Our Verdict: Beautiful landscaping and rooms with private pools, let down by maintenance issues
We arrived at Susona straight from a week in a resort where music played from breakfast until bedtime. We were craving somewhere quieter. This Susona Bodrum review starts with a simple question: is it worth the price? Given the price, our expectations were naturally high. We chose it because it looked like the nicest Hilton property in the region. What we found was a beautiful resort with plenty to like, but one that falls just short of true five-star polish.
In this review:
Hotel Details
Name: Susona Bodrum, LXR Hotels & Resorts
Location: Torba, Bodrum
Hotel Class: ☆☆☆☆☆
Chain: Hilton (LXR Hotels & Resorts)
Loyalty Programme: Hilton Honors
Room Type: Pool Suite
Room #: 62
Price bracket: ££££
Competing brands: The Bodrum EDITION, Caresse (Luxury Collection, Marriott), Mandarin Oriental, Plaza
Good for: Couples and families
Accepts pets? No
Location
Susona Bodrum sits on its own little peninsula, and the setting is beautiful. The gardens are immaculately maintained, the sea is crystal clear, and the whole resort feels peaceful.
That privacy does come at the cost of isolation. Torba is only around a 10 minute taxi ride away, but the neighbouring hotels block any walk along the waterfront. The only practical road is the D330, a fast dual carriageway that doesn’t feel comfortable on foot. There is a quieter road behind the hotel, but a security gate means it’s only open to construction traffic.
Taxis also became noticeably harder to get from around 6pm onwards. If you’re planning dinner in Torba or Bodrum Town, it’s worth booking transport ahead rather than assuming one will appear.
The beautifully landscaped gardens help the whole property feel rather luxurious.
Check-in
You reach the hotel through security gates before climbing a steep driveway to reception.
The architecture is contemporary and modernist, and the reception feels like walking into a 1970s James Bond villain’s lair, in the best possible way.
Two reception desks sit alongside comfortable lounge seating, making check-in feel relaxed rather than transactional. Everything was handled efficiently and the whole arrival left an excellent first impression.
The hotel sent a buggy to transport us and collect our luggage for check-in, which was a nice touch.
Our Room
Room 62 was a Pool Suite, and it earned its billing. The king-size bed had a comfortable mattress and smooth cotton bedding, with four pillows plus a five-option pillow menu. We ordered an orthopaedic pillow and it arrived within a few hours. Both sides of the bed had side tables, lamps and sockets. The bathroom held a large twin sink, a freestanding tub we never used once, and two large sliding-door wardrobes, one housing the safe. A narrower wardrobe held the iron and board. The glass-fronted minibar carried soft drinks, beer and wine, and the Nespresso machine sat beside a full kettle and a lovely Melez tea selection.
This part of the Susona Bodrum review has a clear highlight: the private terrace with a day bed, bistro table and its own plunge pool. Sleep quality was excellent, thanks to thickly lined curtains and effective aircon. The catch was the open shower, which flooded the floor every time. We reported it a few times, and maintenance assured us it was fix, instead we were just given more bath maps to mop up the water.
If you’re booking, we’d recommend requesting rooms 24 to 42, which face northwest and away from the neighbouring hotels that generate most of the evening noise.
Facilities & Services
The resort is spread across a surprisingly large site, and one of the benefits is that it never feels crowded. SUYA Pool Club is the social hub during the day, with DJs, a swim-up bar and plenty of day beds.
Around the peninsula, private jetties provide much quieter places to spend the afternoon. For us, these were the highlight of the entire stay.
We packed snorkelling gear and spent hours swimming in warm, crystal-clear water filled with fish. It was some of the best hotel snorkelling we’ve experienced in the Mediterranean.
The only downside came from the ladders leading into the sea. Several had badly damaged handrails were in need of maintenance.
There’s also a rooftop infinity pool near the breakfast restaurant, offering another quieter place to relax.
We also made use of the gym, which is bright, modern and enjoys floor-to-ceiling views across the resort. It has a good selection of cardio equipment, free weights and resistance machines, making it more than adequate for keeping a holiday workout on track.
Bars & Dining
Lunch options within the resort are fairly limited. We ordered room service to our terrace one afternoon. It arrived in around 20 minutes, and both the burger and salad were very good. The chips deserve a mention too, crispy outside and fluffy inside.
Dinner was where things became a little less convincing. We had dinner in the in-house restaurant, which started well, but we seem to be forgotten after our starters. It took our mains took more than 40-45 minutes to arrive. On another, our starters and mains appeared together, while nobody seemed quite sure whether one of our dishes was still coming. The food was perfectly nice (expensive), but did the trick.
Portions felt quite modest, prices were firmly at luxury hotel levels, and we’d enjoyed better Turkish food in the restaurants around Torba and Bodrum. Service was very welcoming. There were plenty of staff, everyone was polite, but it often felt as though they were following a checklist rather than reading the room.
We visited in June, but for some reason MALVA wasn’t open. Given its Michelin recognition and other accolades, we were keen to try it, although we suspect it may simply have been too early in the season.
Ezi Bar
Ezi Bar became our favourite place for an evening drink. The panoramic sunset views are superb and the cocktail list is strong. An Old Fashioned cost around £17, expensive but very well made.
SUYA Pool Club
SUYA is where you’ll find house music, designer swimwear and bottles of rosé sitting in ice buckets. A bottle of Whispering Angel was priced at around £120, so we opted for a local rosé instead at £50, which turned out to be surprisingly good. What impressed us most wasn’t the party atmosphere. It was that when we chose not to spend the day there, we couldn’t hear it anywhere else in the resort. That’s good planning.
Read Our Guide to the Hilton hotel brands.
Breakfast
Breakfast combined hot à la carte options with a cold buffet. Eggs came cooked however you liked them, and coffee was served at the table. Quality across the food and drink was very good. On two mornings, a chef delivered complimentary treats from the kitchen, once an orange cake and once a blueberry panna cotta, which was a nice surprise.
Check-out
Standard check-out is 11am. The process was quick, friendly and the bill was exactly as expected, always a nice way to end a stay. Before we left, the team presented us with a bottle of olive oil pressed from the resort’s own olive trees. It was a simple gesture, but a memorable way to round off our stay.
BG1 Verdict
Susona Bodrum is a very good hotel that falls just short of being a great one. The rooms are excellent, the private pools are a real luxury, the peaceful setting makes it easy to switch off completely. But when you’re paying these prices, the details matter.
Service always felt as though it was following a script rather than adapting naturally to guests. Housekeeping and turndown often arrived at awkward times, and maintenance issues, including the flooding shower and damaged jetty ladders, suggested the property wasn’t wearing its age as gracefully as it could. None of these issues spoiled our stay.
They simply stopped Susona becoming the outstanding luxury hotel it has the potential to be. Would we return? We’d happily stay again, especially for the peace, private pools and beautiful swimming. We’d simply hope the service becomes a little more instinctive and the maintenance catches up with the quality of the setting.
BG1 Tip: Watch the ATM fees in Turkey. Many charge 10 to 12%, so you pay £10 for every £100 you withdraw. Our credit card charged only 3% for purchases in shops abroad, so we paid by card wherever we could.
Also, if you’re planning an evening in Torba or Bodrum, don’t leave booking a taxi until the last minute. They became noticeably harder to get from around 6pm onwards, so it’s worth arranging one in advance.
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