"Revolting hotel, horrendous food, awful staff - avoids"
If I could give this hotel zero stars, I would. Don’t be fooled by the ‘good reviews’ on this page and the Facebook page of people raving about it who go back year in year out.
I assure you, if you have any standards at all, You will want to swerve this hotel. It is horrendous. It has never seen 4 star plus in its life and it’s beyond me how TUI Blue have put their name to it.
We are a couple in our mid thirties. I like nice things in life, but I’ll also have a burger in Wetherspoons with a pint if the mood takes me. This makes Wetherspoons look like the Ritz. So if you’d like a holiday that is a lower standard than Wetherspoons, here's your place.
My husband and I booked TUI BLUE Tikida Beach after an incredibly stressful house move. It was meant to be a relaxing adults-only escape, and it also happened to be my birthday. Instead, it turned into the worst holiday I've ever experienced. If it had been practical, I would have flown home early.
We've stayed at several TUI BLUE hotels over the years, as well as TUI Magic Life, and they've always been excellent. This hotel was nothing like the standard we've come to expect and certainly didn't feel like a 4+ star resort.
The food was one of the biggest disappointments. Breakfast wasn't worth getting up for, and after only a couple of attempts we stopped going. Lunch and dinner were almost identical every day – dry, overcooked meat, repetitive salads, basic pasta dishes and pizza that tasted like a cheap frozen supermarket pizza -Iceland not even Tesco! We actually paid to eat out on two evenings because we couldn’t eat the food. By the end of the holiday I was surviving on plain tomato pasta because so much of the food was simply inedible.
Cleanliness was also poor. The sun loungers and cushions were covered in bird droppings and other guests sweat and didn't appear to be cleaned. It was bizarre to see so many people happy to lay in bird poo. Again, going back to standards. Filthy, made me feel ill.
Our balcony was never cleaned either, despite being covered in bird mess for the entire stay. When we arrived at our room there was a urine stain on the back of the toilet behind the closed toilet seat, which I ended up cleaning myself in the middle of the night. Later in the week we discovered a significant ant infestation throughout the room, despite being on the second floor.
I also suffered an insect bite that caused a severe allergic reaction. Late that night my leg became so swollen I could barely walk. Reception offered virtually no help. I was sent backwards and forwards trying to get some ice, and despite asking for something as basic as a clean towel or napkin to wrap it in, staff repeatedly refused, saying there was nothing available. In the end, another guest took pity on me, went back to his room and made me an ice pack himself. Without his kindness, I genuinely don't know what I would have done.
However, the thing that completely ruined the holiday wasn't the food or the cleanliness—it was the behaviour of one member of staff, **Nisrin**.
Earlier in the holiday I had posted a simple question in the hotel's Facebook group asking whether the on-site ATM charged a fee because I wanted to withdraw cash to tip one of the hardworking pool attendants. It wasn't a complaint and it wasn't a negative review.
The following day, when I got in the pool and went to the pool bar, conveniently for the staff member without my husband, Nisrin approached me holding her mobile phone with my Facebook profile displayed on the screen. She repeatedly demanded to know if it was me and aggressively questioned why I had written what she described as a "bad review” on the hotel Facebook page. I was completely shocked and tried explaining that I'd only asked about ATM charges because I wanted to tip someone. She continued in a confrontational manner before practically throwing my drink at me, and stood just glaring at me.
I was left feeling embarrassed, intimidated and humiliated in front of other guests. I walked away in tears.
My husband reported the incident to management, who explained there were already concerns around tipping culture within the hotel and that staff should not be approaching guests for money or offering preferential service in expectation of tips. If that's the case, those are management issues to deal with—not something a paying guest should ever be confronted over.
Unfortunately, it didn't end there. While I was visibly upset in the lobby, Nisrin approached me again, called me "darling" and tried to hug me without my consent. I asked her not to touch me. She later approached me a third time by the pool asking if she could make me a cocktail. By then I'd had enough and simply asked her to leave me alone, explaining that it was my birthday and she had already upset me.
From that point onwards I never felt comfortable again. Initially staff suddenly made a fuss over my birthday, which only made me feel more self-conscious because it was obvious everyone knew what had happened. Afterwards, I felt ignored and unwelcome for the rest of the holiday.
On our final day, a waiter even asked my husband if he had any English £1 or £2 coins he could give him. That confirmed to me there was clearly an issue with staff asking guests for money, exactly as management had suggested. Turns out, not being able to read English and getting a colleague to badly translate it, Nisrin wrongly thought that I was publicly exposing that the staff outright ask guests for money/ refuse to provide a basic service unless they are tipped. Cats out the bag now.
No guest should ever be confronted over a harmless Facebook post, made to feel intimidated, or left feeling unwelcome for the remainder of their holiday.
I've been booking with TUI for over 15 years because I've always trusted the quality of their hotels, but this experience was completely at odds with everything I've previously enjoyed. The food was poor, cleanliness was lacking, and the handling of my medical issue was worrying—but above all, the conduct of Nisrin completely overshadowed what should have been a relaxing birthday holiday.
Generally though, everyone rates the staff on the reviews. Even before the Nisrin incident, they are terrible. You will get nothing if you don’t tip. Not even a basic service. They don’t work hard (unless you’re paying) and until you do they are arrogant and rude and will do nothing for you. A knife and fork at dinner? Nah too much trouble. Awful. The only exception are two pool attendants who have a friendly first attitude and then hope to be tipped, instead of being absolutely awful until you pay. They clearly still expected tips though. Which I obliged to and it got be screamed at by Nisrin. Like why did I even bother, that wasn’t worth the fallout was it.
The people that say the staff are amazing have literally tipped them hundreds of pounds. Daily tips to multiple staff members. And so many people do it. I’ve had a more genuine, friendly service at my local petrol station.
