“IT IS HARD TO BEAT THE VALUE AND THE QUALITY THAT BELLIS VILLA AT BELLIS DELUXE HOTEL PROVIDES TO ITS GUESTS”

NOTE: THIS IS PART 1 (PARAGRAPHS 1 TO 9) OF OUR 2-PART REVIEW SINCE WE WERE NOT ABLE TO POST THE FULL REVIEW IN THE SPACE BELOW. SEE PART 2 (PARAGRAPHS 10 TO 16) SEPARATELY IMMEDIATELY AFTER THIS POST. IT IS HARD TO BEAT THE VALUE AND THE QUALITY THAT BELLIS VILLA AT BELLIS … more

NOTE: THIS IS PART 1 (PARAGRAPHS 1 TO 9) OF OUR 2-PART REVIEW SINCE WE WERE NOT ABLE TO POST THE FULL REVIEW IN THE SPACE BELOW. SEE PART 2 (PARAGRAPHS 10 TO 16) SEPARATELY IMMEDIATELY AFTER THIS POST. IT IS HARD TO BEAT THE VALUE AND THE QUALITY THAT BELLIS VILLA AT BELLIS DELUXE HOTEL PROVIDES TO ITS GUESTS Our family of six (5 adults, 1 twelve-year-old boy) stayed at Bellis Deluxe in October of 2024 and absolutely loved it! Before proceeding to the details of our truly wonderful stay at the Bellis Deluxe Hotel, I set forth below some general observations based upon reading many other guests’ reviews since such observations may help potential guests in deciding whether (and when) to stay at Bellis Deluxe. First, some of the negative comments about Bellis Deluxe have to do with the simple fact that a large majority of Bellis Deluxe guests are Russian nationals during the summer season which lasts from late April until late October (hotel staff stated that Brits, Germans, and other western Europeans tend to come more during the winter season). Naturally, hotels must hire staff which speak the language of its main clientele. At the same time, we interacted with several staff members at the hotel and found that they have at least some basic understanding of English (my wife is American, and while she speaks Russian she had no trouble communicating in English with staff members who did not speak Russian). Unfortunately, in this regard some of the comments of English-speaking writers reflect a sniff (or whiff?) of superiority, e.g.: “Honestly, THIS PLACE IS MOSCOW!” (most likely, the writer had not ever even visited Moscow and has no idea about the place, except what he or she hears 24/7 from the press and politicians); and “99.% guests were Russian maybe this is why staff were which way they were, as they are very arrogant and demanding.” Having frequented the USA on an annual basis for the past 35 years, I experienced the worst levels of rowdiness at some US hotels, particularly in the Miami area, and also in a Spanish resort frequented by the British, but this does NOT mean that I should generalize about people’s behavior based upon their nationalities and reduce my reviews of those places to almost xenophobic rants. Thankfully, the majority of the English language reviews did not succumb to such behavior but instead rightfully kept their reviews to the point. Regardless, if you have trouble getting along with other nationalities, including Russians in particular, because of some preconceived notions in your head you may want to stay away from Bellis Deluxe in the summer season. We personally did not observe any incidents of rowdiness or drunken behavior and the like from anyone during the 11 nights that we were there. Naturally, there are lots of people staying at the hotel, and the main building in particular may seem a bit crowded at times, but everything was orderly and not pushy in any way. Second, some of the disparity in reviews could very well be because Bellis is really 3 hotels in 1. In other words, in our opinion there are 3 tiers of rooms and service here. The Level 1 Tier consists of the main building and adjoining smaller buildings (Camelia and Mimosa). It is my understanding that these buildings are much older (built sometime in the 1990s, with some renovations done maybe 10 years ago) and as a result most likely the rooms are somewhat dated. Hence, reviewers who stayed there and who compared them to newer Turkish hotels are somewhat dissatisfied. We cannot really comment about these rooms since we did not stay there but we can definitely understand the point. It should be noted that guests who stay in these rooms have free access only to the main restaurant which is huge and has a broad selection of food for every taste. The next Level 2 tier consists of the Jasmine building which is newer and has bigger rooms. Naturally, guests who stay there are generally happier with the quality of the rooms. Guests who stay there also have free access to the Begonvil restaurant (in addition to the main restaurant) which is positioned as an upgraded dining option, with more personalized service and some a la carte positions (for example, grilled meats and fish). The Level 3 Tier which is the final tier is Bellis Villas. This is an absolutely higher level of luxury, food, service, and atmosphere. Guests who stay at the villas (there are only 9 of them) have free access to all bars and all restaurants, a free cabana at the beach, free laundry service, etc. (see details below). Our family stayed at one of the nine Bellis Villas, and therefore the review below reflects primarily this experience, although some information is pertinent to the entire hotel environment. 1. Hard product (i. e. the villas themselves) is simply gorgeous. Yes, they are probably older since the hotel itself is older, but they are maintained in good condition (some minor hiccups are addressed below). I looked at pictures and several videos before booking the villa and had some reservations about the interior quality, but those reservations quickly disappeared upon first-hand experience with the villa. The photos/videos simply do NOT reflect fully the true beauty of the interior of the villas. Tile floor and bathroom finishes are very nice, and the rooms are also quite nice. The living room is spacious and airy and very bright during the day. The main bedroom on the second floor is quite spacious, including the bathroom. The secondary bedroom on the second floor is smaller, but still adequate (it has 2 single beds), and while its bathroom is on the smaller size it is still adequate. The secondary bedroom on the first floor is the smallest and has a queen-size bed which takes up much of the room, but there is still adequate space left for a chair and closet space. The bathroom is the same size as in the secondary bedroom on the second floor. The 2 smaller bedrooms are of an average size for a Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian 4 star hotel, while the main bedroom is on par with 5 star hotels (possibly excluding the most luxurious ones). The villa can comfortably accommodate 6 people (we had 5 adults and a 12 year old boy). The villa is also surprisingly quiet - we did not hear what was going on in the other two bedrooms or the living room, and we did not have any trouble whatsoever getting a good night’s sleep every night. The only noise that we could hear was from the disco of another hotel nearby, but the disco was not every day and it did not interfere with our sleeping or anything else in any way. The beds are comfortable. 2. The villa has its own private pool which is rather large, a good-size terrace with 4 sun loungers, umbrellas, summer furniture, and a small green space. We did not really use this area (or the pool) since we spent most of the time at the beach. However, this area could be very useful in the summer when it is very hot. In October the pool water was colder than the sea water but is still nice to have as an option. 3. Villa guests can order food to the villa for free 24 hours a day, with the food from the Diamond Lounge restaurant (which is truly superb) being available from 8 a.m. until 12 midnight. We did not use this option since we like going out, but according to restaurant staff it is a rather popular service among other guests. The villa has a large dinner table that was set with nice dinnerware for our crew of six people and has a fully-equipped kitchen (2-burner electric stove, microwave, large refrigerator, coffeemaker, tea kettle, etc.). 4. Minibars are replenished daily - they are stocked with all kinds of soft drinks, sparkling and still water, Tuborg beer, champagne, snacks etc. The only minor thing was that for some reason potato chips were not replenished automatically, so we had to request them but once we did there was not a problem thereafter. Guests also receive a welcome fruit basket and a variety of nuts (both of which can be reordered multiple times upon request – as we learned, almost anything which is available at the hotel can be ordered free of charge). The kitchen was equipped also with plenty of silverware, all kinds of drinking glasses, tea and coffee cups, etc. In addition, as a welcome gift, villa guests receive 6 large bottles of elite alcohol (18 year old Chivas whiskey, Grey Goose vodka, Bailey’s, Bombay gin, a tequila, and a Martel cognac). 5. Rooms are cleaned daily. There are plenty of toiletries (L’Occitane brand), shaving and dental kits of good quality, nice towels, bathrobes, etc. The only issue we had (and would suggest that hotel management look into this) is that the floors specifically are not thoroughly cleaned on a daily basis. We used house shoes all of the time inside the villa, and all five of us adults noticed that the soles of our houseshoes were always dirty by the end of the day. This is really the only blemish on housekeeping, but an important one. 6. Another great perk that villa guests receive is unlimited free laundry services – we used it a LOT, and the quality of the washing and ironing was VERY GOOD. 7. Villa guests have free access to a beach cabana easily accommodating 6 people inside (plus regular sun loungers in front of the cabana). This is an extremely valuable service, especially in the heat of the summer. Guests can order all kinds of non-alcohol and alcohol drinks and some basic food (pizza, burgers, some salads) while at the cabana. A delicious and varied fruit plate is also provided daily and can be reordered free of charge. You basically get your own private beach with much fewer people. Some reviewers complained about insufficient availability of sun loungers at the main section of the hotel beach (i. e., the beach portion available to non-villa guests) and of a general overcrowdedness of this main section of the hotel beach. We can definitely understand these reviewers’ complaints – we walked along the beach and saw that the loungers were rather close to each other. Most likely in the summer this situation is even worse, although there were still plenty of people at the beach in October (however, cabana users definitely do NOT have this problem since it does NOT feel crowded any at all at our portion of the beach but rather feels peaceful and thoroughly enjoyable). At the same time, as a general comment, we would like to state that most likely almost any hotel, at least in Belek, has this problem with overcrowdedness. We walked up and down the beach quite extensively and saw the situation with beach access at nearby hotels. In our objective opinion, Bellis beach is still MUCH BETTER than any beach of any hotel nearby. For example, Papillion hotel’s (which is the very next hotel) beach overcrowdedness situation is much worse, and some of the sun loungers practically stand in the water. Plus, the quality of Bellis beach is the best overall (i.e., it is all sand, no pebbles, fairly wide (but not overly wide), and water access is very good – no pebbles, very gradual incline). 8. Finally, the food. This is where it gets a little quirky (and why some hotel guests probably complain in their reviews) since as stated above most of the hotel guests eat at the main restaurant or at the Begonvil restaurant. However, villa guests have free unlimited access to the a la carte Diamond Lounge restaurant. I must honestly state that ANY description of the Diamond Lounge restaurant in a hotel brochure is TOTALLY INADEQUATE. In fact, the Diamond Lounge restaurant might very well be the greatest benefit for villa guests since it is on a much higher level as regards BOTH food and service compared to other Bellis hotel restaurants (and most likely other hotels). My wife and I are somewhat “foodies” since we eat out approximately 4 times a week at excellent restaurants in St. Petersburg, Russia (believe me, they beat out the overwhelming majority of regular and fine dining European and American restaurants). With this in mind, we were very pleasantly surprised with the quality of food at Diamond Lounge - it is definitely on par with offerings at top restaurants worldwide. And, there is a very good variety of food for practically any taste. Overall, there are probably at least 30 positions on the menu (appetizers, salads, mains, pastas, soups, snacks, desserts), and guests can order an unlimited number of everything on the menu. Our party of 6 tried almost every item on the menu, and 90% of them were excellent or very good. My favorites were salmon appetizer, beef tataki, seafood salad, green avocado salad, black spaghetti with seafood, jumbo grilled shrimp, lamb loin, beef fillet, salmon filet, and seabass fillet. Plus, one can order almost anything from other hotel restaurants (if they are open that day). For example, we like whole fish (especially seabass) as compared to a fillet which the restaurant has on the menu (even though the fillet itself is probably the best we have ever had), and the Diamond Lounge restaurant had the whole fish promptly delivered from the main restaurant and grilled it for us. I am sure that they would do the same, for example, with steaks from the Begonvil restaurant. The level of service at Diamond Lounge is correspondingly very high, especially after the servers learn your preferences. Diamond Lounge also never gets too crowded, sometimes we were practically alone there most likely because other guests order food from the restaurant in their villas). Our favorite meal was probably lunch because in October it was very pleasant to eat lunch outside on the terrace. Other guests though had both breakfast and dinner outside on the terrace. 9. The food at the other restaurants. We did try every other restaurant which was open in October (the main restaurant, Begonvil, and 3 a la carte restaurants – Kalamata (Greek/fish), Ikebana (Asian), and Gusto (Italian) since villa guests have free access to ALL restaurants. In October Bellis had 1 a la carte restaurant open daily on a rotating basis. Kalamata and Ikebana were not very popular among guests (when we visited these two restaurants there were maybe a couple more people there), but the Gusto restaurant was quite full. The food at the la carte restaurants was decent, and there were certain dishes which we enjoyed there. However, overall the Diamond Lounge offers much better value in our opinion (this was the collective conclusion of all 6 people in our party, even our 12-year-old boy). We had dinner at the main restaurant and the Begonvil restaurant one time each, breakfast at Begonvil one time, and my brother and his wife had breakfast at the main restaurant one time. I was pleasantly surprised by the main Bellisimo restaurant regarding the quality and selection of food (especially after reading some of the negative reviews). Obviously, Bellisimo is a huge restaurant catering to lots of people, it gets noisy there, people are constantly moving back and forth, but this is the nature of any large buffet restaurant. Bellisimo has many food options, and everything looks fresh, especially salads (we are big on greens). There are plenty of appetizers, including cheeses, lightly salted salmon, boiled large shrimp and crawfish, etc. Main courses on the night that we visited included several lamb dishes, fried trout, chicken, salmon, etc. We tried lamb and trout and they were good. It is obviously not the same quality as the Diamond Lounge, but in our opinion it is still very good, especially for mass production food (which really cannot be fairly compared to a personalized a la carte restaurant such as Diamond Lounge). In this regard, we do not really understand why some reviewers complain about lack of choice or variety of food at the main restaurant. Yes, some items probably rotate on a daily basis (e.g., maybe trout one day and seabass the next day), but this is quite normal for any buffet all inclusive. It is probably better than the food at Spanish, Dominican and Mexican all-inclusive resorts that we have visited. After all, if you go to a regular city restaurant, they do not change their menu on a daily or even monthly basis, and nobody really complains about this. Maybe the only weak point is absence of premium meat cold cuts (e.g., Parma ham, bresaola, sausages and the like). This may be due to the fact that Turkey is a Muslim country with limitations on pork products. Local meats were present though, but they were just not to our personal liking, and this is strictly a matter of personal taste. As far as finding a table or getting a drink from a server at the main restaurant, we did not experience any problem. We were at the main restaurant from 18:30 until approx. 20:00, and during all of this time there were available tables. After 20:00 a lot of people leave, and the place feels much more peaceful. Servers took drink orders and cleared the table fairly promptly for such a large operation. In addition, if someone is really in a hurry, you can come to the bar yourself and get your drink of choice very quickly. My brother and his wife commented that breakfast at the main restaurant was quite good, and there were plenty of options, especially if someone likes to pick food himself or herself. According to them, it is essentially the same breakfast food as that at the Diamond Lounge, except that it is a buffet as opposed to a la carte restaurant. However, the Begonvil restaurant in our opinion was a bit of a disappointment (again, because for us the measuring yardstick is the truly EXCELLENT Diamond Lounge). Breakfast at Begonvil was fine, had a fairly smallish buffet, but still with plenty of basic choices, omelette/egg frying station, fresh orange juice, etc. It is a bit away from the villas and main building, and it is probably not worth trekking there in cool October mornings because basic breakfast fare is more or less the same everywhere. We had fairly high hopes for an excellent dinner at Begonvil since it has an open air grill. However, while Begonvil is much smaller than the main restaurant and has much fewer guests, for some reason, at least on the night of our visit, the grill station was run more as a mass production factory. In essence, contrary to a typical intentionally slow-paced fine dining dinner experience which we always thoroughly enjoy, all of the grilled food was brought TOO QUICKLY to the table when we were still eating our salads and appetizers. As a result, the food would either get cold or we would have to switch to the main course before finishing the prior course. However, the main negative thing was that the meats were overcooked and dry as a result. Before we placed our food orders, we asked the waiter if the food could be cooked to order (i.e., medium, medium rare, rare, etc.) and she confirmed that the food can definitely be cooked to order. Therefore, each of us stated our preferences re steak doneness. However, for some reason ALL of the steaks were served to us WELL-DONE. On the other hand, the fish (Dorado) was quite good. Also, the buffet with appetizers was good with many options but obviously was not as huge and as varied as at the main restaurant. I tried rack of lamb from the buffet and it was good (although cooked well), and the Caprese salad was good as well. Again, if a guest has access to Diamond Lounge, it is probably a better option. However, for guests staying at Jasmine houses Begonvil might be a better option compared to the main restaurant simply because there are a lot less people there.

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