L'Ambiance Resort Hotel

Where do i begin?! an absolute sesspit. The staff were the most rude, ignorant, obnoxious people i have ever had the misfortune of meeting. The receptionist can barely speak a word of English and gets irritated when you ask him for any help. The drinks are served in half measures and We actually caught the bar staff putting no vodka at all in our vodka and cokes at one point, they then became aggresive when we asked them about it. The food is absolutely disgusting and there are cats jumping all over the tables and eating the food from your plates. The rep fitted in with the disgracefull and unhelpfull attitudes of the other staff and the advertised "satellite television" is all Turkish! Hotel from hell, do not ever visit.....ever!

I have been twice now because the staff are so friendly, I love everything about the hotel L'Ambiance Resort and its location is great if you want to go out, just a 10 minute walk from Gumbet beaches and some shops.

The hotel looks very nice, and the rooms are fine, except we didn't have a balcony or patio, only a front door step, so nowhere to dry wet costumes and towels in the fresh air. Breakfast was fine, sometimes though it was difficult to find a cup, or a saucer, etc. When I asked a staff member for a knife, he told me "on the table" and wouldn't give me a knife. I had to ask a more polite staff member. It appeared that anything you had to ask for was a real bother to them. Lunch and Dinner meals were anything but appetising. Every night was rice, chips, chicken and stew. If you were a salad fan you were fine. Drinks at the small bar were of a very poor quality. The vodka certainly didn't have a kick like a Moscow mule, and there was no draught beer, only Skol, which the barman poured from a bottle which may have been sitting for ages, so the beer was flat.

We stayed at the L'Ambiance Resort Hotel in Gumbet in September 07. It's a bit of a run down property. I think it could do with a a total re-vamp. Found some staff unhelpful and they did not like confrontation. Be careful if you book all inclusive this runs out at 12pm on the day of your departure. So no drinks or food unless you are willing to pay £15.00 per head. In general this is probably a 2 star all inclusive. The shop inside the hotel charges 4x the normal price for anything. I believe this for me is one to avoid for the future.

The L'Ambiance Resort Hotel in Gumbet could be quite charming if it had money spent on it. The photos on different websites showing this hotel are quite false, as you expect the hotel to be 4 star, but I would grudgingly give it a 3 star. If you are only having one holiday a year, after working hard all year round, I would not recommend this hotel.

The air conditioning does not work, in fact leave it on for too long and it blows warm air. L'Ambiance Resort Hotel should be, in UK terms, around a 2 - 3 star and not any more. The all inclusive drinks took time to get served and the beer was warm and came out of a plastic bottle and tasted like Shandy, horrible. Although all inclusive, we ate out most nights in Gumbet as the food was much nicer and there was more choice.

We (husband & wife in our 40's) stayed at L'Ambiance Resort Hotel for the first time recently, in fact , this was our first time in Turkey.

We picked 'L'ambiance ' because it specifically stated that it was just out side the two towns of Bodrum & Gumbet and was a fairly quite location.

The accomodation, although on the smallish side was immaculately clean and was kept that way throughout our stay.

We also were surpised to find, that as an added bonus, the 'air conditioning ' which really was a life saver was completely free, and you could leave it on so you had a lovely chilled room to come back to in the evenings.

All the staff were friendly and helpful, and although the prices at the hotel bar were on the excessive side, we certainly didn't experience any bad vibes towards the English, we had quite a good laugh with all of the bar staff when we were there.

We stayed on a half board basis and found the food to be both well presented and varied on each day, a good choice of Turkish food , but with a lot of other nationalities being catered for also,

we certainly didn't incur any extra charges for 'fresh orange juice etc. so things must have changed considerably from the previous review.

We wandered into Gumbet ( aprrox. 5 mins stroll ) most days, and at first found the habit of the Cafe owners and shops trying to to attract you in to their establishments a little off putting, but within days had made some good Turkish friends who we found to be extremely friendly, of course they wanted you in their bars etc. and would like you to eat, but were quite happy to serve you drinks and chat with you if that's all you required, and the level of cleanliness was very very good, we come from Torbay in England which is a Tourist resort and believe us when we say, a lot of our local Hoteliers etc. could learn a lot about customer service & satisfaction form the Turks that we encountered.

As for prices locally, we ate and drank one afternoon, eventually spending approx. 5hrs in one bar / cafe and the grand bill was approx. £12 and that was for two meals , six pints and two soft drinks, so we were happy with it, and think it was very reasonable.

We would definitely reccomend this resort to anyone who would like a lazy hot holiday, no pressures, excursions were of course available and we took advantage of quite a few, but also found just relaxing around the gorgeous pool and wandering into town for a few drinks before returning to the hotel for an excellent evening meal was the order of the day for us.

Gumbet in general

This was possibly the worst holiday we have been on in recent years. If you like a 'Brit Hol' i.e. pubs playing 80's music, fast food and the locals shouting 'Diamond Geezer, Delboy' and the like at you then this is the holiday for you! As a woman, I found the leering by the locals a little overbearing and at times, walking around the area a little intimidating - went beyond the usual 'hey darling' mentality to the point guys in cars were slowing down, calling out and gesticulating. I'm not easily intimidated (living in London, I'm fairly streetwise) but would not recommend this area for an all girls holiday.

The food, although not the Turkish fare we were expecting was actually consistently good in all of the restaurants we tried.

The beach in Gumbet left a lot to be desired - more shingle than sand and I have to say, we were put off by this and didn't venture down during the day, and therefore do not know what activities took place. We ventured on the Courtesy Bus from the hotel to the Istanbul beach in Bitez. Again, on first sight, we were quite disappointed in the beach, as it is only a few metres wide and packed with sunbeds - you cannot have a conversation without being overheard by your neighbours! However, being beach and sea lovers, we did visit this beach twice as the area immediately behind caters for everything you need - few shops, eating places etc and the Istanbul restaurant provide a beach service - place your order, and they will bring it to your sunbed!

We visited the Turkish bath as recommended by the Thomson rep and enjoyed this very much - consists of sauna, exfoliation and soapy rub down - watch the young masseuse in this place - he tried to single me out for the massage but thankfully was told in no uncertain terms by the other staff, that he had to take my (male) partner while the woman saw to me. Well worth the visit, but other guests told us that they made the trip by Dolmish (bus) and it cost them a bit less (cost us £10).

The bazaar in Turgetreis on a Saturday is a must - we had great fun being mean hagglers - stick to your guns, if they let you walk away, it means you really have come in too low - 9 times out of 10 they will run after you - it's a game of perseverance. We were exhausted by the end of the day but feel we did get some good bargains - especially the local lemon oil - beautifully refreshing - we brought loads home!

Do not bother with the local Aquapark - complete waste of time and money. Half the rides don't even open until the afternoon, hence the queues are so huge, you really can't be bothered. We were there all day and went on about 8 rides. This cost about £12 - a very expensive sunbathe.

Do try the local Dolmish - great cheap way of getting around. Costs about a pound to get most places.

Bodrum is about a 30 minute walk away - the beach here is also disappointing - small and packed and we didn't bother. We spent 3 days here and a couple of nights. The nights are absolutely packed and once you've seen a handful of shops, you really have seen them all - would recommend you wait to go to the bazaar at Turgetreis to do any shopping as it is much cheaper than Bodrum or Gumbet. Eating in Bodrum gives you a lot more variety than Gumbet and there are some beautiful places with the sea right up to the tables, but of course you pay for the luxury. Much more expensive than Gumbet. We didn't venture to any clubs in Bodrum, as we tended to be exhausted by the time everything got going (after midnight). Halikarnas is supposed to be good fun and a mixture of ages - especially the foam party - but be warned - it also gets cold as it is outdoors!

The L'Ambience Resort Hotel

This is a lovely complex of rooms set out as though it were a little village. The rooms were very small, but held everything you would need and very clean. Unfortunately we had to move twice - we had twin beds when we had specified a double so we got moved on the second night (nothing available on the first), then in the second room, the air conditioning didn't work. We had to move rooms at 1am as the hotel staff insisted on having the keys back to the second room - we were not impressed at having to pack and unpack for the third time in two days and felt the staff were very unhelpful. We are still waiting for an apology!

We stayed bed and breakfast, and the food was lovely but very boring in that it was the same every day. Extra charges for omlettes and fresh orange juice!

The waiters and bellboys were lovely and very helpful, however, the barstaff were atrocious - very rude and arrogant - will serve every Turk in the place before getting round to you and will blatantly ignore requests for service. I don't think we saw either the head barman or his sidekick smile once - and they had a knack of talking about (English) customers in front of them (you don't need to understand Turkish to know you're being gossiped about)! The bar staff seemed to charge whatever they wanted for drinks - I was consistently charged more than my partner. The drinks are also very expensive in the hotel. We got to the point where we refused to buy a drink here anymore.

The hotel have a very strict policy on bringing food and drink in to the rooms from outside. We had bottles of water and juice and a couple of chocolate bars and we along with other guests received letters threatening to dispose of food and drink by the 'Minibar Manager'! From that time, we kept all consumables in our wardrobes and this seemed to solve the problem!

The pool at L'Ambiance is the best we have ever seen. Large enough, clean and beautiful surrounds. A couple of gazebos, sun loungers, parasols, and our favourite, large floor cushions (yes, by the poolside)! We even spent a couple of days by the pool (something we never usually do) just because it was so lovely.

There is a small gym in the basement, along with a sauna, which we were told was not working for 3 separate reasons (we gave up asking in the end).

Be warned, on the day you are leaving, you will be given the option of paying £25 for a late check out of your room - we didn't bother, instead, we left the suitcases in the secure area next to Reception, and used the lockable and very clean shower room next to the gym. This worked really well, and don't think anyone would need to pay for this dubious luxury.

Overall, this holiday did not live up to expectations, and we would not visit Turkey (especially this region) again. The hotel, while lovely, was in the middle of nowhere - it is surrounded by half built hotels and dirt. It is a 20-30 minute walk to reach any kind of civilisation. We have said, that if the hotel could be picked up and transported to somewhere else, it would be worth a visit!