This was the first 'beach' holiday i had every been on. We are both in our 40's so not classing ourselves as a mature couple yet.

We arrrive at 0730 after a delay this end of over 2 hours. the staff were wonderful and showed us to our room. which faced the courtyard garden. room was clean and well equiped. we were sleeping in it not spending the whole week in it.
We went for breakfast which was plentiful and fresh - the bread and rolls were second to none. the fresh eggs and ommlettes made to order. i had absolutely no complaints with the staff and the service as it was first class.

we spend the first day just chilling on the beach and by the pool. Both had a bar adjacent to them. there was also a bar in the lobby.

We went for our evening meal which was no different from beaskfast time - meaning that the food was excellent and the service impectible.

There is plenty to do outside the hotel and walking into Bodrum town centre was down hill all the way and only too a good 10 minutes - hard climb up the hill back but a taxi only costs £2.50.

Keep away from Gumbet - drove via it a few times and it looks like blackpool in Turkey and have been advised by a couple that moved from there to our hotel that it was.

The water taxi operates just at the end of the private beach and takes direct into the marina in Bodrum. Went suba diving which was amazing to actually be swiming with fish. the worst experience was going to the market.

All in all - this hotel was first class - unfortunately i cannot get photos to attach to this review - but the photos i have are way better than the ones in the brochure and i would definately have no hesitation on returning next year.

I booked the holiday for the two of us through Hayes Travel who in turn booked through XL Holidays who subcontracted out the holiday to Kosamar Holidays based in Turkey. This of course made any issues difficult to deal with prior to the holiday starting as neither Hayes or XL wanted to discuss the fact that we had read some bad reports of the Salmakis Hotel & Spa on Trip Advisor. They kept referring us to each others company.

We arrived at 2:00am after a long afternoons travel the previous day only to find that the beds not only lacked pillows but there was a large part of the room without furniture which we rightly assumed should have contained some easy chairs and a coffee table. The pillows turned up straight away but the other furniture took 4 days (after many visits to reception and finally a sharp word from our rep). When the chairs did arrive one of them had dried cats poo on the underside of the cushion. However we realised complaining was futile. The TV remote didn’t work rendering the TV all but useless but that wasn’t a high priority on our holiday.

The room itself was not like any I had seen on any website. It was starkly decorated with white floor tiles, very basic wardrobes and two very hard beds, (it was like sleeping on a breezeblock and resting your head on a house brick). Cleanliness and room services were very inconsistent.

Their seems to be two standards of accommodation at the Salmakis, the Hotel rooms you see on all of the publicity (which is where I assumed we would have been staying) and the Resort rooms which are not to be found anywhere online or any brochure. Check this one out before you book, there is a great difference in standard and comfort.

During our welcome meeting (which was delayed due to the rep being informed by the hotel reception staff that no-one was waiting), we booked to go on a package of extra excursions with our rep. A Turkish bath (which was moderately OK, we paid an extra £50:00 for an oil based massage); a boat trip (which we both refused to go on as it appeared overcrowded, very loud with club music beating from the speakers and more worryingly a lack of sufficient lifesaving equipment). Finally in the package we purchased a shopping excursion which amongst other places took us to a local shop (described as a bazaar) selling Turkish delight, Viagra honey - oh how we laughed!!!!! and allegedly fake accessories), and finally the Bodrum Gold centre which reminded us of a poor Elizabeth Dukes jewellery counter at Argos.

The history commentary on our tour given by our rep taught us that Bodrum was made popular by a gay singer called Musti (that shut them up!!) and the social observation informed us that unlike the UK, Turkish children are safe from paedophiles, a comment we both found deeply insulting. The rep was to be fair very helpful and obliging. However he, and it seems the whole of Bodrum have obviously decided where its market lay, hence he was forced to sell mediocre excursions albeit for a reasonable cost.

The Salmakis hotel drinks were very expensive as is most of Bodrum. There are a few reasonable places to eat and drink in the town but you must go off the beaten track to find it, like most tourist centres I suppose. We had a half board deal for the holiday, the breakfasts and dinners were good value if you remembered you were in Turkey and not a major EC country and compared it with what you could find in the local restaurants.

Bodrum purports to be the hottest place in Turkey however having returned after 15 years the only difference I noticed were the higher prices (apparently brought about by the high taxation of alcohol by the new traditional Turkish government). The Hotel staff were mixed, the restaurant and bar staff were very attentive, friendly and chatty, but the majority of reception staff were downright rude and dismissive in their manner. The managers made no attempt to interact with the punters either! As one member of staff suggested to us “there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians”.

The general pool area was spacious and clean however I think it would be a tight fit in the high season.

After some exploration we found a nice quiet cove and beach about 10 minutes walk from the hotel between Bodrum and Gumbet on a rocky peninsula. If you can see over the inordinate amounts of litter and rubbish swept up on the shore it is truly great. We spent many days lying in the relaxing atmosphere of a sandy cove. The land is private and somewhat fenced off, but with some perseverance there is some interesting wildlife and sights to be found along the shores.

So without ranting any further here are a few thoughts after discussions with other holidaymakers we met:

Before booking a room at the Salmakis and any extra excursions;
1.Check what style of room you will have at the hotel and don’t take a room if you don’t like it, once in it is difficult to change.

2.When booking a boat trip, ask how many people will be on the trip and of course the size of the boat. Check what food is on offer and if they are covered by insurances.

3.When booking the holiday check what exactly is included in the price of the holiday in terms of health club, meals and drinks.

The highlights:
1.Dolmus buses (cheap quick rides to and from town).
2.Small quiet coves around Bodrum and Gumbet.
3.The food at the hotel (on most nights).
4.The swimming pool and facilities, it was one of the few places that didn’t blast out load music.
5.The lively traditional Turkish seaside town centre of Bodrum – avoid Gumbet at all costs.
6.The fantastic weather.
7. The view from our room.
8.Initial price of the holiday – yes you really do get what you pay for – honest!

PS we did complete a guest questionnaire but as no-one saw us out of the hotel when we left we decided it would have only gone in the bin anyway!!

We were travelling with a 10 month old baby, and stayed in the Salmakis Resort (not the Hotel part), since we thought that this would be more suitable for people with kids. These are our complaints:
When we arrived after a long day of travelling with a baby, we were told that they do not have a reservation for us (this is after I phoned the previous day to confirm our reservation and date of arrival and everything was ok). We argued with them for about an hour, after which they got the manager who miraculously "found" the reservation on the computer. When we got to our room, it was absolutely filthy - the bed was full of sand, the floor was dirty, the glasses weren’t cleaned, the "minibar" was a rusty old fridge with damaged cans of fizzy drinks. There were no cold water coming from the taps, the toilet didn’t flush properly. When we made the reservation we also booked a cot for our baby, but this wasn't provided when we got to the room. We phoned reception to ask for it - after waiting for 5.5 hours, it finally arrived - without a matress!! This was at 23h00 at night and our child was screaming for her bed by now. We were forced to make a makeshift mattress out of our own 2 pillows and a folded blanket - which meant we didn't have any pillows to sleep on ourselves. We asked for extra pillows the next day, but only got it 4 days into our stay. There were no baby food for sale at the resort, and nothing suitable on the menu, which she could eat. When we asked where we could find babyfood, they told us that "ready made baby food" is not for sale in Turkey. So my child (having no teeth) had to have yoghurt for breakfast, yoghurt for lunch and yoghurt for dinner for the 9 days that we stayed. We asked to have a kettle in the room, so we could boil water to make formula milk (which we brought with us), but were told that this is not possible. We therefore had to buy extra water to do this, in addition to our own drinking water – about 8l in total per day. The air conditioner in the room leaked on top of our bed where the pillows were supposed to be. So we had to turn it off at night when it was very hot and uncomfortable. We also thought that it was really expensive in the resort. A 2l bottle of drinking water is equivalent to €2, a glass of beer was about €4. The waiters were generally friendly, but there were about 5 waiters, and the dining room caters for more than 300 people at a time, which effectively meant that you ended up getting the drinks you ordered 20 minutes after you finished your meal. There are also vast areas of the resort which looks as if it's been unused for a while, and is generally falling into disrepair - such as a huge TV room, and a massive meeting / conference area - the windows and doors are wide open and are not locked up at night, so the whole place is full of dust and sand and leaves blowing in the breeze. In terms of pool side music they only have 2 CD's - the one has Turkish type of rock music and the other one elevator Celine Dion music. It drives you mental after day 3. Normally we are easy going travellers, but this place just felt like a total rip-off, money grabbing scheme!

This is a lovely hotel that is spread out over a relatively large area. Part of Bodrum (including the castle) can be seen across the bay, and getting to Bodrum town itself is simple. Either go on the more expensive water taxi at the right hand side of the beach near the water sports, or go outside the hotel and up the small hill, cross the road and catch the metro bus, which, although small (it carries about 20 people if you cram in) comes every 5 mins, takes about 15 mins and only cost TYL1.40 each... about 60p!

The rooms have a tv, the towels and bed linen are changed every day and the bathroom was very clean. Some people might say the rooms are something on the small side but we found it to be fine for us - why stay in when there's so much to do outside??

The pool is a lovely - large, clean and lots of sunbeds/ large cushions to lounge on. The beach has nice sand and we had no problem getting a sunbed each day. The water is crystal clear, I'd recommend getting a snorkel to look at all the small fish around.

Only two minor niggles. For us it was no problem but elderly people, or those with prams/ wheelchairs will have some difficulty going up and down the stairs. Drinks are expensive - a coke cost TYL5 (about £2) when it costs 3 times less in the town. Some people on other sites have mentioned they were not allowed to bring water in from town, but we didn't have this at all. Best to get all your drinks from bodrum or gumbet!

We had no qualms with the staff at all. My girlfriend is Turkish so obviously there was no language barrier for her (and therefore me too!), but I found that all the staff were very friendly and polite.

All in all this was a very enjoyable experience, and I would recommend this hotel to anyone