Abant Palace Hotel in Abant

I brought guests to have a two-night stay in this hotel as I had a wonderful experience in this hotel before. In fact, I was recommending this hotel to friends and tourists as my past experience with Abant Palace was highly memorable. However, this time I was extremely disappointed.

The room that I had was a lake view room. It was very cramped and tiny but the worst part was the renovation noise. It was unbearable. At first I tried to tolerate it but when it was impossible, I called the receptionist to complain (24/01 @ 14.45). I told the male receptionist over the phone that the room was small and very noisy. He said there was indeed a renovation going on and went on to say that of course my room was small, it was a standard 18m2 room and he even went on to sarcastically tell me that my room wasn't a suite or a king suite! I was stunned by his rudeness and sarcasm! Is there a need to speak to your guest like that and especially a returning guest? I have a feeling he was comfortable being rude to guests without having any repercussions for his unprofessionalism . I hope the management will do something about it as one of the highlights of this hotel has always been their professional and polite staff. I told him off for his lack of manners and was later shown to another 'standard' room and this time the room was bigger and much nicer with no renovation noise.

The last time I came was 3 years ago and their dinner buffet was amazing with shrimps and other seafood. This time, the food wasn't great. It's very obvious they have cut down on costs - their spread was typical turkish food. To be fair, there weren't many guests either even though it was the winter school holiday.

With no snow, there was barely anything to do. Would I go here again? No. Would I recommend anyone to this hotel again? No. With the inflation and all, yes, the hotel can increase their rates but with the increased rates, please make sure your staff are well trained and polite, especially if they are put at the reception as they are the face of the hotel. With the lack of food variety (probably due to lack of business given that there's no snow this year) and activities organised by the hotel, I don't see much selling factor here.

Not a 5 star hotel, at best a poor 4 star hotel. The bedrooms are alright, probably something you'd get at a good 3 star hotel. Clean bathrooms and linen. The food was good with a nice variety but most dishes were cold. The dining area was clean but again, not 5 star as they claim. The furnishings throughout the hotel are very worn. The carpets in the public areas are filthy. The reception area is very busy and seems understaffed. The showers and steam room at the spa have black mould in the corners (use a bit of bleach and the problem will go away). For the money you pay, this is not worth it.