The hotel is famous with its great location and superb sea. It is probably the best beach hotel in Turkey. The beach and the staff at the beach is great. We stayed at the standart room which is quite nice. Room service is very good. But, there are certain issues with the restaurants and bars. Although the meals are very delicious , they are quite expensive. There are 4 restaurants. 1st one is open buffet 2nd is Italian food, the 3rd is Asian food and 4 th is the fish restaurant. We are very supprised that children are not allowed to the Italian rest. although kids love Italian food. If you don't prefer having fish or asian food the only choice you have is open buffet. We had to move to Bodrum for dinner to have a reasonable meal. The service on the beach was great but it is not possible to say the same for the pool service as well. We couldn't drink a cup of coffee or tea after 6 o'clock since there is no service staff to serve at the gazebo lounge or at the pool area. So, great location, delicious foods, but problems with service on certain areas.

This is amazing hotel. Nice and helpfull front desk personel. Waiters very helpfull. The kitchen is various of tastes.The hotel is located on the cost.I can say privet cost in very quite place without many turists. Big, clean and fantastic swimming pool. Sitting inside see water from pool and dirlect view on bay.A lot of sunchairs and personel who serves towels. 100 meters down you have privet beach with watersports and restaurant. What is helpfull, there is a special button on your sunchair. If you press it the waiters will come and take an order (eat and drink).
If you have enough of sun and lazyness you could rent a car and go to Efez, amazing ancient town. It is located 180 km from Kempinski hotel.

This is for me the best I have seen in Turkey and Europe lately. it beats some places in Dubai as it is better desgined, more thought through and more efficiently managed to the smallest detail. I disagree with other reviewers who described it as soulless, etc.

In short here are the big PLUSES

= Poolarea = this must be the most spectacular infinity pool done. Extremely clean, top water quality and a nice decking to sit in the sun with impeccable service. Should also mention the Gym with lots of new machines in polished condition.

= Rooms = standard room is not overly spacy but decoration and functions are all there. for me important is a VERY efficient AirCon which makes no noise, just great.

= food = I read of prev reviewers picking on the Vietnamese Restaurant which by now is Asian Fusion Food *a bit like Nobu, the management had listened to critique and moved ahead, quite good is the Olive Buffet, which is unlike an usual buffet in the Med, very refined. and the highlight is the fish restaurant on the beach = not cheap but the quality is very good. we heard of a new Italian beeing build right now at the old nightclub site, ready in fall which might get a top chef from Italy for a few months. Food in the Hotel is not cheap, its about 20% below London, but the quality 100% warrants it, if you like local fare, you can go to Chiflik Gardens in the neighbour town and have dinner for 30 Euro for the whole family, Also Breakfast worth mentioning = till 12, supergreat when you just flown in from the UK w 2h time difference.

= people who work there =
this is a selection of really pretty locals who are very nicely dressed and very well trained to make a stay a great experience,
a short look and they move, having in mind the full happiness of the customer, the investment in training must have been quite substantial! We had a chat w Axel Ludwig, the GM, who is quite open to critic and suggestions but has a great vision how to position this Hotel with a well distributed international crowd = foremost Turkish, Germans, CIS, UK.

=the site or location =
this is unspoilt territorry, not like in Spain or Baleares, where every strip of land has been overbuilt, you look from the terrace and the land is just the way it was for 1000s of years. what a trip for the senses, Getting to Bodrum by the way, is 15 minutes, and if you stay in Barbaros Bay, Bodrum might be not worth more than a short trip = its noisy, dirty, heggling in restaruants with overpriced fish dishes, and the main crowd there are 1Star or 2Star British holidayers, tattooed up, etc.

Here are a few MINUSES which you might consider or they might not apply to your holiday needs

= small sandy beach
= no nightclub on site
= no town within walking distance

So this is as close as you can get to paradise, but below the surface its lots of work, good Hotel management, top kitchen staff etc, lets not forget that, we paid 200 euro for a room incl breakfast and I thought this is worth every cent!

May I ask everyone woh disagrees with my review to drop me a short mail, thanks.

We stayed at the Kempınskı Barbaros Bay at the end of May for a conference and enjoyed the facılıtıes very much. 5 Star prıces accompany the 5 Star venue as expected. The servıce was excellent and frıendly and we had no ıssues wıth language or communıcatıon. The pool area was wonderful wıth many loungers avaılable even though the hotel was full and a gorgeous ınfınıty pool. The beach area takes a map to get to ıf you are walkıng but agaın there ıs lots of space there. No loud musıc at eıther loungıng venue so great for relaxıng. I also lıked the chıll out area at the pool where you could sıt ın the shade but stıll be outsıde.
We ate at the beach grıll twıce and had lovely fresh fısh and seafood (but ın May you may stıll need to brıng a sweater or shawl to keep warm ıf the breeze ıs up) and the breakfast buffet and dınner buffet was excellent each tıme.
Our room was spotless and we loved the Molton Brown products and the excellent bıg showers and good lıghtıng ın the bathrooms, plus lots of complımentary bottled water. The power saver mechanısm ın our room was a bıt faulty though and sometımes we were ın the room and the lıghts would all go out! Beds very comfy wıth a pıllow menu.
I thınk the pros of beıng ın a quıet locatıon wıth a prıvate beach and great servıce outweıgh the potentıal con of beıng away from Bodrum ıtself (the hotel has a shuttle to take you ınto town ıf you wısh to shop or sıghtsee). Thıs ıs a great place to stay ıf you want rest and relaxatıon (and the Sıx Senses Spa ıs wonderful) but ıf you are lookıng for nıghtlıfe every nıght you may wısh to stay somewhere ın Bodrum ıtself. We dıd a mıx of both as the conference was for the Company whıle our stay ın Bodrum was on our own dıme so we dıdn't go 5 star for the other part of our trıp where we stayed ın Bodrum central (see separate revıew of The Aegean Gate hotel whıch we can also recommend).