Tropicana Beach – Gumbet – Turkey

Just back from our first viist to Gumbet & the Tropicana BEach hotel. We had a fabulous holiday & we owe a big part of that enjoyment down to the Tropicana manager, Yunis & his wonderful staff. If I had to sum it up I’d say “Arrive as guests & leave as friends”.

We arrived late evening & were immediately helped with our suitcases. Unfortunately the one bedroom apartment we’d booked hadn’t been vacated because I’d requested a specific floor prior to arrival. We were given one of the hotel bedrooms for our first night & were moved the following day. They even offered to arrange something to eat for us despite the late hour. The hotel room was very nice & we slept well. Yunis advised us to come to reception at noon, which we did & we were helped with our bags again & moved to our one bedroom apartment with no fuss at all.

The apartments are very big by the usual standards with two big sofas & a TV in the lounge along with patio doors to our balcony which overlooked the pool & bar area. The kitchen was well equipped & had everything we needed. The bedroom also had plenty of wardrobe space along with hangers & plenty of drawers and a good size mirror, another big advantage was the amount of electrical sockets (not always the case abroad).

The bathroom was pretty big too & had without doubt the best double shower unit with sliding doors I’ve ever had on holiday and the shower was powerful + the water always hot. Our towels & bedding were changed twice during our week & the bins were emptied every day in the apartment. Another nice touch was the fact all the windows in the apartment had screen mesh, which meant you could leave them open without the threat of any insects getting in.

The grounds & whole place are well maintained, the staff always seem to be cleaning & tidying up & this showed in how spotless the place was. The pool was big by Turkish standards & it was cleaned regularly & re-chlorinated whilst we were there. There’s plenty of sunbeds to go around & big umbrellas if you want to stay out of the sun. There’s a small shop that sells all the essentials near reception along with Internet access too. There’s a small strip of beach literally across the (narrow) road from the hotel where they provide sunbeds & cushionsand we went there for the pleasant breeze & it was really peaceful. The water is shallow.

We ate at the pool bar most days. The food was really good & served quickly and they’d even try & help if you wanted to get fussy like swap fillings in sandwiches etc. They also do lovely freshly squeezed orange juice. We didn’t eat at the hotel in the evenings as there is plenty of choice in Gumbet but many guests did & it was usually busy. They also do a theme night a couple of evenings a week.

Yunis would regularly interact with all his guests & could be seen most days walking the bar & pool area checking that all was OK & everyone was happy . He would sort anything out as soon as was possible & this made a pleasant change from normal package holiday hotel service. No wonder their many repeat customers love this place so much.

Many people make a comment about the great staff at the Tropicana, I can understand why now that I’ve been. They really are a great bunch & are a credit to the Hotel. They all work hard & well together & the atmosphere reflects. They are always willing to chat & have banter with you but are not in your face & will respect the fact if you just want to chill out & not get involved. From the bar staff to the receptionists, cleaning crew, ground staff & waiters you couldn’t meet a happier, friendlier bunch who go out of their way to make your holiday enjoyable & memorable. Yunis & the owner should be very proud of what they have achieved at the Tropicana & it deserves it’s TripAdvisor No. 1 spot without a doubt.

We will definitely be back in 2010 and I am counting the days already. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend The Tropicana hotel to anyone visiting Gumbet.