The Atami Hotel is situated in total isolation on one of the most beautiful bays in Turkey. (Believe me, I've been married to a Turkish wife for almost 25 years and have been traveling to Turkey almost every summer.) Multi-million dollar yachts are hard-pressed to find a better place to anchor, yet they are careful not to disturb the peace and quiet. I wish that I could say something nice about the recently constructed 32-room Atami Hotel, but I frankly cannot. It's a pretentious architectural disaster with its huge, poorly air-conditioned, largely empty reception and public areas. Its bedrooms are cramped, the bathrooms smell faintly of sewage from the shower drain. The stairwells have large iron-wrought senseless grates, the steps inside and out are uneven, the hallways tilted, some water pipes even protrude from underfoot. To be sure, there is a billiard table in one room, books on bookshelves under lock and key, and a good-sized television set with DVD player. However, the 3 available English DVDs are scratched and almost unplayable. In the basement there's an exercise room with a sorry collection of exercise machines and--incongrously enough--a squash court, none of which look like they have ever been used.
Outside there's a very large and attractive pool. It's nowhere less than five feet deep and, though the hotel advertises that it does not accommodate them, two young children were staying there while we were. It's only a matter of time before the lawsuits begin!
The Atami is promoted as a family-run hotel. In our two days there, we never once saw the Turkish father or the Japanese mother, just their dour and very cryptic twin daughters. We had no car and though it had been represented that there was a free shuttle into Bodrum, it turned out there was but one roundtrip per day, leaving at 8pm and coming back at 11, not to Bodrum but a nearby town from which one could get a taxi costing about $30 each way! As for the promised Japanese menu, it could only be specially ordered a day in advance. The Turkish food was only fair, served by waiters as well-meaning as they were young and painfully inexperienced. The advertised yoga classes were by appointment, and only if the instructor happened to be available--which she wasn't.
So why stay at the Atami? I can't begin to imagine! We wouldn't have stayed even one night once we saw it, but then we had a one-week reservation and could only get five days worth of our money back. As an alternative, I would heartily recommend the Hotel El Vino in Bodrum. Enjoy its warm hospitality, swim in beautiful pool, eat its excellent Turkish cuisine overlooking the Bodrum Castle and bay, enjoy the nearby Bodrum nightlife, and be sure to rent a boat to take you to Atami's wonderful bay. Believe me, it will cost you no more and you'll be infinitely happier than staying at the Atami Hotel.