Great activities for kids and amazing SPA, but tragic housekeeping and frustrating atmosphere in the evenings
We recently returned from a one-week stay at the Selectum hotel. We have mixed feelings: the hotel has some wonderful strengths, but the basic lack of hygiene, poor soundproofing, and service standards seriously ruined the overall experience.
The positives we really enjoyed:
Paradise for kids: The hotel is perfectly tailored for families. Plenty of activities, great water slides, and a clean general territory. The children were very happy.
Amazing SPA & Hamam: I went for full-body massages every day. The SPA staff and the masseuse (from Bali) were fantastic – she even helped me with a sunburn issue without me even asking.
Food & dining area: There was a large variety of food (though it barely changed throughout the week). The dining staff was very helpful, neat, and constantly kept the area clean.
What completely ruined our mood:
Tragic housekeeping: For four days, our room was not vacuumed at all (later, it was vacuumed only poorly in the very center). The beds were made sloppily, and after emptying the bin, the trash can was somehow left right in the middle of the room. Our personal belongings and child's toys were just thrown around anywhere. Shampoo, shower gel, and toilet paper were not replenished for days; we had to go and ask for them ourselves. Disposable slippers were completely out of the question. Strangely, we saw mountains of toothbrushes and combs in the housekeepers' carts in the hallway, but none of these amenities were left in our room. Even leaving tips (which is optional) changed absolutely nothing.
Noise and poor soundproofing: Our room faced the outside of the resort, so we were lucky to avoid the very loud and heavy party music from the main areas. However, the room doors have zero sound insulation – we could clearly hear every single footstep in the hallway. Since quite a few guests heavily overindulged in alcohol, their noisy walking and shouting down the corridors constantly woke up our children at night.
Language barrier and Russian atmosphere: It is impossible to communicate with the staff in English. If we said we didn't speak Russian, they just shrugged their shoulders and walked away. Eventually, we got tired of constantly repeating that we are not Russian. In the evenings, when we wanted to sit outside and have a cozy time, we felt like we were vacationing in Russia – only Russian music was played continuously, which completely ruined the evening atmosphere.
The hotel has a lot of potential, but the lack of basic cleanliness, thin walls, and lack of western hospitality standards significantly drops its value.