Anemon Grand Samsun Hotel

The roof restaurant was excellent, and we loved the beautiful building, lobby, restaurants, spacious rooms, and location. The staff were attentive and well trained. Still, nearly every fabric surface in our room, especially the carpet, had marks from spills, so its cleanliness was questionable. The nine-floor hotel was completely full, but only two of its three elevators were running. We waited 10-15 minutes, and guests aren't allowed to use the stairs, which made the delays frustrating.

The view from the windows is lovely, and the spacious rooms were neat and clean. The hotel is just one row back from the Black Sea shore. Breakfast was very good, and the staff were welcoming and helpful despite the language barrier. The Wi-Fi could be better.

The location was the best part. It's right in the centre, making things easy to reach, and a mall is about a five-minute walk away. I stayed four days, though, and breakfast never changed. I'm not sure how this place has a five-star rating. I'd give it a three. The entrance looked clean and lovely, but the rooms were a different story. We'd booked two connecting rooms, but their system didn't show them as the same booking. Towels were torn, and the blankets weren't proper ones. Luckily it was summer, since otherwise we might have frozen. One blanket was torn too, as shown in my photos. The water bottle was tiny, just one for a room of two. In fact, everything provided seemed meant for one person: one large towel, one small towel, one glass, and one bottle of water. The cleaners were really rude. On the first day, I asked one to come back after we'd left in about ten minutes, but she refused, started speaking in Turkish, brought tea, coffee, and a few other things, then left without cleaning. On the last day I noticed the cupboards had been left open by the cleaners, though nothing was missing. The service was inconsistent whenever they did clean, and they'd sometimes leave out basics like towels, soap, or cotton.

The rooms are well equipped and finished to the professional standard I'd expect from a business hotel, and it's a lovely place. But the internet was so limited that only my phones could connect. I couldn't upload anything or use my computer in the cloud, and responding to email on my tablet was impossible. That's ridiculous these days. With Wi-Fi like that, I wouldn't stay here again.