Just spent 2 nights at the Marmara after travelling around Turkey at quite a pace! It was wonderful to arrive at this beautiful hotel and be efficiently checked in and shown to a room that was spotless, spacious and had a view second to none! The french doors opened onto a balcony which looked out over the entire city and the Castle of St Peter and the Aegean! You could sit in the tub and see the view from the bathroom! There are wooden blinds that can be closed at the press of a switch if you want more privacy. The king size bed was very comfortable. All the linens were white and crisp! The view from the pool and the restaurant is fantastic. The breakfast was included in our rate and had an amazing array of baking, cheeses, meats, olives, jams, honey (even cubes of honeycomb in little dishes) yogurts. Couldn't sample everything even though we tried! The hamam is smallish, but the 4 of us used it and there is no extra charge. We found the 10 minute walk into town quite easy and even walked back up the hill after dinner, very steep - but helped us work off a little of what we had eaten! Great dinner at Tranca on Cumhuriyet Street - outside patio overlooks the beach!

Absolutely excellent in all respects.

Just a little difficult to find since i it is outside the main Bodrum central area, high up on a moutain that looks down upon the city and is only a few minutes away should one want to go into central Bodrum.

The Marmara has some unbelievable potential. To start with, the bed was one of the best I ever have slept in. With a nice duvet and the perfect hardness, it was delightful. The room was spotless and very large. The view out over the sea was delightful. The only problem was they were excavating underneath the hotel for a new project that is starting. So, every morning at 9 the jackhammers would start pounding away. The staff was great and very helpful. Like previous reviews said, it is very expensive for any addtional services. My friend ordered a Grey Goose martini. The cost was 35 Ytl for the vodka and 22 for the little bit of martini for a total cost of 57 ytl or about $46!! When I asked them about the cost, they just said that was the policy. Even the Efes (beer) were $10. So, we stuck with Efes in the hotel. Make sure breakfast is included in your rate. It is a nice continental spread and boiled eggs can be asked for at no additional charge. Anything else is very, very expensive. If your room doesn't include breakfast, we were quote 30 Euros or $45 each. Definitely not worth it. Dinner was also very, very expensive. Good service, but food was same as in town.
I had a massage and it was 150 Ytl, about $120. One of the ladies with us had her nails done and her hair streaked and it was 320 Ytl or about $280. While checking out, another couple was vehemently arguing with the staff about the astronomical charges.
So, in summary, it is a great place to stay. Rent a car, and go down to Bodrum and eat down there. Also, a side trip to Gumusluk is a must. It is a very small town with some cute restaurants right on the beach. Fresh fish right from the water and fairly reasonable compared to anywhere else. One restaurant in Bodrum tried to charge us 250 Ytl ($200) for a fish for dinner. We argued and he knocked off 100 Ytl. Negotiate your fish price before you have them cook it.

Booked into the Marmara at the last minute after being let down by the Adahan in Yalikavak. It is a fabulous hotel with the best pitch in Bodrum (as long as you have a car or are happy to use taxis).
Views are breathtaking and the hotel has been designed to maximise them. But like many 'boutique' hotels, it is a bit caught up its own designed bottom. (Make sure you securely lock the glass doors of the loos in the reception area. If you don't they remain transparent!)
We drove from the airport using the web site directions but couldn't find the hotel. After driving around for an hour and several unhelpful phone calls we went into the Diamond of Bodrum hotel where a kind receptionist took pity on us and gave us a map and directions.
There is a hotel sign but it's tiny and says the word 'dinner' with Marmara written underneath in white. It's as though exclusivity takes preference over customer service. If you are driving, look for the Land Rover garage as you come into Bodrum and turn right just before.
Many of the reviews of this hotel mention high prices. But if you stay in a 5* you do expect to pay more. Also its location and the fact that there are no shops or bars in easy walking distance means you have to fork out.
With the Marmara it's not the prices but the perceived value of what's on offer. You feel you are paying well over the odds. The service is lovely and what you get is ok, there just isn't any wow factor. I can't remember staying in a 5* hotel anywhere in the world that charges extra for hot food at breakfast and the cost of spa treatments were stratospheric.
You could see that guests were simply not using the hotel facilities which you have to pay for - if they didn't have to.
Perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised about the prices given our experiences in Bodrum. If we found a restaurant full of Turks it was fine though pricy and poor value compared to Portugal, Spain and even Italy!
Yes, it was the end of the season and it hasn't been a great one for Turkish resorts but we were overcharged in several restaurants and bars. One evening in Yalikavak we were overcharged twice in different establishments! Bills bore no resemblance to prices on menus and when questioned they would argue saying we had picked the 50 lira, rather than 35 lira bottle of wine.
Initially we thought these were unfortunate, random experiences. By the end of the trip we knew better.