Just Back

[andy]

Just returned from our 18th visit of trouble free visits to icmeler.
Unfortunately something that you don't expect to happen has happened to my family, there were eight of them staying at the mandalin hotel, for two of them it was there first visit to turkey and for the others it was there second. They had decided to share a safe deposit box between the eight of them. Unfortunately on there third night somebody broke into there room while they were asleep and took a handbag and bumbag which contained there safe deposit box key, they then proceeded to take the other key to the box from behind reception and emptied there box which contained all there money, passports and flight tickets.
Apparently what has happened is a turkish couple have booked into the hotel for one night at the weekend and have seen the eight of them taking money out of the one safe, then during the night when they have seen them all go to the room, the women has kept the night porter/ barman company while the man has gone into the room, where he nows the key is kept and sprayed something into the room so he would not disturb them, he has then reached behind reception, obtained the master key and emptied the safe.
They then checked out of the hotel early, without having breakfast and left before my family knew anything about it

[DIANE C]

Oh what a nightmare Andy. What happened did the hotel call the police? Was it cash they had or did they have travellers cheques?? Going to Icmeler next saturday and I pray that this is a one off.

Diane C

[kez]

Andy,

What a nightmare, I’m really sorry to hear this. When did it happen? And was everybody OK?

I hope it didn’t ruin your holiday.

[truth]

Hi we arrived back on monday last week undecided if to post what happened to us but a quick story is we had been in the resort for 1 hour when my purse with £600 went missing from our hotel room i will not say which hotel but it is back of the Marti anyway changed hotel thanks to all at I.C.R.(godsend)
went to 3 police station ended at the one in Marmaris stayed there for over 1 hour but nobody spoke english so we decided to give up no police report no claim of insurance. It put a dampener on our hols but did not ruin it.The Turkish people where great and wanted to help.To to say please be aware and do not get into the holiday mood straight away.

[JT]

We did hear about this the other week and the hotel actually turned people away to other hotels while they investigated.

Don't forget there are thieves everywhere so whatever place in the world you stay in be vigilant

[andy]

There was about 2 thousand pounds in cash in the safe, and yes the police did come. Hopefully they should get all there money back through there insurance. Unfortunately the manager of the hotel could not accept that this could happen at his hotel and literally accused them of making it all up, hence they were not happy and moved to another hotel.
I'm sure you will soon here from rachel 06 who was affected by the robbery and was far than impressed with the hotel and manager.
Apparently the same thing happened at the babadan apartments a couple of weeks ago.
What we did after it happened was to put a chair behind the door and ledge a glass on it, so if somebody did try to get in you would be disturbed.

[mazz]

Andy

So sorry to hear about what happened. I'm glad you've posted, and glad "Truth" also posted, it acts as a warning to everybody to be vigilant. It's also certainly something to think about when deciding how you are going to take your currency.

I always take most of my spends in travellers cheques, but was contemplating just taking sterling and lira when I go in August (and I'm staying at the Mandalin!), but having read your posts I have well and truly decided that I'll stick to the travellers cheques - if the worst were to happen and they were stolen I know they will be quickly replaced and my holiday wouldn't be spoilt.

Mazz

[karent]

was going to take sterling but not sure now. i got a barclays account ,son got woolwich ,does any one know what will be chaged if use dedit card and at what machine?

[Kari]

Hi,I arrived home from Icmeler on Thursday(28th).I hate to say this-and never thought I would-but it was just tooooooo hot!!!!!Even on the boat trips there didn't seem much breeze although that was the most comfortable place to be.I was just reading about various thefts and although I haven't been a victim myself in Turkey,I met someone who was last week.I have an aquaintance who has recently opened a restaurant in Icmeler.Her teenage daughter had a friend staying with her last week and on the 3rd day of the holiday,this girl had her beach bag stolen off the beach while she was swimming.She had her money and passport ,tickets clothes etc.inside it.Personnally,I don't know why she had her passport etc with her,as she was staying at the family home,not in an hotel,so security wouldn't have been an issue anyway.
There are very few tourists at the moment and during the week I was there,3 restaurants shut down and my friend thinks that if things don't pick up soon then she will have to close with a loss of about £250,000.
The market was as usual but some very ignorant English people seem to have taken pleasure in teaching the stall holders to shout out "Cheaper than a Paki shop"along with the usual harmless phrases.
We went on 2 boat trips.The 2nd was good but on the first,the promised BBQ did not appear.Instead we had a very inferior,tiny frozen fishcake(?)and beefburger.Very bad.

[rachel06]

Well as andy (my uncle) has stated we had a not so good trip to Icmeler on this occasion.

For anyone who is travelling in the future i'd definately recommend that you take travellers checks rather than sterling, also make sure that your travel insurance includes emergency money being sent out to the resort. None of the insurance policies within our group did and it was only by luck that my dad works for Lloyds bank and could arrange for replacement money to be transferred out to Turkey.

I'd just like to say that the attitude of the staff at the Mandalin hotel was awful, on the day of the robbery we weren't even offered a drink by the staff, and bearning in mind that we'd missed breakfast because we were dealing with the police we weren't even offered anything to eat from the hotel management.

The fact that they'd tried to blame us as well was beyond a joke and i certainly would not recommend that anyone use this hotel in the future. When we were trying to explain to the hotel manager that part of the reason for the break in was his fault because of his extreme lack of security at the hotel he looked at us as though we were stupid and claimed that he couldn't understand us, which we knew that he could as he'd been conversing with us in perfect english before the incident.

However we made sure that it didn't ruin the rest of the holiday and the time that we spent at the Oylum Gardens which was the hotel that we were moved to was most enjoyable.

It's just sad that things like this seem to be happening more frequently in Icmeler.

[skilly]

We always take travellers cheques and a little bit of cash and our friends who we always go with take all cash.
Last year we did the same and our friends took travellers cheques for the first time.

There were no safety deposit boxes in our appts and we had to keep our valuables in the owners safe.

My friend is very good with money and knowing how much she has spent and found that a £50 cheque could not be acounted for.
She thought she had perhaps lost it when we were out shopping.

The rep was useless and didn't want to know, she made a few phonecalls herself and her £50 was waiting for her in her bank account when she got home. They were going to send it to her on hol but she said it didn't matter.

I would therefore never risk taking all my spend in cash because as admin says crime happens everywhere no matter how lovely it is.

[kitty]

Hi sorry to hear about what happened,weve decided this year to take a little money and debit card.We have brought a door wedge with an alarm on from e-bay to wedge under our door for when we go to bed,that way if anyone does obtain a key they wont be able to push open the door and the alarm will go off,we think money worth spent,as people say crime happens anywhere but i intend to hold onto my valuables

[swansea_angel2k3]

I think Kitty brings up a good point i think for a couple of £ we should all invest in a door stop n then we shal all be safe and can have a great holidays without stressing. good idea Kitty

[rachel06]

Fair enough, buy intruder door alarm but would you really want to be woken up by a stranger entering your bedroom who may possibly be carrying a weapon?

I'm certainly glad that my parents were asleep throughout the whole thing (even if it was that they'd been drugged), the thought of them waking up and disturbing an intruder who was potentially carrying a weapon is frightening and i may have been posting on here about something far worse than a robbery.

[Doz]

Its frightening isnt it? I totally agree with you Rachel, I think in these circumstances it is better to sleep through it because you do not know who you are challenging and what they are carrying.

[kitty]

With a door stop at least it stops the door from being pushed open which in theory will stop intruders altogether,i have children in my apartment i would rather be awake to keep an eye on them,so in my eyes an excellent deterrent

[swansea_angel2k3]

my thoughts exactly,as i wouldnt like to be awake if it was to happen but atleast with a door stop it stops people getting in all together. Sorry once again to hear about what happend

[kitty]

Another one of my best buys this year is carbon monoxide alarm,after the family tragedy in corfu( i think) i went straight onto e-bay and purchased one

[Kari]

Where do you get doorstop alarms as i have never heard of them?Thanks.

[kitty]

Hi we got the door alarm from e-bay cost 99p plus pp,just type in door stopper alarm,weve tested it our here and you cant push the door open as its a wedge and an alarm goes off