More about ArtBodrum Hotel
We love Turkey but not the!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by TripAdvisor Member IanNTracy
Hi all.My partner & 2 children have just returned from the Art bodrum hotel & have mixed feelings about this place.We booked a family room for 4 people but on arrival we found that the air con was broken & it took 5 days for them to change our room & put us in a family room for 3 people,We explained that there was 4 of us so they threw a mattress on the floor to make up as the fourth bed.When we told them that the room was not big enough they said "Hotel is full".Food was ok as there was a half decent choice.The beer & Vodka is definately watered down,They serve drinks in a large plastic beaker with about 1 inch off Vodka then fill it to the top with warm cola or fanta.Free drinks ends at 11.00pm and after that you have to pay.The staff always went by the clock in the bar even though this was 20mins fast,We checked our watches with other holiday makers but the staff were adamant that theirs was at the correct time.Nothing to do for children as all games were adult orientated,Water polo,Darts,Volleyball.Basketball,Childrens mini disco was for half hour at 21.30pm then it was bad adult entertainment until 23.00pm.Dont have phoographs taken on site as they charge £3.00 each,They took us to the beach & took loads of photos of us.They load them onto a laptop & show you.They asked us for £275.00 for our photos.Due to lack of funds at the end of our holiday we only bought 12 but these still cost us £36.00.Also there are loads of steps,Approx 120 from our room to the bar.In hot weather this can be a bit of a problem.On the night before we left one of the staff informed me that a new tour operator was taking over & that no English would be allowed to book that hotel in the future.The weather whilst we were there was between 42 -45 degrees everyday & will get hotter for the next month.I read the reviews about this hotel & 99.9% of them are true.Please think before you book this hotel, Ian,Tracy & kids x
Not for foodies, great for smokers!
by TripAdvisor Member Universal-Traveller1
Rooms – there are 2 types – i.e. in the main body of the hotel (hotel rooms) and then there are the club rooms (sounds good, but sounds much better than it actually is) – these are located outside the main body of the hotel and scattered in groups of 4 around the grounds
We moved twice in the first 6 hours as the first 2 rooms that we were given absolutely reeked of smoke (not just a faint aroma, but embedded in the bedding, curtains etc)
The 3rd room we were given was ok – we had a terrace that you could sit out on with a sea view (although you had to stand up to see it)
Rooms are not overly spacious, but liveable with for a week – if you don’t travel light a fortnight could be hard work
Getting to the club rooms is hard work – there is only a lift serving the hotel rooms, so anyone who struggles with steps (and there are quite a lot) will find this a difficult complex to get around – we arrived at approx 4am and the entire complex was in total darkness (not even emergency lights), so getting to our first and second rooms was an experience – quite a dangerous one at that and not recommended
The majority of rooms (hotel and club) have “French” balconies – this means that they don’t have tables and chairs to sit out on as it isn’t even a type of balcony that you can stand on – recommend that you request club rooms with a terrace
Location – the Art Bodrum is in Bitez, which is a 15-20 minute walk away from Gumbet – downhill all the way (add on 30-45 minutes if you fancy the walk into Bodrum) – coming back is a bit of a pull for those less able. However, you can flag down a local dolmus anywhere on the way and they will stop (drop you off at the hotel door on the way back) – and it’s just 2 Turkish Lira (slightly less than £1) to go all the way to Bodrum (it costs 2 lira however far you travel in one direction between the hotel and Bodrum or back)
Check-in – basic, but serves the purpose (se above re arrival)
Cleanliness – not great, Turks working for other people appear to lack something of a work ethic
Service – expect to make up your own bed on a daily basis as the maid believes that taking the top sheet and making a pattern out of it is preferable to actually putting it on the bed properly with the top cover over it (this is usually just plonked anywhere)
Restaurant – is not a gourmets delight nor should you expect to get any decent level of service from the waiters, who are more intent on clearing food trays away as quickly as possible, as they get all the leftovers (imagine the surprise of one of them when he tried to remove what was left of the puddings and my wife intercepted him as we hadn’t had any at all!)
All Inclusive – is as poor as anywhere that we’ve ever stayed (the worst being in Tunisia) – food is edible without any real choice and when trays of food are emptied they are rarely replenished irrespective of how long there is left of dining time! Breakfast, lunch or dinner!
There is only 1 main bar (pool bars close at 6pm) and this, despite Goldtrail and other sites claims, does not serve AI after 11pm – drinks, hot or cold, are all served in plastic vending machine beakers, or a slightly more solid plastic beaker if you make the point to the bar staff Tip: take your glass from the restaurant after you have finished your meal and use this for your bar drinks – it may only be psychological, but they will taste better
Entertainment – pretty much make your own every night – occasional attempt at “Belly Dancing” – this involves getting 4 female holidaymakers to do all the work - no professional turns up – or Mr Art Bodrum night for the guys who want to do the “entertainers” work for him
Places to see – Turgutreis Market is worth a visit; Bodrum has lots of bars, shops, restaurants, a castle and a nice harbour; Gumbet is quite lively at night – try Smileys restaurant and bar if you fancy a quiet meal – you won’t actually get a quiet meal as the waiters put on an energetic dancing session for hours, but it is pretty good fun and they get all the ladies to join in and the food’s ok; Turkish night at Kervansaray on the way to Bodrum is also a good night out (I’d load the pictures of me belly dancing, but you really don’t want to see those!) – one of the acts is a knife act and if he was a lager he would probably be the worst in the world!
The terrace at the side of the “main” bar has a beautiful view over Bitez harbour and you get a great view of sunsets over the mountains – this is probably the best I can say for this hotel
Recommend – not the Art Bodrum if you expect to get a decent fully inclusive holiday – if you don’t mind spending money outside the hotel then it’s not a bad base for a week; not suitable at all for people who having walking difficulties – even if you get a hotel room you still have to go up and down a fair number of steps to get to the restaurant and it’s really not worth the effort
Has Potential to be Really Good
by TripAdvisor Member squidge21
My boyfriend and I have just got back from staying at this hotel for 2 weeks in Gumbet and we had a great holiday there.
I was a little worried because of all the bad reviews on this hotel but these people are just being really picky. For what we paid for it, it was good. You want a better place, then pay more. We got there around 6 am so I was not in a good mood anyway from flight being delayed and such, the reception staff there were not very welcoming and could hardly speak english. (In comparison to the rest of the hotel staff).
Our club room was fine, a little small but we didnt care, we wouldnt be spending that much time in it. Our air con worked fine which was good and everywhere was clean and tidy. Housekeeping came everyday and gave us clean towels and blankets, the sheets were changed a couple of times a week. The shower always leaked because the seal was rubbish and out mat was always ringing wet after, but as the maid changed it everyday it wasnt much of a problem.
The food was okay and there was a big selection, always all kinds of salad, different meat each day and vegetarian dishes. I never got up for breakfast but my boyfriend said that it wasnt brilliant. After a while it gets repetative so we did spend money out in restaurants a few times, a little more than you should have to on an all inclusive holiday but it was okay. The drinks were okay, they had (watered down) vodka, gin, raki, wine, beer, pepsi, sprite and fanta. You have to pay after 11pm even though you've been standing in the queue at 20 minutes to 11. One night my boyfriend approached the manager about it and he just pretended he didnt understand and walked off, this was really rude.
Entertainment was okay, sometimes a little boring and if you've stayed there a week then youll be watching the same thing the next week. There is a lot of german, dutch and russians there so he did say a lot of things in other languages and it got frustrating at times. And there was definitly favourtism going on at times. They had a bingo night, turkish night, mrs bodrum art, mr bodrum art and a couples night. One night they had a moonlight cruise around bodrum which came to 34 lira for both of us. This was a complete waste of money and they made it sound so good when they were selling it. We went to a small boat, had to take off our shoes, sit on these damp small cushions and in complete darkness for 3 hours while the entertainment guy fell asleep. on the friday they had a beach party but we never went because of how bad the cruise was.
There is 3 pools, one by the bottom bar that does play the same music all day, a quieter one which we always went to, and one at the top near the main hotel but we never went to it. The pools had ants nests around them near some of the walls which wasnt very nice.
The photographer is rubbish, he took us to the beach and some were nice but he has no idea about colour casting or exposure. I only brought some of ours because I know how to correct them on computer software. The photographer, the hairdresser, the entertainment and the turkish bath guys come around everyday bothering you which was a little annoying.
Gumbet is really nice and this hotel being on a hill is not a problem as there is a bus every 5 minutes. Also a free shuttle to the bitez beach at certain times. We had a great holiday here and you will too if you are not too picky about small things.
Hi to Jane and Peter if your reading this! ;)
Hated it
by TripAdvisor Member Cherrypink
I am writing this on behalf of my inlaws who went here last week. Oh My Gums where do we start! this place needs a good clean, wouldn't give the food to a pig and the staff if they had smiled would have cracked their faces. If you are into malt vinagar then drink lots of the wine, and if you want loads of excerise this is the place as there are stairs to every section of the hotel. They call this a 4 star we would personally give it a 1 star as this is not worth the money we paid and the standard of this hotel is more like a hostle.
If you do go then take your own towel, bed sheets, BBQ, mini bar, food, fresh juice, hotel, bed and entertainment as this was also very poor. 1 good thing is you can get a good beer.
We booked this holiday through Media Travel and is was totaly misold to us we are now going down the route of complaining as this was the worst holiday we have ever been on. We would never go back to this hotel and it did not leave us with a good impression on Turkey as we also couldn't get hold of the rep ( which we had to call from our hotel phone 3 calls £15 )
Never, never again. We will stick to real 4 star hotel. Rubbish!
If you have any questions please feel free to email me.
decent
by TripAdvisor Member danutz79
Unless you're a very demanding person, you will probably have a good time at this hotel. The room was ok, we were lucky enough to get a room with a terrace, so evenings were lovely. Staff seemed bored most of the time and not exactly polite (as in Egypt for e.g.) but bearable or at least ignorable.
Food gets repetitive after two or three days, but there's enough stuff you can get to make you happy.
It is not a 4 star hotel by any means, or at least not by European standards (it's actually barely a 3 European stars), but it has a good quality-price rate and Bodrum is lovely, even in August, when it gets to 45 degrees. You can barely feel the heat since the wind is rather strong and thank god for that!
The hotel has two outdoor swimming pools, one of them being just lovely and large.
There are nicer hotels in the near vicinity, so you might wanna do a thorough check before choosing, but it also depends on the money you're willing to spend. Nevertheless, Bodrum itself is a cool place, mainly for young couples, since the nightlife is great and there's plenty stuff to visit. If you do go there, you must take the night yacht ride, which is incredibly romantic.
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