Mark Warner Phokaia Beach Resort

Lots to do there. Cycling, sailing, tennis and much more. Lovely cove to hang about in. The food at the resort could be better. Great selection of salads but the hot food could be hotter. Lovely staff and very courteous. I would return there and take more sailing lessons!

The sea and the beachfront are beautiful, and I’d say the cocktails are priced similarly to those you’d find outside the resort. However, here’s the problem: for the price of a good-quality cocktail I could enjoy elsewhere, I was served a terrible Lynchburg Lemonade—no ice, shaken without ice (still don’t understand why), and with just a single slice of orange thrown in. It tasted awful. The quality of service was far below average, which was deeply disappointing because the hotel is in a fantastic location. Unfortunately, the management seems very weak. I also seriously questioned whether the women working with the children had ever interacted with kids before. During the activities, they were yelling at the children—including mine—and giving harsh commands like “GET IN LINE!” and “I SAID COME HERE!” I immediately pulled my child out of the morning activity. Employing untrained, unkind staff who clearly don’t know how to treat children is unacceptable for a family-oriented hotel. And I saved the worst for last: At the mini disco, we witnessed an elderly male staff member bullying children aged 3 to 7 for an entire hour. He mocked how they danced and even asked parents things like, “Is this child disabled or just clumsy?” To one father, he said, “You brought this kid into the world, but he didn’t turn out right.” All of us parents were in shock, but didn’t want to escalate the situation while our children were still on stage. It was painfully obvious that this man was drunk—he couldn’t keep his eyes open, slurred his words, used foul language, mocked the children, and was overall completely inappropriate—all while being on stage with them. I truly hope the hotel management sees this review and takes serious action. Keeping staff like this on board will severely damage the reputation.

Stayed in the Mark Warner hotel. Had a fantastic week, was treated well by AYAZ and team at the spa. Would highly recommend getting the massage! Great beach bars and beautiful views.

Currently staying at the resort and having an amazing time. The hotel and facilities are amazing. The watersports are fantastic, and the entire beach staff are amazing. Shout out to Max, Jonny, Liam and Katie for their incredible attitude, skill and enthusiasm. The whole team works amazingly hard. The spa is another highlight of the hotel, a real oasis of peace and relaxation and relief from the aches after sailing. The 10 minute test massage is great and not to be missed. As well as being very enjoyable this quickly diagnosed areas my back that needed treatment. The Spa is spotlessly clean and tranquil. The manager Ayaz is very knowledgeable and advised on treatment. My masseuse was excellent and made the massage experience very enjoyable and relaxing.

I have a lot to review… The room: The room is ‘ok’. Three of us stayed in the room and it was really very small. There was just enough space to walk around the beds but no extra space so it was tight! Particularly with suitcases needing to be stored…somewhere!! The bathroom was okish. Small too but it was clean. The bedroom was cleaned daily however a few times they turned up past 5pm when we were trying to shower. This was very inconvenient. The air con was quite effective so this was great later in the day when it was too hot in the room. We had a lovely view over the resort and we were able to see the beach which was lovely to wake to. The food: It was fairly good but I have had better from their competitors. I did love the salads though! They ran out of sushi within around 10-20 minutes and were not able to replenish them, this was disappointing. The waiters were friendly but they had to be nagged to bring us water. The spa: We tried the 10 minute test massage and it was great. They recommended a block of massages which I did. I can definitely feel a difference and I think it was hugely needed! I’ll need to find another masseuse in England now! The spa treatments was the highlight for me. Ayaz (if I got his name correct) was very knowledgeable. My masseuse was very good and I had the same person each day which was really lovely and less awkward! The spa area was great fun, particularly for children as they were able to use the sauna and hamam rooms - they spent a lot of time chucking water everywhere! The fitness schedule: It wasn’t the best. One of the days I was going to do aqua and it didn’t even happen but I later found out it was because an intense water polo game was taking place. There was very little for less mobile guests and most of the program was geared for almost athletes. I would have liked to see aqua every day and at the same time, I would also like to see the aqua class go on for 45 min+ (the ones I joined only lasted around 20 minutes). Cara was the instructor and she was excellent! Very attentive, funny and really easy to follow along with. I would like to see more classes like zumba, yoga ball classes other similar low impact classes. Kids group: It wasn’t too bad and my daughter was happy in the club. The schedule was ok although the watersports was always in the afternoon when the wind was at its strongest and this meant the activity was cancelled or changed and that was disappointing. The kids group leader was Aimee and she was really lovely. My daughter loved her, especially as she joined in with lots of extra things. She even joined in with the evening parties and went on our flight on the way home - all the kids swarmed her like a bee swarm haha! The hotel: I actually really liked the hotel but there were some things I would have liked to see. One of the major things for me was a lack of lifeguards. There were no lifeguards at all so all of my relaxation time was spent watching my daughter (and others when she

Visited Mark Warner Foca in Turkey last year with my son and had a fantastic time overall. The sailing was a real highlight — well-organised with great conditions thanks to the amazing weather. Facilities were excellent, and we particularly enjoyed the pickleball courts. The staff were friendly and helpful throughout. The food was just above average — plenty of it, but nothing especially memorable. Our room was on the small side, but clean and functional. Evening entertainment was fine, though it could have done with a bit more variety. We took the boat trip into town for dinner — definitely worth doing for a change of scene. That said, the restaurants in town can be busy and quite variable in quality, so it’s worth taking your time before choosing one. Also worth noting there are quite a lot of stray dogs around. All in all, a great option for an active family holiday in the sun. Would definitely consider returning.