Spinning a Yarn under a Family Tree: Korumar Hotel, Kusadasi, Turkey

What does All-Inclusive say to you?

Budget conscious, perhaps? Families? Past its prime? I'm trying to figure it out.

The concept here is wonderful. The location is fabulous. The infrastructure is spectacular. The hotel is built on the steep side of a cliff down to the ocean. The water is blue and clear. The pool huge and a fun shape with a lovely protection from the evil eye mosaic.

There seems to be plenty of chairs - though one always finds people saving chairs at both the pool and the seaside. I believe the hotel has tried to manage that process by handing out towel cards at check-in. The cards are taken from you when you get a towel - one each - and then returned to you when you return the towel. That way one can not leave a towel on many chairs. BUT, I noticed that there are many additional towels drying on balconies and thrown over chairs without any other beach detritus to indicate current occupancy.

Though not mentioned to us during booking, our dinner was also included. We expected breakfast, but not a dinner buffet. And they offered an incredible variety of foods - which makes for a lot of choice, but not a very wonderful combination of flavors on the plate. The first night I piled my plate with sushi, shrimp chips, tzatziki, salad, Peking/roast duck, Böreği and feta cheese. I think I would have preferred choosing from a menu to have had a regional uniformity of flavors on my plate. I have read that Turkish food ranks up with French and Chinese as a leading developed and varied cuisine within its own borders. I believe it, but I assume that the guests at this establishment would prefer their own cuisine and this is satisfied by the linear footage of chafing dishes.

So far, my experience has been a delight on my Turkish travels - this is the first hotel where I have experienced snarky staff. Within less than 24 hours and only a few interactions, I have had two snarky staff members. Not everyone, of course. Our beverage waiter last night was very cute and eager to please, but incredibly inexperienced. The poor guy was baffled by a bottle of sparkling wine and the supervisor who was educating him also managed to send wine shooting out when opening the bottle and overflowing both glasses when he poured it for us. I guess they don't sell many bottles of sparkling wine.... What does that say about the clientele?

The Korumar Hotel is rated as 5 stars.... I'd say it is definitely showing it's age, - splattered paint, mold, chips in the stone and porcelain - though, it does have:

robes
slippers
coffee & tea in the room
toiletries - in this case it is gym soap on the wall, so, soap which can be used for both hair and body
safe
mini frig, with one bottle of free water