I booked the world's cheapest all-inclusive holiday – the brutal reviews were unfair

I booked the world's cheapest all-inclusive holiday – the brutal reviews were unfair YouTuber Ed Chapman booked the cheapest all-inclusive break he can find – but the reviews for the Turkish hotel were absolutely savage All-inclusive deals are a great way of keeping holiday expenses under control. Paying upfront for all the food and drink you’ll consume while you’re away prevents any nasty surprises on your credit card bill once you get home. But of course, all-inclusive holidays tend to be a little more expensive. YouTuber Ed Chapman set out to find the cheapest all-inclusive deal on offer, travelling to southern Turkey for a three-star hotel experience that had already attracted some brutal customer reviews. There was “a lot of fly content” in previous holidaymakers’ TripAdvisor reviews, Ed noted. One unhappy customer, for example, complained that “salads and other cold foods were often left uncovered for flies to land on.” It was no surprise that “a lot of people became ill” during that person’s stay. Another hotel guest complained: “My bed was covered in black flies,” adding “Not good at all!” But with the “ridiculous” price of £510 for five days in Turkey, including his Jet2 flights and all his meals, Ed decided that the trip was worth the risk. Things didn’t get off to a great start when Ed walked into the double room he’d booked. There wasn’t a double bed in the room, which was quite a surprise: “Unexpectedly, I've ended up with two single beds and a sofa that's been covered,” he said. “It looks like what you'd do if you were trying to sort of cover up a murder or something.” The mattress was extremely hard, he added, although that didn’t prevent him from getting a few excellent nights’ sleep during his stay. The minibar fridge was more of an issue though: “It looks like it’s come off a tip or something.” “There’s a lot of excess water in there,” Ed added. “It’s dripping water… that does not look like a healthy fridge.” However, he added philosophically: “It is the cheapest all-inclusive holiday… Let’s not be surprised that it's not going to be perfect.” Overall, Ed was quite impressed with his budget break, especially when a gregarious hotel employee decided to take him under his wing and gave him a tour of the facilities, introducing Ed as “Ed Sheeran’s cousin” to a number of impressed tourists. There were a few downsides, such as a breakfast that consisted of somewhat pallid scrambled eggs, “crunchy” baked beans and, for some reason, batons of cucumber. But Ed kept coming back to how much of a bargain he was getting: “Flights are about 200 quid return usually with luggage. That means I'm basically paying 300 quid for the hotel and all-inclusive for five nights. That's ridiculous.” As a change from the hotel’s rather eccentric food combinations, Ed did take a stroll into the nearby town to find a restaurant. He was treated to a dizzying range of “counterfeit” businesses with names and logos very similar to familiar brands such as John Lewis and 7-Eleven, before he came across a restaurant named Barracuda that offered three courses for £34. “I'm sure it is pretty expensive by Turkish standards,” Ed said. “However, when you're abroad in a touristy place, three course meal plus a big bottle of water, I don't think that's too bad. It's also proof that high-quality food.” But it was back to the somewhat lacklustre all-inclusive fare the next day. What was on offer included “various different meats in very different forms, usually with red pepper,” Ed said. There was also some broccoli that, unfortunately, was “watery” and some chicken wings. Some of Ed's food choices may have been a shade unwise, he admitted: “Probably worth mentioning here that the following day after this, I did actually wake up that morning and have a little bit of food poisoning. Thankfully, nothing too bad, but very clearly I was affected by the food from this day. Which meal it was, I've got no idea.” Doing his due diligence as a travel journalist, Ed also looked in on the hotel’s Saturday night entertainment offering. It wasn’t much to write home about, unfortunately: “It's just a guy on stage with a DJ deck,” Ed said. “I'm not going to lie. I was expecting a bit more. “It's literally just a DJ deck on stage. There's not even a DJ at this point. It's literally just music. As far as Saturday night entertainment goes, there's probably room for improvement.” But Ed stressed that, as a budget break, it takes some beating: “For the price, £510, bearing in mind £210 of that is probably return flights plus luggage. So, you pay 300 quid for the hotel for five nights plus all-inclusive. That's really very, very reasonable, that price.” Despite that, he added that there was plenty of room for improvement. The entertainment in the evening isn't great. They need just like a TV showing some football as well. I mean, there's 99% British people here. You got a World Cup on… have a TV. Also, he said, the food could have been better – and warmer: “It needs more variety, it needs to be better quality, and it needs to be covered. “The room looks tatty in places,” Ed added. “Probably need a little bit more cleaning. Some new appliances and furniture probably needed. But it's fine. For the price, it is fine. It's not been perfect. It's not been amazing, but would you expect that for the price?” On the upside, he said, the views from the hotel were spectacular, and given that he estimated the value of the food and drink he’d enjoyed over the course of the week had been in the region of £300, the whole trip was an incredible bargain.