Dalyan Hotel Palmyra - Special Class

I booked Hotel Palmyra Dalyan through Tatilbudur on January 16, 2024, for a July stay, using that day's early booking rate. Three days before I was due to leave, Tatilbudur called to say the reservation had been canceled. They told me the hotel owner had asked for payment at the current rate. When I contacted the owner, they said they hadn't emailed me and couldn't see my reservation, so it felt as though they were shifting the blame. Isn't early booking supposed to make a holiday cheaper? What kind of business ethics is it to say, "Just pay the difference when the holiday date gets closer and we won't cancel"? Since all our plans were already made, I booked another hotel and went on holiday. The whole thing dampened our excitement, and I was struggling financially. I wanted to register my complaint here.

The restaurant was actually pretty good, and the chefs know what they're doing. But I wouldn't stay in the guesthouse. It felt more like the upper floor of a restaurant, a space that should belong to the staff, with guests put there because it's by the water. We stayed three nights and nobody came to clean; fresh towels only appeared if we asked. The room itself was in rough shape, with old, poorly maintained furniture, a wobbly wardrobe, a shower cabin that seemed ready to come apart, and an air conditioner that looked at least 15 years old. There wasn't a sturdy piece of furniture in the place. Service was poor too: we were given half a roll of toilet paper, and the staff seemed surprised when we asked for more. When we mentioned there was no cupboard and no water in the room, they told us to get it from the cupboard downstairs. The pool is tiny, and I wouldn't use it. Dalyan in general was below average for me, so I wouldn't recommend it to someone who hasn't been before.

The rooms and hotel are old, nothing like the pictures, and completely unhygienic. If you're confident in the place, show anyone who asks photos of room 209. The issue with charging for water and coffee every day isn't really the cost, it's the lack of care for the service quality you're meant to provide in the rooms. No hotel should charge for daily water and coffee. By that logic, don't include breakfast for free either, since you pay for the ingredients. And what kind of business response is this? It only confirms the poor service.

The best part for us was the setting right on the Dalyan Canal, close to the rock tombs, restaurants, and places for entertainment. We booked online and stayed two nights in a canal-facing suite with two single beds and one double. The room was clean, the beds were comfortable, and the staff were attentive. Breakfast came with the room, though it's a simple spread of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggs, cheese, olives, honey, and jam. The omelet is delicious, so give that a try. We ate at the hotel's own restaurant. The appetizers were tasty at 24 TL each. We had rock sea bass at 150 TL per kg and opened a 50-lira Efe Gold, which cost 260 TL. Prices may feel a little steep, but dining beside the canal and listening to live music in the rooftop sky lounge made it worthwhile. Serdar, the owner, is friendly, caring, and a pleasure to talk to. He's a dedicated veteran of Dalyan. There are a few drawbacks: no fly screens on the windows, so some nights we woke to buzzing flies and felt itchy in the morning. The door and window handles could use refinishing, and the bathroom is very small, 60x60. We didn't have any water problems, though. Would I recommend staying here? Absolutely.