Samara Hotel

We selected Samara Hotel for a couple sun, sea and relaxation holiday in late July. The preliminary info regarding hotel's location (Near the highway) made me worried about the noise but after starting accommodation I realized that there is no noise pollution coming from the cars. After a quick check in at the front desk around 13:00 we were guided towards our room which was a little bit far from the main building and reception. Hotel has made restorations for some blocks and club rooms which has made them looking new but in my opinion the decoration and cabinets inside the rooms was mostly useless since there are a lot of drawers, shelfs and cabinets which have no use plus the door for the main clothes cabinet is missing. Normally this cabinet must be closed with a door. The balcony for the rooms has enough space for sitting and drinking a tea but in comparison with other hotel balconies it is small. There were kit boxes for shower cap, ear cleaning and etc but inside these boxes were empty. No toothpaste or shaving kit was put inside the bathroom but totally for a basic use it was clean and spacious enough plus bathrobes were summer style and comfortable. Unfortunately TV's at rooms are not smart TV's and you cannot watch Netflix or Youtube on these television. However the channels variety is good and there are a lot of premier Movie channels which you can enjoy. Now lets go to Food and Drinks: Totally the quality of food and drinks was good. You can find variety of alchoholic drinks with good and famous brands, cocktails are also nicely prepared with nice juice brands of Turkiye. You can find different types of red meat in all restaurants which is very important since a lot of hotels try to serve chicken and Turkey instead of red meat due to the costs at hotels. Specially there are some traditional nights such as Turkish night or seafood night which you can find a nice variety of food including different type of fish, kebap and etc. I congradulate the food and beverage manager. Snack restaurant of the hotel was functionaning as well serving nice snacks including Pizza, Pide, Burger and wraps. The quality of burgers were not very nice in my opinion but the rest was ok. Staff of the hotel were mostly smiling, kind and attentive except some chiefs above them. They knew their job very well. During the meal times at main restaurant immediately they found you and asked for drink and preparing the table. You were not left there without attention. Thanks to all those staff. Cleaning team was also nice, smiling face, saying good morning when you leave your room and polite. Cleaning at main restaurant, snack restaurant, rooms, swimming pools and other public areas was acceptable. Thanks to the cleaning team. Animation staff also tried to entertain guests inviting them to different activities but unfortunately I didnt get the real feeling of hospitality and warmness from this team. They could do surprises, enjoyable things, making guests smile and etc. This didnt happen during our stay. Guest relations office of the hotel got a big minus from my side due to not being so much attentive and kind against the guests. I could not find a chance to use any of A la Carte restaurant despite we were only 2 people. Imagine that this can happen and we could not use a la carte but guest relations office knows this, at least they could retaliate this issue by sending a small gift or a bottle of wine to make their guests happy but this never happened and I could not feel the hospitality of guest relations office at all. Firstly at hotels we are guests of their house, at the second stage we are customers. A small surprise or gift could clear completely the issue of not having a la carte during the stay. Guests profile as I could see was half Turkish and half foreigner during the approximately 85% hotel rooms occupation. There are a lot of children inside the hotel some of them shouting together with their parents therefore if you want to relax you will need to use adult pool or find somewhere at the beach to avoid such noises. Otherwise if you completely want pure relaxation you might avoid such hotels. The area of the hotel is approximately 70000 m2 but despite this big number you do not feel that you are in a big territory in my opinion. The hotel looks very compact and for a long walk you might not find a very long walking path. The positive thing with the territory is that it is flat without stairs which is a big problem in bodrum hotels. The beach of the hotel includes deck and sandy beach which deck is more suitable for relaxation and sandy beach more with children and noisy. I could expect such a hotel has a nice pier to use. Finally I want to evaluate the management of the hotel. I observed that the hotel general manager spends most of his time sitting at the main restaurant or at bars, time to time travelling around different areas of the hotel and talking, listening to people. This is very valuable and helps that things go much better at the hotel during the works. However as I mentioned already in my opinion guests do not get a warm feeling from the hotel management. We should not look at the guests as only customers. I think that price policy of the hotel has made this hotel a little bit busier than it could be but this must not cause to decrease the quality of the guests and quality of the way which management looks at its guests. Sense of hosting and hospitality should be blown to the guests before all commercial and business issues and as I mentioned already guest relations office plays an important role here.

Aras

This was our first time visiting Bodrum and staying at Hotel Samara, and it certainly won't be our last.

Before we even arrived, the communication from the reservations team and management was exceptional. I had a few questions and special requests before travelling, and every message was answered quickly, professionally and courteously. In my experience, many hotels can be quite vague before arrival, but Hotel Samara was the complete opposite. Every question was answered clearly, which gave us real confidence before our holiday even started.

Check in was smooth, welcoming and hassle free, and we were pleasantly surprised with a room upgrade. From that moment onwards, everything simply exceeded our expectations.

The hotel itself is beautiful, with stunning views, especially at sunrise and sunset. The atmosphere throughout the resort is relaxed, welcoming and perfect for families. We travelled as a family of five, with grown-up children, and every one of us thoroughly enjoyed the holiday.

The staff deserve a special mention. While some of the housekeeping and service staff speak limited English, they are genuinely warm, friendly and always willing to help. Their kindness and hospitality really stood out.

We're also big food lovers, so we were slightly sceptical about the all-inclusive dining after hearing mixed reviews about similar holidays. Thankfully, we had nothing to worry about. There was always plenty of choice, the food was fresh, and there was something for everyone at every meal.

Overall, from the facilities and dining to the rooms, cleanliness and customer service, we genuinely couldn't fault the hotel. We had a fantastic stay and would happily recommend Hotel Samara to couples, families and anyone looking for a relaxing holiday in Bodrum.

A wonderful first visit, and we look forward to returning.