For a stay in Göcek I tried the Rixos brand for the first time.  There were definitely a number of positive aspects to our stay for example the quality of the room, the choice of restaurant venues, the night life, and the generally upscale and well behaved crowd (adults only resort) even with free flow alcoholic drinks available 24 hours a day.  However there were also some issues for example uneven service, not always ideal covid precautions, and bad internet connectivity.  I will consider returning in the future in different circumstances (non-covid) particularly since there is very limited competition from other hotel chains in the area which means I am generally more forgiving than in destinations with fierce competition.

Check In

Upon check-in there was no Accor status recognition whatsoever so I am not sure if they were even aware.  Anyway, the lack of welcome amenity in the room and/or drinks vouchers in an all-inclusive property was not disturbing.  In addition, the hotel had high occupancy and I noticed on the day of arrival that the room category above ours was fully booked so I did not expect an upgrade and I did not get an upgrade. 

Room

I booked the entry level Deluxe Suite which is of a decent size at 45 square meters and far bigger than the standard room at the main competing hotel in Göcek which is D-Resort from the Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) chain where rooms start at 26 sqm and even with an upgrade (27-34 sqm) there, I would most likely not have as much space as at Rixos without an upgrade. 

The hardware of the room at Rixos was good and relatively modern.  Air conditioning was strong, I liked the high ceilings and the ceramic floor tiles.  This is not a resort with water views unless you book a villa with sea view at the Club Privé Rixos (located a boat ride away at the beach) which is in a much higher price range; on the main resort the rooms are inland and have a small terrace.  The bathroom was not very big but it had a stand-alone shower with good water pressure.  The only questionable aspect of the room was the odd stripe design which will probably not please everybody but personally it was only a secondary consideration.  The bed was very comfortable and we had good nights of sleep. 

The rooms are scattered in different buildings which are two floors high and about 4 rooms wide for a total of 8 rooms per building.  We had a room at the end of a building so we only shared one wall with a neighbor, but we had someone staying above us and we could hear a bit of noise although nothing exceedingly disturbing.  The best rooms are probably those in the top corners of each building.  Our building was far from the live music stage so we did not hear anything and we were not going to sleep early when music was playing anyway.  However for people who want to sleep early, they might prefer one of the buildings near the entrance of the resort like we had, rather than near the stage.

Dining

Turkey has lifted covid immigration restrictions on all nationalities so there were tourists but the majority of guests were Turkish.  It might not have been the best time to stay in an all-inclusive resort but all dining venues were at least partially outdoors.  Only one restaurant had a buffet (Turquoise) and it was not self-serve which mitigated covid risks.  Nonetheless, this hotel felt less safe than other hotels we have been this year, particularly during breakfast.  Most people went to get food at the buffet without wearing a mask and breakfast was far more crowded than the buffet for dinner because at least in the evening there was a choice of three restaurants whereas for breakfast it was just one.  The dinner buffet at Turquoise was more quiet, and I thought the food selection was more interesting as well. 

Nonetheless our preference for dinner was to avoid a buffet so we went to either People’s restaurant or Daidala restaurant on all nights but one.  Reservations were required and only on the night we arrived could we not get a reservation in time.

The menu at People’s restaurant for dinner was similar but a bit more elaborate than for lunch.  I am not an expert at judging food quality in all-inclusive resorts because I have not been to enough of them, but I thought it was fairly good.  Table service was more attentive in the evening than during the afternoon for lunch where the staff were stressed and busy, unlike in the evening when they were friendly and relaxed.  The house wine served during the afternoon (and evening) for free was excellent relative to the vast majority of wines that are normally served in hotel lounges, some of which are sometimes barely drinkable.  So I expected subpar house wine at Rixos but it was actually much better than I anticipated.  For dinner they had a more upscale wine list for people who wanted to spend extra.  

Dinner at Daidala restaurant focused on seafood and was an extra 150 TRY per person rather than free like other dining venues.  The menu was interesting and I would not go to Rixos and skip Daidala unless the stay was quite short because always eating at People’s restaurant would become repetitive.  That said, I am not sure it was worth the extra expense, other than the fact that it was nice to have some variety via another dining venue. 

The other restaurant we tried was Azur (afternoon only) near the beach.  The menu was a bit similar to People’s Restaurant in the afternoon.

Nox bar had live performers most evenings which you could also enjoy from People’s or Daidala restaurants which were on each side of the stage.  The live entertainment was definitely an enjoyable aspect of our stay.  Even after music was finished in the early hours of the night, People’s restaurant remained open for drinks and snacks until 8:30am which is one heck of a late night happy hour.  Guests enjoyed their time on the resort but I did not see anybody drunk and behaving badly which tends to happen in other resorts where alcohol is served 24 hours per day.  One evening there was no live band; instead they had a movie in English with Turkish subtitles. 

Service

As mentioned above, service was hit and miss in the restaurant depending on the time of day, sometimes it was difficult to get refills, they might bungle our order, or forget to bring something altogether.  There were other service mishaps besides restaurant service as well.  First off, a few months ago I asked questions by e-mail which went unanswered despite 2-3 reminders until I finally got a response.  Then most recently when I asked them about Best Price Guarantee my e-mails bounced back because the hotel inbox was full (!?) and finally when I got a response they were completely clueless about what I was asking so I gave up.  Upon check-in they attempted a foreign exchange stunt, either knowingly or not knowingly.  My credit card was denominated in USD and I was originally charged in USD (at very bad exchange rate) despite saying explicitly that I wanted to pay in TRY which thankfully was undone after I showed the e-mail alert on my phone showing them what I had been charged.  Another staff member attempted the exact same thing at check-out and he said there was no choice of currency on his machine.  I had to inform him to use the other credit card machine as his other colleague did when we arrived. 

Housekeeping was not always done when we requested; one time we came back to our room and they were not finished.  Another morning we left the do not disturb light on when we went to breakfast but when we came back the room was cleaned and we had left valuables belonging in sight. The cleaning was sometimes good, but sometimes not the most thorough.

Pool

There were two main pools, one with salt water and one with fresh water.  We did not have problems finding available space during our stay as many people preferred the beach rather than the pool.

Beach

As mentioned above the beach was accessible via boat (shuttle every 5 minutes) which was a nice change in pace from the main resort.  They had lots of cabanas and chairs on the beach.  The cabanas over water were available for an extra charge. 

Activities

There were several common areas on the resort for activities such as ping-pong and beach volleyball.

Gym

There was a small gym with a decent number of machines.  I guess not many guests felt the need to burn their calories because it was quiet when we went there in the morning.

Late Check-Out

For check-out I asked if we could leave at 1pm and it was denied.  When I asked about late check-out for Accor elite members, the answer remained the same; they said my room would be occupied soon and because of covid they needed extra time to clean the rooms.  I think it’s fair enough and understandable, however that said going forward in the post covid world, in times of higher occupancy I will give more priority to hotel chains with a 4pm check-out guarantee like Marriott and Hyatt unless I have an early flight.

Wifi

Wifi was abysmal by world standards; download speeds were 2 Mbps in the morning when many guests were still sleeping, and it struggled to reach 1 Mbps in the evening.  Some websites were simply not usable - it was so bad that I had to buy a Turkish SIM card and use the phone as a hot spot for my laptop to connect to it. 

Overall

Overall this resort had clear strengths and weaknesses.  Accor elite status does not seem to play any role at this property except that we earn points and given the higher price tag in the summer it helps to earn Accor status via spend.  Would I return?  Possibly yes.  I could try D-Resort (SLH) some day but if I want a room which is not tiny at that hotel, the price point would be a lot higher than Rixos and no food no drinks included except for breakfast with SLH elite status.  Hilton has a resort in nearby Dalaman and similar price range as Rixos, and is also all-inclusive.  The main differences are that Hilton is generous with suite upgrades unlike Rixos, and Hilton is open to families; couples travelling without children might prefer Rixos because it’s adults only, and it has nice open air entertainment in the evening.  So all in all I might sample competing properties but I am not against returning to Rixos.