Would I do All Inclusive Again?
- Sharmeen Suleman
- Apr 6, 2018
- 5 min read
Having returned from our All Inclusive family holiday in Turkey, I miss the sunshine, having meals sorted & activities to keep the kids busy planned out for me. I have to admit, there is an appeal about All Inclusive holidays for families that can not be ignored. Having tried the All Inclusive concept last year, I have to admit I was not that impressed. I really had no intention of going through the experience again. Until I found out that the Hilton Dalaman Sarigerme Resort had a super offer on for families with young kids. Now, I can confidently say that not all resorts offer up the same experience & should not be tarnished by the same brush.
So here are 10 family friendly features of the Hilton Dalaman Resort, in case you are considering booking an All Inclusive holiday:
1. The Kids Club: Not all Kids Clubs are the same. The Hilton's CARPI kids club is a gem. It is consists of an outdoor space which has been cleverly designed, so the kids are under shade. There are outdoor activities including basketball, trampoline, splash party & arts. There is an indoor space with huge railway play set for Thomas fans, a dedicated soft play area for 0-3 years old & a games room with a PS4 for older kids 9-11 years old. There is also a nap room for babies including a food preparation area with steriliser, blender & microwave. The best part of the Kids Club was not all this amazing space for the kids, it was the dedicated staff. This is what makes the Hilton stand apart, in my view. The only downside was that we couldn't leave our 3 year old there to play, since the Kids Club only takes the ages 4 -11 years old. The twins loved it & probably enjoyed not being bugged by their toddler brother!
2. The Heated Pools: Whilst the main pools were too cold at this time of year to dip into, there were heated options, including the splash pool pictured above, the water slides & the indoor pool. This meant that we all did a lot of swimming & splashing around.
Unlike other resorts I have read about, this hotel was quite all right whether you wanted to wear a bikini, a burkini or something somewhere in between. Swim on !
3. The Space: What I loved & hated most, was the sheer size of the resort. I loved it because the kids had loads of space to run around with out falling into a swimming pool. I hated it because we ended up having to lug our swim stuff around, since it was a trek from one place to another. That said it was very buggy friendly. Mostly, I think I used all the walking around as an excuse to eat more of the delicious buffet. I suspect this is something I am going to regret when I get on the scales !
4. The Kids Buffet: There is a dedicated area in the restaurant for kids, with plastic plates, a special buffet of rice, kebabs, nuggets, chips, salad items & deserts (although not available for breakfast), cartons of UHT milk & flavoured milk & fresh juice on tap. For babies, there is a steriliser, blender & microwave as well as jars of baby food & yogurts. They also have a special seating area for the kids. Which is great except you end up sitting with them because you can't find any table nearby when the restaurant is busy. What would make it better, would be an improvement in the table service in this area, put on more staff & perhaps have some sort of activities available.
5. The Bedrooms: We had a two interconnecting rooms. The experience of getting these rooms is worth mention. Turns out that the hotel has two types of connecting rooms, internal & external. The external ones really are not ideal for families with young children, since the doors are heavy & the kids will struggle to open them. Not with standing, I would not have heard them if they cried at night.
The rooms were nice & spacious. The bathrooms had a walk in rainfall shower as well as a bathtub. There is a kettle in the room as well as mugs, with tea bags, coffee & creamer. The TV has a few English channels but for some reason the TV in the kids room had different channels to ours'. That was a mystery that was never solved. But I do recommend taking along a HDMI DVD player, since the rooms are not equipped with them. See the post #NoEnglishChannels for ideas.
6. The Water Slides: Many resorts do have water slides but they tend to the fast & scary type ones. Hilton Dalaman also has these types of water slides, heated as well. However, they also have 3 cute water slides great for toddlers too. Mine loved the 'rainbow' slide.
7. The Evening Entertainment: Every evening the Kids Club had a disco at the Bar Street Bar. We ventured to have a look but our kids never liked the place, so we walked right out. We would just take a stroll around the hotel grounds in the evening.
They also have a 'cinema' showing late night at 9.15pm, which is basically a TV showing of a movie in a relatively small room. Whilst we didn't think much of the evening entertainment, other families certainly did enjoy the action.
8. Changing facilities: There are facilities for baby-changing near restaurants & in the Kids Club. There are also shower facilities & toilets dotted near the pool areas, perfect if you want to get showered and straight onto the next activity. Instead of tramping back to your room, which might be a fair walk away.
9. Carpi Farm: This was more of a petting zoo with a play area. This was right towards the entrance of the hotel, about 10 min walk from the main lobby. So we only ended up there once. It closes at lunch time, so do find out if it is open before heading off in that direction. They have peacocks, goats & a variety of birds in caged pens. They also have information about the animals, so it can be a nice learning activity. The Kids Club do take the kids down there, but unfortunately our kids missed the trip.
10. Only 20 mins from the Airport: Unlike other resorts, the Hilton Dalaman Sarigerme Resort is only a short distance from the airport. Which is great when you are travelling with young kids, who are tired from the 4.5 hour flight.
Would I do All Inclusive again?
If I got a great deal for the Hilton Dalaman like I did this time, then perhaps. I would certainly recommend it for families who are considering going All Inclusive. But do shop around if you are planning to go. I literally found over £2000 difference in price when I was shopping around for this holiday. Get in touch, if you would like us to share some tips on how you can find the best deal. It is free, so what do you have to lose?
p.s. We have not been paid by Hilton for this post, nor did we have a free stay. We just like sharing useful information for families like ours !
[This blog post was written by Sharmeen Suleman, Founder of Vacations MAROC. She is a British Mother who has travelled to over 25 countries worldwide but somehow fell in love with Morocco. She shares her extensive experience on family travel & her passion for family travel on her website & www.vacationsmaroc.co.uk .You can follow the family’s travel adventures on their social media platforms.]
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