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Author Topic: Hassle  (Read 9378 times)

Offline Mrs P

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Hassle
« on: June 11, 2013, 07:44:44 PM »
Just back from our first visit to Kalkan, absolutely loved it! The view from our villa in Kisla was amazing, the restaurants in town are fantastic, great food and hospitality.  My only gripe is the constant hassle you get from the restaurants and bars as you try and have a stroll through town and down by the harbour.  We could not have the leisurely stroll and mooch we intended as we felt we had to rush by every establishment saying no thank you , maybe another day etc etc.  Although they are very polite it does become rather tedious and hinders the ability to take in all that's around.  I don't like being rude and so found myself stood for five minutes or so whilst they talk me through the menus!! I understand that the season is relatively short and that the restaurants need the business etc but in the end we were avoiding certain areas, surely this can only harm business.  I will still be back to this fabulous place though, I will just need a thicker skin for next time  ;)

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=11162.0

Offline Lizilu20

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2013, 08:10:11 PM »
Yes it can be a bit unnerving at times. The greeter at one of the harbour restaurants ( who shall remain nameless ), was really on our case last year. He ( for want of a better word) "oined" us shamelessly night after night until he finally got a bit too familiar and said something along the lines of, I've watched you walk past every night for a week and I've seen you go in other restaurants but you never try ours! I then had to waste 10 mins of my precious holiday time reassuring him that there was nothing wrong with his restaurant and I felt very uncomfortable!

I have to say that this is unusual and most greeters are happy with a polite, no thanks, maybe another time, or thanks but we have other plans. 

Glad you enjoyed kalkan, you'll be hooked now!  8)
« Last Edit: June 11, 2013, 08:12:21 PM by Lizilu20 »

Offline amber

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2013, 04:41:30 AM »
I have to say that there is less hassle in Kalkan than anywhere else I have been to in Turkey.

Offline onelove

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2013, 05:44:35 AM »
We live here 75% + of the time and I have to agree with Mrs P. The greeters KNOW who we are yet we Still get hassled every time we go out ( more so from the harbour restaurants ) and it drives us f*****g mad. We like to go to Fener cafe for lunch, but now we have taken to walking along the harbours edge, by the boats, to avoid the hassle, that's not good is it  ???  As far as I'm concerned they lose my business as I won't go in to a place that puts me under pressure with the "Hard Sell". I really wish they would stop it. I agree with you amber, it's not as bad as other resorts in Turkey, but it's getting worse and worse year on year, not good for Kalkan's image of an 'upmarket' resort IMHO  >:(.  Albeit, we Still Love it here in Kalkan  ;D ;D ;D

This has got me thinking.....what restaurants DONT have greeters ??? I will start it off by naming a few.....Kaya, Parc Kalkan, Cafe Vita, Passaport Pizza..........???
Latest weather report...... Large outbreaks of Efes followed by intermitent spells of vodka and tonic ;-))
www.kalamardream.com

Offline Mrs P

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2013, 06:25:55 AM »
I do agree it is not as bad as some other resorts in Turkey and for that matter many other places we have visited but I just didn't expect it from Kalkan and as I said previously it did rather spoil our enjoyment of this beautiful town.  I would have liked to look more closely at the buildings and little shops etc but the constant badgering made this very difficult.  A simple ,good morning, afternoon, evening and friendly smile from the greeters would be more welcoming than the pushy nature in which they come at you.  I would much prefer to be able to survey a menu myself without somebody shouting the details down my earhole.  I think somebody needs to have a friendly word with the restaurant managers and explain this situation to them, the picture we had been painted of Kalkan was of an idyllic, picturesque, peaceful, charming little town that attracted a certain type of tourist, if this is to continue then I suggest they let holiday makers wander around at their leisure and the business will come to them.

Offline msr

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2013, 07:19:39 AM »
The Olive Garden never has anyone on the street, nearly always full and need to book for a good table. Enough said.

Offline Blue Lizard

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2013, 07:23:25 AM »
Hassle me and I will walk on by.......even if I was going there in the first place!!! I don't want to be stopped every 20yards and having to justify why I don't want to eat in a particular restaurant ..even "no thanks we've eaten" will lead on to the next evenings meal trying to be sold.....I do resort to being "slightly" abrupt shall we say ::)
People Of Britain.. When your missus asks "Does my bum look big in this? Never say "Dunno your blocking the light."... just sayin ????

 ta ta for now
Lizard

Offline pw

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2013, 07:50:00 AM »
We live here 75% + of the time and I have to agree with Mrs P. The greeters KNOW who we are yet we Still get hassled every time we go out ( more so from the harbour restaurants ) and it drives us f*****g mad. We like to go to Fener cafe for lunch, but now we have taken to walking along the harbours edge, by the boats, to avoid the hassle, that's not good is it  ???  As far as I'm concerned they lose my business as I won't go in to a place that puts me under pressure with the "Hard Sell". I really wish they would stop it. I agree with you amber, it's not as bad as other resorts in Turkey, but it's getting worse and worse year on year, not good for Kalkan's image of an 'upmarket' resort IMHO  >:(.  Albeit, we Still Love it here in Kalkan  ;D ;D ;D

This has got me thinking.....what restaurants DONT have greeters ??? I will start it off by naming a few.....Kaya, Parc Kalkan, Cafe Vita, Passaport Pizza..........???


Small house don't
Sade do but never hassle you in my experience
Never noticed one at Alternatif
re-branded & abbreviated

Offline Mayday1

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2013, 08:24:45 AM »
Alternatif dont have a greeter whose sole job is to entice you in.If you come and spend time browsing the menu,Mustapha may have a chat with you over the menu but not a hard sell by any means.

Who is that new greeter/twit at the new restaurant opposite Parc Kalkan.He needs to go back to Marmaris restaurants where he probably came from.He shouts at you in your car,across the other side of the road,shouting stuff like" excellent food."..." lovely Jubillee "

This approach seems very out of place in Kalkan.If every greeter was like him,Kalkan would definetly lose some of its charm,and reputation for being more laid back than other resorts.Lets hope that it doesn't

Offline Cosetta

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2013, 09:07:06 AM »
We also walk down by the boats to avoid the 'gauntlet run' by the marina restaurant hawkers.  But worse in our view is the level of loud music being played in every restaurant.  You can hardly think, let alone have a conversation.  For this reason, we have decided never to go to any of the restaurants along the marina again.  Finished.  Doesn't apply to yours, onelove, we will come again soon ! :)
Villa Incantata - http://kalkan-turkey.com

Offline Derbyshire

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2013, 09:15:45 AM »
Hi la terrazza don't and still one of best meals we have in lovely kalkan

Offline onelove

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2013, 09:19:03 AM »
I Totally agree with you Cosetta, it's getting LOUDER & LOUDER  :-[

Look forward to welcoming you again to tanZore  ;)

Offline maureenr

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2013, 09:22:32 AM »
Have to agree with all these comments. Our first visit was last year. We also walked different routes to avoid the restaurant staff bawling us out. We hated it and, had not expected it! Fortunately it didn't put us off returning, due to fly out on Monday. Sure they read these forums, to see what we're saying about their restaurants, so maybe they will take note.

Offline Mayday1

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2013, 09:31:33 AM »
Another thought on this " hassle " problem.This year there are more restaurants than ever and a lot more new ones opening.You could say that there are too many.I know everyone wants as much choice as possible,but the restaurants are fighting over a finite number of customers...........the result of which is that the level of hassle increases as they fight for your trade.

The way to stop the problem getting too bad is to reduce the number of restaurants.Is that going to happen ? ..........i doubt it

Offline BarbH

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #14 on: June 12, 2013, 09:47:56 AM »
A few years ago Icmeler started  closing retuarant/bars down for 3 days if any of their staff hassled anyone walking by, while this was good  not to be hassled everyone was frightened to say  hello if they saw anyone they knew and the tmosphere seeemed to change,

I find the hassle worse at the harbour and especially the noise, needless to say they do not get our custom. Last year I told them we would not go in as it was too noisy,

Offline Bob & Jayne

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #15 on: June 12, 2013, 09:51:09 AM »
Maybe you should get one of these Onelove?


Offline clara 50

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #16 on: June 12, 2013, 10:48:21 AM »
Great idea bob& jayne, do you think we could get them with don't hassle me I'm skint for us visitors. It is annoying getting hassled, the problem is when we get stopped instead of politely walking away my OH ends up having a full blown conversation with the bloke, always begins with oh you're Welsh because  my OH looks quite Turkish with his dark hair and tan and that's it then they're chatting for ever  ::) mind you it still doesn't mean we'll eat there. It's the ones that get you on the way out and again on the way back rattle me. I also find  after strolling the front my poor  jaw aches like hell keeping up the polite smiling so find a generous reoiling with Efes is needed .

Offline JenJen

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #17 on: June 12, 2013, 11:33:40 AM »
I don't remember any hassle at all from our first visit in 2007 - it's one of the reasons we came back to Kalkan - but it's changed a lot since then. Two years ago was definitely the worst year for hassle and there were several quite aggressive greeters including a couple who used to physically block our path whenever we tried to walk past. Most of the worst offenders seem to have moved on now (except one man near the harbour who shall remain nameless).

I'm never encouraged to eat somewhere because there's a greeter on the door - in fact it actually stops me eating somewhere I might have otherwise tried if they are particularly pushy. I'm much more likely to stop and look at a menu if there's no-one around or if there's a greeter hovering in the background who just lets you get on with it but can answer any questions without pushing you.

Offline onelove

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #18 on: June 12, 2013, 04:20:43 PM »
Quote from: Bob & Jayne link=topic=11162.msg74321 >:D#msg74321 date=1371027069
Maybe you should get one of these Onelove?



Love it B & J.......I WANT ONE   >:D 8) >:D

Offline Skunk

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Re: Hassle
« Reply #19 on: June 12, 2013, 04:53:18 PM »
I was hassled once last year by the same attack as Lizilu had, no doubt the same person.  It really put me off going there and now I wouldn't go in if it was the last restaurant open in Kalkan.  >:( >:( >:( What they don't seem to realise is that we are only there for a few weeks and therefore limited in the number of places we can try. It really is annoying.  I usually say we are already booked and that shuts them up for long enough to get past!!!


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