My wife and I travel about 2 months per year. We are in our 40's This is our second trip to Turkey. The Marmara sits on a 3000 year old archaelogical site. It towers over the whole city with a Million Dollar view. Get a ocean view room and pay the extra. The staff is off the scale and professionaly trained. We met staff from other hotels that told us it was their dream to work at the Marmara. We had room # 1720. It was incredible. Breakfast is european and complete. Food at lunch and dinnrer are way over priced, eat in town for a 6 dollar cab ride or a 10 minute walk.

I am an active runner, I visted all the other 5 star Bodrum hotels, they cant touch the Marmara. Even though they are on the water, they have other issues adn the Marmara has the view and prime spot in the city...

I've traveled around the world and stayed at many 5 star hotels, but there was something quite special about the Marmara. The views were absolutely STUNNING from both the pool and my room. It was probably the best pool hotel I have ever been to, not too crowded, just a perfect mix of interesting people, Cafe del Mar playing in the background, tasty pool food and great drinks. The interior design was beautiful, it has a good feel through out with a cleaver mix of old with new. If you want a couple days to kick back and do nothing but relax by the pool, I could not think of a better place, the second best pool hotel would have to be at the Faena Hotel and Universe in Buenos Aries, but the view from the Pool at the Marmara is priceless and makes it the winner.
At night there were a couple fun places such as a bar called Cuba, and a couple other places at the port, also the Yacht Club had a wonderful live band.
Got a great deal on small leading hotels of the world website at $250 per night. Cannot wait to go back!!

We couldn't fault the physical hotel. The views are great; the hotel is clean, very interesting architecture, nice decor; rooms are very well fitted out, large and reasonably sound-proofed. The food was delicious, if a little overpriced. The hotel is on top of the hill overlooking Bodrum, so you generally need a taxi down and up into the town, but that shouldn't detract from this hotel.

The staff is a little lacking. They were all eager and well-intentioned, but they just didn't seem to realise what was "normal" or required at a hotel of this potential stature. The doorman wasn't at the door, ever, to greet, open the door, offer to take your baggage, or show you where to park the car. The front desk struggled to perform concierge duties and were not excellent guides of the city. We would get three sets of towels one day (as requested) and then two the next. They were friendly and they weren't being lazy. I think the hotel could do wonders under a different manager.

My husband and I are hoteliers from Melbourne, Australia and stayed with our daughter at The Marmara Bodrum for 5 nights in August this year. From the moment we arrived we found the hotel staff to be aloof, unfriendly and inefficient. On checking into our Room we found black hairs in the bathroom basin, which we reported immediately to Reception. After returning to our room an hour later we found that the hairs in the basin had been removed but discovered more black hairs on the vanity itself! There is a notice in the rooms stating that the water is undrinkable, however they do not provide any bottled water in the bathroom for teeth cleaning etc. The only water available is from the Mini Bar at a cost of 5TYL for a small bottle. We found this quite extraordinary for a `So Called 5 Star Establishment'! We found the standard of the rooms to be quite basic and cheaply decorated. The linen on the beds was something you might expect to find in a cheap hotel and the sofa bed that our daughter slept on was again uncomfortable and unacceptable.
This hotel is in an amazing setting and has a beautiful view over Bodrum and the Harbour, but is severely let down by its management and staff.