Swim up rooms – a holiday essential, a luxury, or a waste of money? Read on for my first world problems when it comes to swim up rooms and how to make sure you get the perfect swim up room for your next holiday!
I’ve never been bothered, or to be honest really noticed swim up rooms before, until I visited my favourite resort in Turkey, the Akra Sorgun Tui Blue Sensatori, and noticed that some rooms had their own little stretch of pool.
Maybe because its because I have never stayed at a resort with swim up rooms before, but I hadn’t even noticed it when I was booking said stay. Either way, I was intrigued as although the resort always had enough sun beds for us when we went down to the pool after breakfast, I quickly realised that those with a swim up room, literally had zero worries about getting a sunbed as they had their own on their terrace and direct access to a stretch of pool. Furthermore, this stretch was only shared by a few rooms so potentially would be a little less busy in the height of the season.
I decided that I wanted one of the those rooms next time we came so when I booked for May 2020 I booked a swim up. However, Coronavirus and lockdowns and red list countries meant we ended up moving our holiday to Rhodes (which was on the green list at the time) and opted for a swim up. Then the holiday was cancelled, and then I rebooked it for a later date but realised I would be paying an extra £1200 for a swim up room. So decided to get a regular room as £1200 is serious money! Anyway we went on holiday to Rhodes and had a lovely time, but I did look longingly at those with their swim up rooms, however, on this holiday I did realise that not all swim up rooms are equal!
Once thing about the swim up rooms at Akra Sorgun Tui Blue Sensatori is that they all face the main pool, have a sea view and get the sun the majority of the day. The swim up rooms were also in the eyeline of the pool bar, and the waiters were fab at taking drink orders from those in swim up rooms and bringing the drinks back with a smile. Suffice to say when we went back to Sorgun for our 3rd visit, we got a swim up room and it was lush
Thus I noticed in the Rhodes resort that only some (approximately 50%) of the rooms got either direct sun in the morning, or in the afternoon. The other part of the day, the rooms (and thus the pools) were in the shade. There was also no way for those in the swim up rooms to get to the pool bar without walking back through their rooms (soaking the floor) and the waiters were not able to bring drinks to those in swim up rooms directly from the poolside. So top tip if you are thinking of getting a swim up here then make sure you pick the room according to what you want – morning or afternoon sun and proximity to facilities.
My next experience of a swim up room was at another Akra Resort, the one in Fethiye and prior to arriving at the hotel I had booked a swim up room and requested a room on the ‘pool side’ or the resort to ensure I had afternoon sun. Then I arrived I had been allocated a room on the ‘garden side’ which I wasn’t best pleased about (first world problems), so asked if there was an option to move, which they did kindly accommodate the next day. The issue with the garden side swim up was, aside the fact the room was in the shade from after lunch, the pool bar (and any waiting staff) were on the other side of the building. This might be bliss if you like morning sun and a quite life, but for me I realised that I wanted neither and thus my search for the perfect swim up rooms began!
So when it comes to swim up rooms, yes they can be a fabulous luxury and provide your very own sunbed that can’t (or really shouldn’t!) be reserved by anyone else, but if you pick one in the wrong location, you could be swimming in the shade and parched from the lack of hydration options available within a close proximity!
These are my top recommendations for a swim up room if that’s your vibe:
- Akra Sorgun Tui Blue Sensatori
- Dreams Lanzarote
- Ikos Dassia
- Zafiro Palmanova
Mimi is the owner of Find Your Resort® a website built to help travel agents find the perfect resorts for their client using 30 different resort filters. She also likes going on holiday and having a swim up room but only if its in the sun.
