Sumela Holiday Hotel

The staff were kind and helpful, and there was parking in front of the hotel. In the room, though, I had nowhere to put my things, with no desk, table, or chair. I was alone but had a twin room, so I used the spare bed for my belongings. There was a constant smell even with the window open, and the WiFi didn’t work in my room, though it was okay in the restaurant. The restaurant also had very few food options.

We were on a pilgrimage and needed somewhere near the site, but I can’t see why anyone else would choose this place. The actual hotel is very old and damp and badly needs maintenance. The bed was comfortable, but the window kept blowing open, letting in bugs and lots of humidity. Even the broken toilet seat, which should be an easy fix, hadn’t been dealt with. No one at the hotel spoke English, a common international language, and the breakfast and lunch staff were rude and couldn’t understand basic questions. Also, the hotel pictured on Google Maps isn’t the correct one. The management replied to say this wasn’t where I stayed, but Google Maps shows it as the hotel I stayed in. There’s some mistake that needs correcting.

We stayed for a few days around the middle to end of August. The room was spacious and mostly clean. They were flexible about booking us day by day because of some problems with our motorbikes, which we appreciated. Only one staff member spoke some English, though, so communication was difficult and we often had to use Google Translate. The hotel gets a lot of bus tours. On arrival, music was very loud in the courtyard whether you liked it or not, though at least it stopped by 10pm. The bus guests left by 8am at the latest, so mornings were noisy. We usually came for breakfast around 8:30 or 9, even though it was served until 10, and had to wait for two places to be cleared. Every morning we also had to ask them to refill the buffet. On our last morning I noticed that when tables were cleared, the bread was kept aside. It was in a big bag each day, which made me wonder what kind of bread later restaurant guests were getting. The menu was poor too, but that’s another story.

I hope the quality improves, and that a teapot gets added to the room. For 1300 TL, the value wasn’t there. The shower broke as soon as I turned it on, there was no shower cabin, the towels looked old, and the bathroom wasn’t nice. The breakfast was good, though.