If you are visiting Pamukkale/Hierapolis you have two general areas for where you stay, and neither is that great. Either the resort hotels (actually in Karahayıt which is on the same elevation as Hierapolis but a km to the west) or in Pamukkale at the base of the travertines with the backpacker places. We chose the resort option because we weren't convinced about the backpacker places (nor of the very suspicious reviews) and wanted to swim in the thermals. I suppose if we could have arrived early enough to check the backpacker places out we might have tried one.

The hotel is on a huge tract of scrubby land, with a long walk to the next hotel, and even longer to the village of Karahayıt. Despite this we saw dozens of people walking from the Richmond to Karahayıt at dinner time, which may reflect the food option at the Richmond: massive dining hall with large tour groups. As unappealing as Pamukkale looked, Karahayıt looked even worse. For dinner, we followed the lonely planet's suggestion and drove to eat in Pamukkale and that was great: simple, good and inexpensive although the service went awol at times.

To appeal to the lowest common denominator, the hotel is very bland, and not surprisingly so were the thermals: not that hot and with almost no smell. We booked for 80$ (incl) through visitturkeynow, which Turkish friends had recommended. The price was half of the hotel's web site and cheaper than expedia, etc. If we visit turkey again we might use it more for booking at big hotels.

Finally, part of the ruins at Hierapolis (Apollo's temple, etc.) are currently closed off. Aphrodisias was superior. Visit it!

Positives

1. The staff was very, very nice, earnest and helpful.

2. One of the better breakfasts we had.

3. It was clean and the view from the window (on our side; otherside to parking lot and scrubby land) looked to the pool and the valley below.

4. Though we found it sort of tacky, the tour groups all seemed to be happy campers.

Other negatives

1. The tv's reception was poor. While I am not normally a tv watcher, given that you are far from anything here...

2. I stepped on a tack on the floor. These things happen, but it still says something.

3. They gave us two singles though we requested a double. All but one of the other hotels we stayed at managed to get us a double.

4. One time our door lock did not work and they had to send for someone with a master key (which they did very quickly). You could see other doors with gaps in them. Hallway noises were pretty loud.

This hotel had some real pluses, but a good amount of really peculiar minuses, too.

To start with, the pluses: The location is great. Like other larger hotels, it actually isn't in the town of Pamukkale, but on the top of the hill in Karaheyit. As a result, it's a hop, skip and jump from the entrance to the ruins and tavertines. You could probably walk there, although we had a car. Also, it's spotlessly clean and the bathroom was large and modern. The room could have been in a Hilton or Marriott in any major Western city. Also, a nice thermal pool outside.

Which brings us to the minuses: It was quite possibly the most impersonal hotel I have ever stayed at, which was incredibly odd given the fact it was in the middle of rural Turkey. It's HUGE with hundreds of rooms and a really tacky 1970s-era feel to the whole place. Clearly designed for very large tour groups, a fact we discovered during dinner and breakfast, which was in a cavernous dining hall that felt like summer camp. Long tables for endless tour groups...though those of us traveling independently were seated on our own in a roped-off section. I know that sounds bizarre, but it WAS bizarre. When we showed up for dinner, photographers were talking pictures of all diners. We could have been anywhere in the world. No sense that we were in Turkey.

Good for what we needed: A base to see Pamukkale, take a shower in the morning, and refuel. But no charm, and this constant Twilight-Zone feeling about a giant impersonal hotel in one of the most evocative parts of the Turkish countryside.