Duja Bodrum

Beautiful location, only 30 minutes from the airport. Staff were friendly throughout — funnily enough they got noticeably nicer after the first week, like they'd been sent on a customer service refresher mid-stay. Sun beds were never really an issue; plenty available if you were down by 9am. Restaurant seating was always easy to find too, no scrapping for tables. The Kids Club was the highlight for us — genuinely excellent. Our daughter didn't need any persuading; she was raring to go every single morning. We'd also strongly recommend the Brothers boat trip, run by the guys at Duja — a brilliant trip, and they were genuinely pleasant, still greeting us and having a chat every time we crossed paths for the rest of the holiday. A special mention for our Jet2 rep, Hakan — we ran into a few issues during the stay and he was fantastic at sorting them out for us. A few things let it down. The food was repetitive and, frankly, a bit boring — the same rotation day after day, and it would have gone a long way to have a themed night or two to break it up. The daytime pool and mini disco music didn't change once in two weeks, which got old fast. The à la carte experience, which is talked up as something special, really wasn't — didn't feel any different to the main buffet in quality. And the hotel itself is showing its age; it needs some general refurbishment and TLC. Some floors in the main hotel also have shared terraces with only a limited sea view, worth checking before you book. Overall: great spot, brilliant kids' facilities, a top boat trip and a rep who had our back, but the food, entertainment, and upkeep need investment to match the location.

### A wonderful family stay in a stunning location We had a fantastic 12 day family holiday and really enjoyed our stay. The hotel is in a **stunning location**, and our room in the main hotel, with a beautiful sea view, was spacious, very well laid out and had plenty of storage. It easily accommodated our family, including our seven-year-old, without ever feeling cramped. Although she did find the camp bed uncomfy and could have done with some more bedding as was cold at night. The staff were one of the real highlights of our stay. They were **hugely attentive, friendly and genuinely lovely**, and the service across all of the restaurants was excellent. We particularly recommend the **Italian à la carte**, which was a real favourite of ours. The hotel was very busy, as you would expect in August, but we found that going for dinner before around 7.30pm helped us avoid the busiest periods. We were never without a table and, because we tended to eat earlier, we didn’t find the mealtimes particularly chaotic. The buffet was very good, although after 12 days it did inevitably start to feel a little repetitive. I particularly enjoyed the **yoga sessions**, which were a lovely addition to the day and made even better by the beautiful setting. Our seven yea old absolutely loved the **mini disco**, and we thought the evening entertainment we saw was generally very good. The sea and its surroundings were also a real highlight for us; I personally much preferred the peace and serenity of being down by the sea. We also enjoyed one of the brothers *boat trips**, which was great fun. It’s worth mentioning that there was plenty of loud music, though, so perhaps not ideal if you’re looking for a particularly peaceful excursion. We also had a great day in Kos although the queues to get through security were very long during the busy August period (1hr) The older children particularly enjoyed the inflatable rides available from the jetty. ### Areas for improvement The biggest issue for me was the **amount of single-use plastic**. I’m sure this isn’t something that can be changed overnight, but we were genuinely astonished by how many small plastic water bottles we went through as a family. It made me wonder just how much plastic the entire hotel must consume in a week. Given the hotel’s beautiful setting beside the ocean, it felt particularly ironic. I do wonder whether a **filtered water system with refill stations** could be introduced, allowing guests to refill reusable bottles rather than relying on individual plastic bottles. This would seem like a relatively simple step that could make a significant difference. Starbucks was a lovely addition and something my family really enjoyed, but we noticed that it too generated a lot of single-use plastic, including plastic straws. It would be great to see the hotel looking at ways to reduce this as well. Another area that felt unnecessary was the **beach towel exchange system**. On a couple of occasions, cleaners removed our towels from the balcony after only a day’s use, which felt wasteful and unnecessary. From an environmental perspective, it seems avoidable to be constantly replacing and laundering towels that guests are still actively using. The music around the pool was also quite loud for my personal taste, particularly during the aqua aerobics. I appreciate that this is fairly standard at many European resorts and perhaps I’m simply not the target audience for it! I much preferred the quieter atmosphere down by the sea. There was also quite a lot of selling going on within the hotel initially, which I found a little irritating. However, the staff handled it so warmly and professionally that it became much less of an issue as the holiday went on. ### Overall Despite the few points for improvement, **we had a really lovely family holiday and would happily return**. The location is beautiful, the rooms are spacious, the staff are exceptional and there is plenty to keep both adults and children entertained. With a little more focus on reducing single-use plastic, reconsidering towel practices, and perhaps creating a few quieter areas around the pool, this would be an even better experience. Overall, a wonderful stay and a hotel that clearly puts a lot of effort into making its guests feel welcome from the fabulous staff team. Thank you team Duja!

We’ve just come back from a 2 weeks stay at Duja Bodrum and overall we had a really great holiday. We’d definitely go back. The transfer from the airport only took about 25mins. The food was one of the things we really enjoyed. There was loads of choice and the snack bars were particularly good, with different pasta dishes, chicken wraps, burgers, pizzas, waffles etc. Breakfast was also really good, with omelettes made to order as well as lots of other options. There was always food being cooked fresh outside at tea time as well as the buffet, which was great. We tried the Asian and fish à la carte restaurants and both were really nice. The food was lovely and the service was great. One thing we really liked was that there are freezers with ice creams dotted around the hotel, as well as fridges full of bottled water, so you can just help yourself whenever you want. The lifeguards were also really on the ball around the pools, which was reassuring. The ladies in the kids’ club were lovely. We personally never left our children there on their own and always stayed with them, but from what we saw they were fantastic with all the children and really looked after them. Selin & Nehir deserves a special mention, our boys loved them. The boys are wild and they were amazing with them. Customer service throughout the hotel was probably one of the biggest positives. Everyone was really friendly and helpful and they genuinely couldn’t do enough for you. Our room was clean and spacious and the maid did a really good job. The mini bar was also restocked every day, which was a nice bonus. If I had one criticism, it would be that I’d have liked a few more evening shows. They had shows about four nights a week, and on the other nights there was a film for the kids, bingo or a night off. The shows they did have were really good and the mini disco was on every night, so there was still plenty going on, but more evening entertainment would have been nice. They do also have live music at the pool bar each night. Overall, we really enjoyed our stay. There’s a great choice of food, the staff are lovely, the hotel is well looked after and there’s plenty for families. We had a brilliant holiday and would definitely return to Duja Bodrum.