, and the hotel is well positioned for the beach and city. But it’s a nice four-star hotel, not five-star, and the offer is all inclusive, not ultra all inclusive. The food is the same every day. The rooms need renovation. The fridge leaked, and even after daily cleaning the floor was still very dirty. The pool toilets’ door wouldn’t close, and the soap dispenser held only water. There was no soap or shampoo in the SPA shower, and it smelled bad. The whole place needs renovation.

We were two couples checking in. My sister-in-law and her husband were staying at mondo, while my wife and I were at selected. They booked mondo after our reservation was already made, because there were no rooms left at selected. Our agency consultant had told them everything was shared between the hotels. In reality, only the pools and beaches were shared. Mondo guests couldn’t use selected’s lobby bar, restaurant, snacks, or soups, among other differences. The employees were cheerful and friendly most of the time, although I got the impression they weren’t happy with their employers or general working conditions. The way guests were treated as second class was unusual even for a three-star hotel. The difference was clear at the mondo lobby bar. It had no real fruit juice, just fruit syrup, sugar syrup, and water, with so much sugar that it gave me a serious headache. Most of the alcohol was unknown brands. We asked for whiskey and got oak-flavored vodka; we asked for tequila and got agave-flavored vodka. You could smell the vodka as the bartender poured. From the first minute, he treated us like fools. Our driver left us at the mondo building, and the reception clerk said he’d call someone to take our bags to selected, then invited us to sit, have a drink, and wait for his friend to pick us up in a golf car. I ordered three whiskeys. They smelled like vodka, so I asked the bartender to sniff one and say whether it smelled like whiskey. He did, then said without hesitation it smelled like whiskey because it was whiskey. I took it to the clerk, who asked if there was a problem. I asked him to smell it and tell me if it was whiskey. He said it smelled like vodka mixed with something else and wasn’t close to whiskey. After I explained what happened, he called the night manager. He said this was how the mondo bar worked, and that selected’s bar had more choice, where we could have whatever we wanted. The selected bar was a really good experience, with a range of alcohol and real fruit juice and puree. At night, before going to sleep, we asked the bellboy if there was anything to eat. The clerk said selected had night soup, snacks, and hamburgers. My sister-in-law and her husband wanted food, but he said mondo guests couldn’t use the night soup and snack bar without the night manager’s approval. The manager said they couldn’t use it. The clerk took the initiative and offered to arrange something from the restaurant. We said this broke the rules and we didn’t want a privilege other guests didn’t get. He smiled and said, “this is our house, and you are our guests who left their home to come visit our house, we must make our guests feel as comfortable as if they were at home and must make sure their stay in our house goes well, besides you could be preparing something to eat for yourself at home instead of paying money to come here”. That was a gentlemanly way to settle things and showed real hospitality. He was the only good thing about the two hotels, but we don’t know his name because he didn’t wear a name card. We never saw him again. I guess they immediately fire people who do their job properly.

My daughter had two bouts of a stomach bug during our stay, two days apart. From what we saw, the hygiene and cleanliness seemed inadequate. Floors were cleaned with a dry mop, and the rooms didn’t seem to be properly sanitized. We also saw an adult guest leave the restaurant looking unwell and rush to the restroom. There was a noticeable smell in the lift too, suggesting someone may have vomited there. There are no stairs as an alternative, only the lift. It was hard to communicate because most staff spoke neither Russian nor English, so I had to use Google Translate throughout the stay. After our daughter became unwell, we asked reception to clean the room and were told it would be done promptly. The cleaners arrived 20 minutes later, then spent more time talking to a colleague in another room before starting. The whole experience suggested a lack of attention to cleanliness and service. I don’t think this property is suitable for families with young children.

The sea was fairly calm, so I really enjoyed swimming in it. We’d just returned from a great stay, with a lovely pool and pleasant room. The food was amazing and there was plenty of variety, and the drinks were all good and well made. Waffles were a lovely afternoon treat. Elif and Fikret served us at breakfast and were always friendly, kind, and helpful. We’d love to come back one day.