Selectum Colours Bodrum — Hotel in Bodrum

I had a wonderful holiday at Selectum Colours, along with my family (wife, two adult sons and their girlfiends). We booked via EasyJet Holidays and it all went very smoothly. The hotel is officially rated 5 stars but is really like a British 4-star hotel. Rooms with a sea view were not available when we booked so we had mountain view instead, but our room (5224) did have a nice view of the sea. The accommodation is based in a series of small blocks of 6 rooms and it is about a 5-minute walk back to the main part of the hotel with all the facilities. The bedroom and shower are of a decent size and we had a good balcony too.||The main hotel has a large dining room with buffet food – and what a massive choice! You can eat inside in the air-conditioned room or outside on the terrace which has superb views over the bay. Some of the desserts would have benefited from a serving of ice cream to accompany them but this is surprisingly not available. The main pool is beautiful and has a constant depth of 1.4m, and there is a smaller pool for smaller children too. There is also a quiet pool which is open for anyone aged 15 or over. No music here so you can just relax. Plenty of sunbeds at both pools and bars are right there for drinks. I think at least 50% of the guests were Turkish and I found it satisfying that Turks would want to stay here. I think Brits came second in number but lots of other nationalities were staying at the hotel too, including Russians and Iranians, but everyone got on really well together.||The hotel complex is very large and is set on the side of a hill, there are steps or ramps everywhere, I counted 114 steps from the beach back to the main pool so this is not a suitable hotel for anyone with mobility problems. The beach is long/wide but only a couple of metres of sand as the water comes in very close to the land.||There are several snack bars near the main pool which are open from 12 noon – 4pm, and they serve hotdogs/jacket potatoes/fruit/ice creams and the most delicious waffles ever! There are three A La Carte restaurants and your stay entitles you to visit one of them during your week’s stay, we chose the Turkish restaurant and we were not overly impressed. Some of the food orders came wrong and they ran out of ice cream which should have accompanied the Baklava which was disappointing. When you want to book one of the restaurants you would normally do it online, but what they don’t tell you is you can’t do this in advance – you have to book on the day you want to go. If you have a special occasion to celebrate, Guest Services can make an advance booking for you.||There is also a 24-hour bar called 7/24 and this is right on the coast with a superb view over the water. They serve a good range of burgers, pizzas too.|We had to report a couple of minor problems with our room but the staff were brilliant in getting it sorted – on the second occasion the hotel assistant had reached our room before I had even walked back from guest services in the main hotel building!||Entertainment at the hotel is very good, we especially enjoyed the Pink Party which involves inflatable flamingos and lots of foam in the pool! There is something on each evening, and we enjoyed the Cyber Party, Turkish night and the Cirquba show. The activities team is based near the main pool and they encourage everyone to take part in a range of activities, including water polo, pilates, yoga, aqua gym, darts etc, but all this is optional. A special mention to Bo who is a brilliant fitness instructor.|There is a first class spa/sauna on site and I enjoyed my first ever Turkish bath – can’t wait to do it again! ||There are 4 tennis courts which are free to use but you have to hire rackets and balls. That’s fair enough but not at 15 Euros per person for an hour! Consequently we only saw one couple playing tennis all week. The hotel really should charge a sensible rate for this, I would suggest 5 Euros would be a reasonable amount – so my tip for any tennis players would be to bring your own rackets and tennis balls.||You can walk along the seafront on a footpath which leads you past a whole series of bars/hotels/restaurants until you end up in Gumbet. Gumbet is not the prettiest of places, there are lots of bars and shops and we found Bodrum a far nicer place with a lovely marina. When you return to the hotel there is a security guard checking the identity of everyone who walks in which is reassuring, and the same thing happens at the main entrance too. ||There were a few negative points: there are no dessert spoons or soup spoons in the restaurant! You can use what looks like a table spoon/serving spoon or a teaspoon – that’s it! The hotel complex is generally in very good order but there were a few tatty parts like the “I ❤️Selectum” sign, and the walkway along the beach would benefit from being re-laid as it is uneven and could be considered unsafe. I was also surprised to find there is no sports bar or karaoke at the hotel but this could well be a plus point!||Lots of other plus points: the wi-fi works everywhere on site and the hotel staff are very smart in their white shirts and beige trousers/skirts. A special mention here for Firat who is one of the waiters in the restaurant and he could not do enough to help us! Overall an excellent hotel and I would strongly recommend...

Overall, this was a disappointing stay. This hotel is not a 5* by any means.||CLEANLINESS/ROOM:||From the start, the room was unacceptably dirty. The bathroom was stained, with hairs on the counter, mould on the ceiling (extractor fan broken), lime-scaled shower fixtures, and mouldy grout. The dust-covered phone next to the toilet, stained toilet lid, and stained toilet roll holder, and the squashed bug on the mirror further showed how rushed the cleaning was. In the bed, we found long black hairs that were not ours, and brown stains on the bed frame were present. The floor was barely mopped and filthy. The bedside phone was caked with brown grime, and the bedside table was dusty. Despite requesting a re-cleaning at reception, little changed when we returned later.||I would like to note, I don't necessarily blame the cleaning staff for the lack of cleanliness. There are clearly not enough staff to clean so many rooms efficiently.||Privacy on the balcony is non-existent; everyone walking past can see you. We were fortunate to be on a higher level, unlike ground-floor rooms with minimal privacy. The minibar was stocked nearly daily with beer, water and soft drinks, which was appreciated.||We endured excessively loud music one night, unclear if it was from the hotel or a nearby bar, but it was still loud after 11 pm - if we had children with us, this would have been even more of an issue. Sitting on the balcony, you can hear multiple sources of loud music simultaneously, which is unpleasant.||Overall, the rooms are outdated, tired, and falling apart.||FOOD/BARS:||Food in the main buffet was abysmal; bland, cold and mostly geared towards an Eastern European palette. Overcooked, tough chicken was common. Food labelling was a major issue - as a pregnant guest, I was misled when what was labelled 'veal' turned out to be veal LIVER, which I cannot eat. Thankfully, my husband caught this before I tried any.||Staff in the buffet were welcoming and friendly, for the most part.||The 24 hour restaurant was a positive. It offered better, freshly made food, and the staff were a credit to the hotel.||Again, as a pregnant guest, I relied on mocktails - these were unsatisfactory, poorly made, and on one occasion, contained alcohol. Thankfully, I saw this happen. The language barrier was very apparent when ordering drinks, as barely any English was spoken by some of the staff.||Smoking was rife, especially on the lobby bar terrace, exacerbating my asthma. There should be designated no-smoking areas to help with this.||POOL:||The pool area was the hotel's highlight; it was kept very clean, and the pool is large and spacious, albeit very cold. However, the sunbeds were reserved quite early with no intervention, so arrive early for a good spot. They are tightly packed, with strangers elbow to elbow, though parasols and tables are ample. The poolside fridges stocked with water bottles were excellent - always well stocked and cold. The food options by the pool were excellent, especially the ice cream, which was of brilliant quality with a great variety of flavours. The waffles were also lovely and always had a fresh batch available.||GROUNDS:||The grounds of the hotel are absolutely beautiful and kept very clean; the flowers and trees really give it a Mediterranean feel. There are lots of stairs and hills, so if you have mobility issues, this is not the hotel for you, as there are very limited lifts.||CHECK-IN:||The check-in process was very lacking. We were told our room wasn't ready and advised to get a drink and wait in the lobby. When called over, we received no information about the hotel, no map, or information about meal times or the a la carte restaurants. We were also not provided with towel cards and had to request these later. There is a map in the room which was not apparent, and we were not advised that this would be there. A brief overview of the workings of the hotel should be a standard process. We have never encountered this in our numerous hotel stays worldwide.||--------------||Digging through these reviews (going back a couple of years) reveals similar concerns—cleanliness remains an ongoing issue, yet hotel responses claiming they'll address it appear unfulfilled over the years.||Having visited Turkey four times, we've experienced much better hotel standards elsewhere. We won’t return to Selectum Colours and left disappointed. This was meant to be our last relaxing couples' holiday before our baby’s arrival, but it proved...

Overall we had a really lovely holiday at the Selectum Colours and I would if possible give it a 4.5/5 instead of 4 but for me it didn't quite reach 5 for a couple of reasons.||The layout of the hotel is like a small village on a hillside with lots of blocks of rooms around the grounds. There are lots of steps so if you have mobility issues or in a wheelchair its probably not the hotel for you however we did see some rooms on the lower floors with ramps so its not impossible. From the reception there is 1 lift and you go down to -1 for the main restaurant, spa and then outside and down some stairs to the pool area where there are some food areas. You can take -2 from reception to the pool. You have to then take your cases to another lift to go down to where the main rooms are and it down some stairs and then up other stairs depending on where your room is. We were in room 1231 that had a sea view. Other rooms look onto the back of ours and it could be quite confined. ||The rooms are small but functional enough and the balcony was one of the smaller ones we have came across with a table and 2 chairs. The room is tired with lots of marks on the walls and wood, some broken tiles that have been repaired and does in our view need redecorated to freshen it up. The clothes storage space is plenty for our needs and a safe in the room which is free to use. The free mini bar is stocked daily and had 2 x pepsi, 2 x orange, 2 x sprite and 2 x beers in it. This is one reason I didnt give 5 stars. There are plenty of maids and groundsmen and they do a good job. ||For food there is plenty of choice and you will always find something to eat. If you cant then you are way too picky! The Main Restaurant gets really busy as its a big hotel and often with the staff running around clearing tables they were never set again with cutlery and quite regularly we could never find any. Once we were offered plastic forks and declined this. Also for the standard of hotel I would have expected to have table cloths on the tables, maybe not at breakfast but especially in the evening and it gave the restaurant more of a cafeteria feeling. This is the other reason it does not meet a 5 star rating. After a few nights we sat in the top right of the restaurant and there was a waitress I think was called Semanca or something like that a waiter who worked incredibly hard and always tried to have a table ready for you so we went into that area every time. You can also pre book the Italian, Seafood and Turkish restaurant if staying for more than 7 nights and we tried the Italian which was outstanding. The 24 hour restaurant (it wasnt open 24 hours) was also really good so ate there a few times. It generally got busier there after the entertainment finished.||Every night there was some form of entertainment on from Mongolian performers which was very good to traditional Turkish dancing, also very good. The entertainment rotates on a weekly basis but it was maybe as the season was coming to an end. Some nights there was a Masquerade Party or a Hollywood party but it just seemed to be standing around at the top side of the pool area and drinking with some music. ||The pool is a good size although I only used it once as it was quite cold but thats the time of year as we have experienced this at other hotels so no complaints here. There are 2 bars close to the pool, one in the lobby and one at the beach and there is a huge amount of loungers around the pool, on the beach and also on the piers. There are also some Cabanas for hire on the piers but we never used these.||The Spa is always one reason we book certain hotels as I enjoys deep tissue massages and often get the at home and my wife likes reflexology or head massages. My wife said the treatments she had were very good and I had a some massages and have to say on the last day it was a girl from Uzbekistan who done it and without doubt it was the best massage I have ever had. ||The surrounding area is quiet with a few shops within a 10 minute walk and you can either get there along the beach front or out the front door and along the road. The area outside the hotel isn't the cleanest but again can be quite typical in some countries once outside of main resorts. Bodrum is 20 minutes away in a taxi and costs around 350-380...