Side Win Hotel

Getting even basic help felt like a struggle. There were no towels in the room, and when I asked for some, I felt I had to beg. Staff spoke very little English, and the service was rude and unhelpful. The place was filthy as soon as I arrived, with dust, dirt, and a bad smell. The toilets looked as though they hadn't been cleaned for a long time. The food was awful, and the drinks were limited and served without proper glasses. There was no Wi-Fi either. It was a complete disaster, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

The pool area was short on sunbeds, so people put towels down as early as 4am and left them there all day, even when they weren't around or using the pool. The lifeguards seemed useless: they looked at their phones or chatted instead of watching, and didn't monitor the three slides that were open. My partner and I were pushed down a slide by a child who didn't understand us when we said we were waiting for others to reach the bottom so we could see it was safe. Wasps were everywhere. I'm terrified of them, and we'd get swarms of 20 or 30 at a time landing on cups. Even the bar staff seemed fed up and tried to catch them in cups. The barbecue started cooking shortly after 6pm, but people were already queuing by 6:20 even though it didn't open until 7. Once the food ran out, it wasn't replenished. We didn't eat in the restaurant. Most of the food was aimed at Russian, German, and Polish guests, we were told, and people rushed in, shoved one another, grabbed food with their hands, and piled up their plates. It was filthy to watch. Drinks were a joke too: beer and pop ran out two or three times a day, and the pop was worse than Aldi's cheap stuff. The information sheet said all-inclusive drinks weren't included at breakfast and were available only from 10am. The rooms and maintenance were badly neglected. The photos are misleading, though the entrance didn't look too bad at first. In our room, the woodwork was chipped, things were broken, and it wasn't cleaned well. The sheet said rooms were cleaned every three days, which meant no fresh towels in between. During our seven days, we never got fresh bed sheets, just made beds. The staff kept saying they didn't understand English and held phones up for translation. They seemed to understand when they wanted to, though. After we'd complained to Thomas cook and they'd been in touch with the hotel, staff woke us at 8am the day before departure, asking what they could do to help. When my partner said staff had claimed they couldn't help or understand, they looked at each other and laughed. Thomas cook should do more to support customers and look into this hotel. After that 8am visit, when my partner went downstairs to sort it out, staff were practically trying to check us out. He had to stand firm because we had nowhere to go and refused to pay for another hotel. We still haven't received an offer of support or financial help for what we spent eating and drinking out, let alone a refund.

We spent at least £2000 eating out because the food here was so bad. There was nothing for the kids, drinks and ice kept running out, and it all felt like the hotel was being run on a very tight budget. The bar was open until midnight when we arrived at 11:30pm, but with two adults and three children who'd travelled all day, all we could get was coffee. Towels weren't changed until the fourth day, and there had been only one big towel for five people. The place was awful. I usually try to stay open-minded and accept that you get what you pay for, but that didn't apply here. On our second morning, two of the better staff told us they'd been there a month and wanted out. By 2pm that day, we were so disillusioned I tried calling our booking company, but nobody answered. There were three fights around the pool, cracked tiles all over the floor, no Wi-Fi, no kids' club, and no entertainment. This is the worst hotel I've stayed in. This review is only the tip of the iceberg, and I'll be asking for some money back. Please don't book it.

The pool was the one good thing, and the entertainment was okay. The nearby area was fine, with a nice steakhouse next door and lots of markets, though most shops charge more than they first tell you. The hotel lift felt very dodgy, and I heard people had been stuck in it for minutes. Our room was awful. The shower had no handle, so you had to hold the shower head, and there was a yellow stain on the balcony. The beds had hair under a cover, the air conditioning and fridge didn't work, and it was often too hot to sleep at night. Workers spoke no English and were often rude. Lunch and dinner were inedible, especially for picky kids. Breakfast was okay, with good pancakes and pastries. The all-inclusive bar had just five drinks to choose from, and they all tasted the same. There was cheap vodka and beer, with no real variety. The water fridge didn't work and was often left empty for ages, which wasn't good in the heat. The hotel isn't worth the money when you could find a better pool and better facilities elsewhere.