Blue Bay Platinum Hotel

The sprawling Blue Bay Platinum draws a mix of couples, families, and groups of friends, so it can be lively or quiet depending on the week’s clientele. However, the hotel discourages bookings by potentially rowdy groups of young people or bachelor/bachelorette parties. Guests come from a variety of mostly European countries -- the UK, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Scandinavia -- as well as Turkey and Russia, and generally stay for one or two weeks in the summer months. Tui is the main tour operator. Also, the hotel advertises itself as LGBTQ-friendly. The Blue Bay Platinum is open year-round, with all-inclusive bookings during the busy season (roughly March to November) and breakfast-only packages available in winter.

The hotel is conveniently located in the middle of Marmaris’ long waterfront promenade, which is lined in both directions with restaurants, bars, and cafes, most of them catering to tourists. It's a six-minute walk to the beach, however, accessed through an empty parking lot. It’s a 10-minute drive to the Marmaris castle, old town, bus station, and harbor, where both excursion boats and the ferry to Rhodes, Greece, dock. Minibuses run to all these destinations along the main road behind the hotel, which has more places to eat and drink, as well as shop. The neighboring resort of İçmeler, also reachable by minibus, is about 10 minutes by car. The nearest airport is about 90 minutes away by car in the town of Dalaman.

There’s a distinctive seaside theme to most of the guest rooms at the Blue Bay Platinum, from the shadow boxes in the hallways marking each room number -- filled with sand, seashells, and starfish -- to the pebble-patterned shower stalls and the ocean photographs framing the beds. Units are spread out among three blocks in the resort complex, with some decor and size differences from block to block.

Standard Rooms are fairly small, but pleasantly decorated, with funky, white hanging lamps, and turquoise accents on the bedspreads and curtains breaking up the mostly tan color scheme. In addition to double or two single beds, they have long, narrow vanity tables, bedside tables, small armchairs and round tables, and chests of drawers, making them feel rather full with the light-wood furniture. 

Slightly larger Triple Rooms with three single beds are also available, as are one- and two-bedroom Family Rooms, and Junior Suites. The Family Rooms have large living rooms separate from the bedrooms, though the bathrooms are still fairly small. The Junior Suites, in between Standard Rooms and Family Rooms in terms of square footage, have seating and sleeping areas in one good-size room. 

All guest rooms have narrow balconies with just enough room for a set of plastic chairs and a table. About a third of the face the pool; those on the lowest level are practically right on top of it. Standard amenities include small flat-screen TVs, mini-fridges, air-conditioning, coffee- and tea-making facilities, and safes (extra charge). In-room Wi-Fi is included in some booking packages, and not in others. The small bathrooms have rainfall showers, hairdryers, and a range of toiletries, and upgraded units have larger bathrooms and add tubs. 

Two curving swimming pools, one large and one medium-size, surrounded by sunbeds and umbrellas, form the main pool area at the Blue Bay Platinum. Off to one side, in a shaded area, there’s a small kids’ pool with two waterslides and a splashing area with a fountain. The “relax pool” is located on the opposite side of the hotel, making it genuinely quiet. It has its own bar, but no music, entertainment, or ball games are allowed there. 

The hotel has its own stretch of beach with turquoise-blue sunbeds on the seafront, but the quickest way to get there is a six-minute walk across an unattractive empty lot. Towel service is free at the pools and beach, but drinks and food ordered at the beach cost extra.

A light entertainment program is offered six days a week, with the schedule changing every two weeks. The larger main pool is the site for water aerobics, water polo, and other pool games, and the stage alongside hosts activities such as darts tournaments during the day, and about one hour’s worth of nighttime shows. Additional activities, such as salsa nights and karaoke nights, are organized in some of the hotel’s numerous bars.

For children, there’s a large kids’ club that feels like a colorful classroom, with multi-hued tables and chairs for drawing, painting, and other art projects, a comfy corner for TV and movie time, and staff on hand to lead activities. The hotel also has a small game room with pool tables, ping-pong tables, and foosball.

The Blue Bay Platinum prides itself on its food service, working with local suppliers for its ingredients, and the spread in the cavernous 500-person main dining room is extensive and elaborately presented. Long buffet tables filled with hot and cold dishes -- including separate bars for salads, desserts, and fruits -- are complemented by stations for freshly grilled meats, a pizza oven turning out different types of Turkish flatbreads, and an area for pre-plated meals.

There are two extra-charge restaurants on-site that also offer premium drinks. Street-front Il Primo next to the lobby serves mostly Italian fare -- pizza, pasta, steaks, and some seafood and Turkish dishes. On the other side of the hotel, past the pool area, is Cuba Bistro and Bar, with long bar tables, couches, and wooden tables with wicker chairs, all set under draping canopies. Open late, with live music on weekends, it serves an international menu featuring some Cuban dishes.

In between meals, the all-inclusive snack bar by the pool has about eight hot dish selections -- fried chicken, pasta, fried fish, Turkish meatballs -- as well as a salad bar, homemade pizza, wraps, waffles, ice cream, homemade lemonade, and daily specials such as chicken kebab or gözleme, a savory Turkish crepe. The Vanilla patisserie overlooking the sea has an impressive selection of colorful cakes.

Self-service coffee, tea, and juice stations are scattered throughout the hotel, as are carts with carafes of wine and premixed cocktails. All-inclusive local drinks are also available at the pool bar and at a sedate lobby bar with couches, chess tables, a book-exchange shelf, a TV, and occasional live piano music in the afternoons.

The hotel’s large Elixir Spa and Wellness center has two Turkish baths (the larger one costs extra), a dry sauna, and a small indoor pool, which is heated in the colder months and doesn’t get much natural light. Extra-charge services available in the spa include a salt bath, a steam room, a shock shower bucket, and massage. There's also an on-site salon. The large hotel gym includes areas for weight-training (both free weights and weight machines), cardio machines, and pilates.

There's a business center with computers and printers, and conference rooms for meetings, but free Wi-Fi throughout isn't included in all bookings. Other amenities include a mini-market, laundry services, and gift shop. Tour bookings can be arranged (fee), but on-site parking is free.