We came up with our Tried & Trusted series because there are times in life when you need a sure-fire thing, whether you are dining with, entertaining or travelling with clients, colleagues, friends or family.
For the Midmer family, nowhere epitomises this more when it comes to a summer holiday destination than Hillside Beach Club resort in southern Turkey. Why have we returned more than a dozen times, including this year?
Place
It’s in a stunning, private bay with crystal-clear, turquoise waters and a 500-metre Blue Flag beach. There’s rarely a cloud in the sky between June and September, and temperatures hover between the high twenties and thirties. And it’s an easy 45-minute transfer away from Dalaman airport, which is serviced by daily flights from most major European cities.
Product
This is barefoot super-premium: rooms are slightly pared back versus swankier resorts, but have everything you need, as well as large balconies with stunning views. The facilities, which allow you to indulge in every conceivable activity (literally) under the sun - from archery and boccia through to yoga and Zumba - are first rate, as is the stunning range and quality of the food.
Price
Even though prices have risen sharply in recent years, it still represents better value than many comparable resorts and upmarket beachfront hotels. And once you’ve returned three times you receive 30% off drinks at the bar (everything else is included).
People
This is where Hillside is unbeatable. The staff, and I mean all of them, exude a laid-back warmth and positivity I have seldom seen outside the Caribbean. The guests are also a clubbable, well-mannered bunch who truly appreciate what they’ve come to enjoy.
It squares circles
While it’s part of a large, successful leisure and entertainment group, it retains a homely, independent feel.
While it’s actually pretty large, it feels intimate.
Although it’s now over 25 years old, owing to constant repair and upgrading, it looks as if it were opened in the last few years.
It appeals to both locals and foreigners (I estimate a 60-40 split), and equally to adults and children of every age.
The atmosphere and entertainment are as lively as you need to feel invigorated, but it’s also careful to preserve oases of calm and silence. (Serenity Beach is hard to beat for a late lunch and lazy afternoon.)
It treads a clever tightrope of being extremely down to earth, while also offering indulgence, not least in the form of two world-class spas.
It delivers numerous magic touches: rose petals on your newly-made bed; ice-cold face towels on the beach; a sunglass polish at noon; weekly Cinema Paradiso screenings on the beach (the screen actually floats on the sea!); and various late-night street food options.
It puts theory into practice
It has a constant thirst for, and acts on, feedback to continually improve its offering.
The majority of its team are long-tenured, and it has a wonderful culture of reward and recognition: the army of chefs, chamber maids and cleaners are applauded by guests and staff alike once a week, a ritual that can bring a lump to the throat.
With a nod to The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz, it carefully edits the choice of everything down to three or four options… apart from the 15 varieties of pillow!
The Hillsider app fuses the digital with the physical: not only does it tell you what’s on, it’s a payment platform and allows you to order food and drink directly to your sun lounger.
It always delivers the feel-good factor
The founding mission of Hillside was to ‘Make people feel good’, and guests from all over the world seeking some well-earned R&R will be bowled over by the warmest of welcomes.
Although my family and I have been to many other resorts around the world, we’ve yet to find another that makes us feel quite at home.