hello.
we are a family of four from Finland, our twins are almost 8 yrs. we spent one week at bodrum imperial first week of October. the weather was fantastic, almost +30 C and sunshine everyday. it was the low season, so there were no lines or rush anywhere, enough of sun beds for everyone, enough of food at the buffet and good service. so really a relaxed athmosphere which was we were after. however we noticed that the kitchen started to use the leftovers from the previous day in the buffet, but after all that is of course ecological to do. the food at the best was really really good, we enjoyed the turkish evening and the italian evening with freshly made pasta sauce. the japanese evening sushi was a little bit dry. breakfast juice was chargeable ie 2 euros but the omelettes made to order were free.
the drinks for adults and kids were good, and the bartenders really service minded.
the hotel rooms were quite basic, beds a little bit hard but the bedrooms size was big enough. pool area was appreciated by our kids and daily water aerobic good fort the adults. we also played pool and pingis. the sea and beach were fantastic, our kids snorkled among the fish and the water was really clean. the Bodrum city is 20 mins away with the dolmus bus, and we visisted the oasis shopping centre which had shops like mango, gap, lacoste etc.
The drawback is that you do not expereince too much of real Turkey in a resort like this but anyway as a family we needed to relax and just spend time together, and this hotel served that purpose well.

I have to echo the previous review. I'm wondering whether the other reviewer's stayed in a different hotel, because it's certainly not how I found the Bodrum Imperial.

I was initially impressed on arrival, as the bell boy whisked away our luggage and we were offered refreshing cocktails - but I quickly realised that that was about as good as it gets. We arrived on 29th September and were informed at the welcome meeting, that the hotel would be closing on 13th October on our departure.... and boy didn't we know it! The staff spent the entire fortnight closing the place down.

We traveled with our two children aged 7 and 1. We chose this hotel specifically because of the 'family' theme. It quickly became apparent that the hotel was not particularly child-friendly nor safe. My children spent the majority of the time on their backsides due to the treacherous conditions within the hotel, although the pool was particularly dangerous. The main pool is vast, very deep and not particularly well designed. It is also very, very cold even in good weather. The 'helter-skelter' slide is operated occasionally and good fun when in use.
The children's pool is shallow, although once again it is very cold - therefore unsuitable for young children. It is also very difficult to navigate with a buggy due to limited space and you would struggle to fit more than 2 or 3 families around this pool. The pool side is dangerous for toddlers due to slippery surfaces. All pools are clean and well maintained.

The main restaurant offers a separate children's menu and dining area - although this was withdrawn part way through our stay despite a number of children on site?!
Initially I was impressed with the food - both the quality and choice, however it is extremely repetitive, to the point of being offered the same meal 4 times on the run. Once again, the buffet menu was withdrawn during our stay and we were instead forced to order food. The waiting times for the food was excessive, which made mealtimes difficult with young children.
The snack bar offers the same food everyday - pizza, burger etc. The snack bar was only open for the first week of our stay before it was closed completely. Same applies to the beach bar. And a la carte restaurant. And mini-golf. And water sports..... When the snack bar was open, the food was mostly uncovered and of course, swarming with flies!

The staff within the hotel are mostly very friendly, but if traveling with children you will be hounded 90% of the time, especially meal times. They do mean well, but occasionally it would be nice to have a meal undisturbed.

The hotel boasts a Parent and Child room - it contains bottle warmers, microwave, travel cots and steriliser - however despite several requests we did not have any facilities within our 'family' room to heat bottles. The hotel advertise kettles at extra cost, however even after agreeing to pay - we did not receive any equipment to heat bottles. We resorted to running the hot tap in the bathroom to heat baby milk - which was a pleasure during the night feeds.

We had a 2 bed family room. We paid additional for a Mothercare cot, as opposed to a travel cot and I'm glad we did. The room was spacious, but I don't feel that it was 4 star standard. We had an old portable t.v. and one english channel. We had a small fridge, however the hotel do not offer a mini-bar - they don't even supply water to the room!!
The beds are extremely uncomfortable and the bedding was insufficient for the time of year. We spent the final week freeeeeeeeezing at night.
The bathrooms were difficult to use with a baby, due to the bath having a fixed shower screen - I had to stand in the bath to reach the taps around the screen. It was impossible to bath our baby without being in the bath with her.
The maid service is basic, however towels are changed daily. After making a complaint about dirty floors within the room, a fellow guest was given slippers by the hotel rather than a clean floor!

The site offers kids clubs and a creche. My son attended a few of the kids club sessions, however he was often the only child in attendance and therefore he was understandably reluctant to attend. Due to the lack of guests, the clubs seemed to lack structure. The reps organised a variety of games throughout the day, which provided some short term entertainment for children.
The creche's have 2 main sessions per day (10-12 and 1-3). Staff were friendly and the babies who attended seemed mostly content. The site offers a soft play area for babies, however it is outdoor therefore it gets very hot in good weather and very wet in bad weather.
During the evenings, tea time children's entertainment is provided, which commences at 8.30pm and lasts for 1 hour. I did find this a little late for my youngest (1 yr), but my eldest (7 yrs) enjoyed himself. Loud music continues throughout the evening, until midnight - if this isn't your bag then it's essential to make sure your room is not located anywhere near the entertainment. We were in block 7 which is opposite the entertainment area and pool bar - we found the music and late night drinkers made it difficult to sleep until after 1am.

I personally won't be returning to this hotel - during the second week of our stay the hotel was closed down around our ears. Sunbeds/umbrellas were removed, rooms were stripped of furniture, bars/restaurants were closed, yet I paid the same price as customers who's stayed 4 weeks prior and they'd benefited from all of the facilities. I have never felt so unwelcome on a holiday.

We've just returned from a 2 week stay here. I feel a little bad for what is about to be a negative review because there was much about this hotel that we really enjoyed. We paid extra for a suite and got a 2 bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms, 2 balconies, a living room - kitchen (with a proper cooker although no plates, pots utensils - not that we needed them), and a big corner whirlpool bath in the main bedroom. It overlooked the pool and had lovely views out to sea. We had a massive amount of space and the rooms were overall very pleasant aside from a couple of minor maintenance issues that were quickly dealt with. The building, grounds and beach area are all very pretty and kept very clean and tidy. As others have said, most of the staff were very friendly and helpful. Arriving at 3am with 3 cases, a buggy and a grumpy toddler, we received a very warm welcome from a porter and the receptionist, were offered sandwiches and our luggage was whisked off to our room for us where there were bottles of water in the fridge for us. Simple but nice touches. I had been a little concerned that the cot we'd booked for our 20 month old was going to be a travel cot as the mattresses for these are thin and uncomfortable but found there was a good, thick, soft mattress.

We'd booked to go here entirely because of its Thomson "Family Friendly" rating. My husband and I aren't big fans of package poolside holidays - but our first priority was that our wee girl would have fun. If she's happy and relaxed then we could relax too. The fact that there's a shallow children's pool with little water slides just the right height for her. We were anticipating long days of splashing about the pool. Back on dry land we were pleased with all the other options to keep her entertained. However....

...the swimming pools were absolutely freezing! My daughter (having first of all begged to be taken in when we arrived in the middle of the night to the point of bursting) screamed with distress and simply refused to go in because it was so cold! She certainly wasn't the only one. There were many other families with small children there but the kids pool was often empty. In fact the children's pool was the coldest of all 3 because fresh cold water was constantly being pumped into it via the little water slides. We watched other small children scream at being taken into the pools by their parents and many others had to give up on the pools too. One couple we spoke to had an inflatable dingy and put a couple of inches of water in that for their 8 month old to splash about in, while their 4 year old had short bursts in the pool until he was chittering and had to come out regularly to warm up! Not what they saved up for 18 months to do with their kids!

So with the pool out of the picture we made good use of one of the play areas - in fact it was usually far busier with children than the pools! However the "soft play" was a big let down. I wasn't expecting a full-scale soft-play facility that you get in the UK but this was a tiny area, padded in the usual way, but it was outdoors, dirty and only contained a few big foam shapes. It's supposed to be suitable for 0-3 year olds but our 20 month old was bored with it in a few minutes. We planned to take her to toddler time sessions at the kids club but they were at the same time every day (3.30pm) which is during her naptime so we never got use of this. We tried the beach too but the sand was coarse and pebbly (not really the hotel's fault) so we didn't much enjoy that. If we'd been in a regular resort in a town we could have gone out walking and exploring more but this place is out in the sticks and we didn't fancy the trek to Bodrum etc. Keeping our daughter entertained for 2 whole weeks with limited props (on top of 2 bouts of illness) was a feat of endurance for us at times rather than the fun relaxing holiday we'd hoped for. I'm so disappointed!

On other issues, I'm amazed at the positive write-ups some have given the food. It was mediocre in both variety and quality. The show cooking was nice but 75% of the time it was some form of pasta which I enjoy but reckon is a bit cheap. Everything else was canteen quality not restaurant quality. There are "child friendly" food options such as burgers, chips and pizza but it was the same stuff day in day out and all frozen or the most watery neopolitan pasta sauce I've ever seen. We're flexible eaters and enjoy trying new foods, new cultures and we managed to find something to eat each day but didn't have one restaurant quality meal that we especially enjoyed.

As before the staff are very friendly and give the kids a lot of time and attention however if you've got a kid with a fear of strangers though this is not the place for you. A few waiters became a little overbearing and overfamiliar at times.

The other downside was the entertainment - or rather its location. Our poolview room came at a massive disadvantage as the evening entertainment is outdoors at the poolside with a fully sound-equipped stage which was unbearably noisy until 11.30pm. It was like being a Glastonbury at times. We could feel the base vibrating throught the floor and bed, and couldn't even concentrate to read at times never mind sleep! With a young tot who gets up early in the morning, our late nights are over so this was a pain.

The hotel was due to close for the season a few days after we left so it was winding down. This meant even fewer food options, sunbeds and tables removed, and some of the facilities listed or pictured on Thomson's website not in use. The quality of service slipped too as staff started to outnumber guests and some of the younger guys were too busy mucking about with each other.

One final thought for famlies. There's a kids club building next to the kids swimming pool but this was closed and another was used at the other end of the site - away from the pool scene. We didn't use kids club but personally I'd prefer to still have my kids nearby and in sight.

I wouldn't recommend this hotel and we won't be going back which is a shame because it has a lot to offer on paper and we were made very welcome.

My family went to the Bodrum Imperial at the end of August for a week.

NOT going to bore the pants off you with every detail but the bottom line is that this hotel is great. It is a family resort so loads of kids. It is very very hot ! Not much evening entertainment for adults but we were happy to chill in bar. Staff amazing managers falling over each other to help. Food was good bit samey but ok for a week.

My kids had a great holiday (8 & 6) In pool and beach all day long. Kids club ok. Spa guy bit of a creap and pushy. (pretty and blonde and you get a better price)

Check out the Turkish shave its amazing and hair braiding is a must. My daughters lasted weeks.

We found this holiday a relaxing week, could be better in places but very nearly there.

Please ask me any questions ?