(Always) Rethinking Luxury: What a €3,500/Night Bodrum Resort Tells Us About Value
It might seem as if I’m eternally fixated on the word “luxury.” It’s a recurring theme in much of the Craft content, which may feel counterintuitive (or even hypocritical) as much of what I write tackles whether the term’s overuse has rendered it meaningless. There is a reason that earlier this year, we changed our company slogan from “Luxury travel is a craft” to “Our travel intelligence is anything but artificial”. But I keep coming back to it because the notion of luxury, perceived or actual, defines so much of the conversation regarding modern travel.
My family and I spent most of July split between Greece and Turkey. The former is where we go annually to visit my father. While reflecting from his home island of Symi, I posted that I’d rather stay at a simple, family-operated oceanfront “boutique” hotel on this tiny Greek island than at an over-the-top Mediterranean iconic property that costs five times as much. Yet a week later was raving about an over-the-top all-inclusive in Bodrum with every predictable luxury amenity you could imagine.
It might seem contradictory that I went from being adamant that a €600/night suite on a small Greek island was all I wanted, to fan girling over a mega resort for which we paid roughly €3,500/night.
Reconciling those two realities comes down to a simple truth: they aren't mutually exclusive. At Craft, we aren't outright rejecting "luxury", nor are we blindly embracing it the way so much of the travel industry does. Instead, we're looking past a buzzword that has largely lost its meaning to focus on what actually defines a high-value travel experience today.
But First: A Recap of Maxx Royal Bodrum
Before we delve into more philosophical matters, I think it’s important to provide some context regarding Maxx Royal Bodrum, a hotel you may very well have never heard of.
Maxx Royal is an elite Turkish hospitality brand founded in 2011 that essentially pioneered a true "elevated ultra-inclusive" concept in the region. The group built its reputation in the Antalya region with two flagship properties: Maxx Royal Belek Golf Resort, known for its world-class championship golf course, and Maxx Royal Kemer Resort, a sprawling, nature-focused sanctuary along the Turquoise Coast. Launched in May 2024, Maxx Royal Bodrum is the brand’s newest and most ambitious addition. A member of The Leading Hotels of the World, it brought serious global heavyweights to the Aegean peninsula, including dining partnerships with Spago by Wolfgang Puck and Caviar Kaspia, alongside the very first international outpost of Mykonos’s iconic beach club, Scorpios.
The fact that they are relatively unknown in North America tells a story about the “supply chain” of hospitality publicity… but I’ll get into that later.
In full disclosure, I was initially a bit skeptical when booking this hotel for us because, as much as I wanted a super deluxe all-inclusive resort on the water, I wasn't sure if I was going to really vibe with a place like Maxx Royal Bodrum: a bit over the top, potentially tacky and lacking a sense of place. Perhaps the biggest question mark was how it was going to feel vacationing alongside a predominantly Russian and Middle Eastern demographic.
The hotel, with a total of 282 room keys, is massive, though thanks to the sprawling grounds and generous facilities, I would’ve never guessed it was over 150 rooms, even during our peak summer stay. The multiple pools could be described as perfectly populated: not empty enough to feel lifeless but enough to provide a prime selection of pool loungers. The truly sensational beach, exclusive to hotel guests and the occasional yachter, is certainly the heart of the property during daytime but again never feels overwhelmingly busy; there is an elevated yet family-friendly vibrance as you enjoy a proper sandy beach alongside the calm and perfectly tempered turquoise sea.
Like its sister properties, Maxx Royal Bodrum is all inclusive, with multiple restaurants, cafes, bakeries and bars at your disposal. Much to our amazement, the liquor included all top shelf brands. Donald and I admittedly enjoyed a day-turned-evening at the vibey Latin-inspired beach club with a seemingly endless supply of Codigo tequila-fueled margaritas, wondering what a similar indulgence would’ve cost in Ibiza or St Tropez. The food was sensational, and not just by all-inclusive standards. While all restaurants offered a la carte menus, the buffets that were there were on par with what you’d find at any over-the-top Dubai hotel breakfast.
For those of you who saw my social media posts on the property, you may recall that Maxx Royal Bodrum boasts a kids club that stays open until 4am; this was a byproduct of the fact that until this season, the hotel had hosted the iconic Mykonian beach club Skorpios on its grounds. Due to some disputes between the brand and the hotel owners, Skorpios has since closed but the kids club has kept its remarkable hours to accommodate chic parents heading into Bodrum town or to neighboring hotels like the Mandarin Oriental for late night partying. Split into three age groups, Maxxi Land accepts babies as young as one year old and as old as 12. The activities are endless: perfume making, baking, science experiments, gardening, talent shows… you name it. The facilities are amongst the most robust I’d ever seen at a kids club, though perhaps the most sparsely used as so many families appeared to be traveling with a nanny, if not multiple ones.
The wellness facilities were equally massive. A wide array of complimentary group fitness classes were offered throughout the day, and all the ones we attended ended up being completely private for us. We played padel several times and had lessons from a wonderful instructor. We never made it for a spa treatment but I’d be surprised if they were anything other than exceptional (they certainly were pricey!). And for those keen to shop, Maxx Royal Bodrum is home to a variety of boutiques, ranging from local brands to big hitters like Missoni and Aquazzura. It was a stop at the latter on my way home from bottomless margaritas that left a big dent in my wallet… but it was clear that unlike Cape Town, I DID need heels in Bodrum and after all, this was a “work” trip… right?
None of the resort’s aforementioned attributes would typically qualify as those that I’d value while traveling. Yet by day five, I was completely sold and not at all ready to leave. We had the most incredible time; the epitome of what a restorative vacation would look like to us. And while perhaps at face value much of the offering at Maxx Royal Bodrum would seem a bit fake and really manufactured, the fact is that the service and the quality of the experience they deliver are both so exceptional that in many ways this is perhaps the ultimate definition of luxury hospitality.
As a guest, you want for nothing. In our encounters with probably north of one hundred staff members on property, I’d say all but two or three were so exceptional at making you feel seen and valued. Not just perfunctory courtesies, but truly proactive actions that demonstrated high EQ. The team is highly international, so friendly and kind, and they'll do anything that you need. You have your own two dedicated concierge butlers, and it's not like one of these vague “butler services” inclusions where you have no idea who this elusive person is and what exactly they are supposed to be doing on your behalf. The butlers on Maxx Royal Bodrum are on it, communicating with you all day via the hotel’s proprietary app.
As previously mentioned, we paid EUR 3,500 per night for a massive one-bedroom, two-bathroom suite for our family of four. When I think of some of the properties along the Mediterranean charging this much or more for a 350 square foot room with only breakfast included and perhaps beach service on an overcrowded and at times fairly dirty coast, it’s hard to imagine under what circumstances the value proposition of said hotel would exceed that of Maxx Royal Bodrum. Historically there has been far more cultural prestige in a destination like St Tropez or Capri when compared to Bodrum, but when we look at what one actually does with a 4-7 night stay in these three places… is the day to day experience actually all that different?
If anything, the experience in Bodrum offers something far rarer, and therefore more valuable: complete ease. You roll up to a private beach tucked inside a sensationally beautiful cove, eat and drink whatever you want without constantly checking the tab, and are waited on by a team that actually wants you there. Whenever inclined, you can boat all day and party all night. A property that can successfully remove every single point of friction is arguably delivering luxury in its purest, most unpretentious form.
How Do We Quantify Value in “Luxury” Travel?
I love our little hotel in Symi (shout out to Yannis and family at Amalthea!) just as much as I love the Maxx Royal Bodrum because even though they are completely different in their positioning, they are both delivering the thing that's perhaps most important to me as both a traveler and as an industry professional: value. And the longer I do this job, the more I find that value is intrinsically linked to meaningful luxury. In fact, in many ways they may often define each other.
Value is of course mostly relative and often subjective. When I say value, it’s not about whether a particular hotel is inexpensive: it’s about what said property will provide me with relative to its competitors. For me, value is found in the luxury of space, thoughtful inclusions, exceptional service and the promise of experiences you wouldn't find staying elsewhere.
It's very easy in this industry to drink the kool-aid and let others decide for you which hotels are "it" (and in turn justify the increasingly exorbitant pricing). Our ecosystem often amplifies the exposure of those with the biggest budgets or best connections. Don't get me wrong: I love so many of the world's "greatest" hotels. But many are overhyped, and many great properties simply lack the marketing budget or prowess to present themselves to travel advisors or international travelers.
Where Value Has Fallen Short
I don’t like to single out properties, but I think it’s important to give context to these ideas by highlighting examples of hotels that are widely revered in our industry yet in my opinion deliver minimal value. Ritz Paris has for decades secured a spot amongst the most coveted luxury hotels in a city with substantial competition. Several years ago, I spent a few nights there and could not get over how utterly low-touch everything felt. Yes, we had always loved the fact that they would offer complimentary round trip airport or train transfers in a luxury sedan. This was in my view a perfect example of how value could be conferred at a property that is rarely sold under EUR 2,000/night. But beyond this amenity, there was little else that made me feel that I was receiving much value, or frankly that I was even valued as a guest. Breakfast was included but they were eager to upcharge you for the most basic menu substitution. No preferential treatment was given to guests for entry into the hotel’s iconic Bar Hemingway, and we had to queue up just like outside visitors, waiting over an hour for entry. No assistance was given in making appointments at the neighboring flagship Chanel store. No one knew your name. When I think of the personalization provided at hotels like La Reserve or Le Bristol and the immense pre-departure collaboration that these two hotels established with us prior to our clients’ arrivals, I could never in good conscience book our clients at Ritz Paris again.
Less egregious was Adare Manor, where I stayed last year, though perhaps in a sense more notable because of the seemingly endless positive press and industry chatter surrounding this hotel. Let me be clear: it’s a beautiful hotel with some wonderful people working there and undisputedly a one-of-a-kind property for avid golfers. But I found myself constantly grasping to understand why everyone gushes about this hotel that for me felt overwhelmingly average. Like the majority of rooms at Adare, mine was in the modern annex and there was absolutely nothing noteworthy about it. It was small and felt like a forgettable Midwest Ritz-Carlton room. Service was overwhelmingly poor (particularly at the restaurants), the spa was outrageously expensive and fairly mediocre. I loved the gym and the padel facilities, but what percentage of our clients would even care about that? When compared to Ashford Castle (which also happens to be the less expensive of the two), I could quite frankly find zero reason to send anyone to Adare Manor unless their trip was sports-driven. Walking into Ashford Castle, you instantly feel at home (albeit an opulent castle one)... and you actually feel like you’re in Ireland. Being in Adare Manor felt like being in an exclusive Florida golf club. It’s not that I would never sell it, but I would be extremely specific in offering it and make sure my clients were aligned.
Again, I share these anecdotes not to be snarky but rather to show how it’s not totally uncommon for travel publications -and many travel advisors- to exalt certain hotels or brands based on reputation rather than reality. Maybe it’s just a matter of taste, and my peers (and presumably the clients whom they represent) actually feel a connection with these properties that I simply do not. But if we try to approach this as objectively as possible, with both of these examples, it’s fairly indisputable that there are other options that offer significantly better value. Options that are valuing you more as a unique guest. The question is then whether these other, more value-driven properties are even on most’s radar.
Luxury Travel’s Information Ecosystem: How is the Industry Educating Itself?
So how exactly is the travel industry’s radar programmed? Who is stirring the kool-aid that so many advisors and publications are drinking? Much of it can be chalked up to the supply chain: major brands with big budgets will employ the top PR & sales firms to represent them across media outlets and within the trade. Most advisors are not traveling and scouting properties as frequently as the Craft team is, and therefore often rely overwhelmingly on the relationships they have with trusted sales representation companies to point them in the right direction with the hotels they should be using. Excellent sales reps are truly wonderful resources (and partners), and we at Craft place considerable trust in the handful that are highly selective with their portfolios. But how often can a small boutique hotel with negligible marketing budget afford a kick-ass rep?
Now, Maxx Royal Bodrum isn't a hidden gem by any means, nor is it lacking in marketing budget. It's very well known in certain markets, a member of LHW and represented by arguably the most influential UK-based sales company (that’s how the property first came on my radar a little over a year ago). But interestingly, they have never focused much on North American travelers, which is why you probably hadn't heard of it. They haven’t made efforts to be featured in US publications, and have not spent money to get in front of any US-based advisors. And perhaps of equal importance, unlike so many properties you’re hearing about on social media, Maxx Royal Bodrum is not investing in educational trips for US advisors to come experience the property themselves. This means that as an advisor, if you are going to stay at this property, it’s going to be on your own dime.
How educational travel shapes advisor recommendations is a much-needed conversation for another day. For now, the takeaway is simple: if travel advisors only recommend what’s handed to them on a platter, clients miss out. True expertise requires stepping outside of the bubble with boots on the ground. Rather than relying solely on the inherently biased recommendations from marketing agencies or luxury consortia financed by high-spending hotels, we owe it to our clients to spend our own resources to uncover exceptional properties. And equally importantly, we must develop first-hand product knowledge of brands big and small in order to fully assess just what kind of value proposition a particular hotel is offering vis-a-vis the competition. It is this relative understanding of hotels (and destinations) that provides the capacity to design nuanced itineraries on behalf of each individual client. At the end of the day, whether you are the advisor making the recommendation or the property hosting the stay, luxury in practice has nothing to do with brand hype, and everything to do with a relentless focus on what the guest actually values.
What I really appreciated about Maxx Royal Bodrum was that this property was built to be fully enjoyed by its guests, with an understanding of what their typical client would desire most in order to have an exceptional vacation. The hotel isn't trying to define it for you or make you feel as if you need to aspire to belong to their brand identity. They are not talking down to their guests. In other words: it is not trying to influence you.
So many newer properties trying the hardest to be unique and emphasize their sense of place are paradoxically becoming the ones that feel the least interesting. You can instantly tell if a hotel and the people behind it are a certain way, or are merely aspiring to be consumed in that way. We are living in an era where bonafide tastemakers -regardless of industry- will stand out amongst the competition.
Looking Beyond the Industry Bubble
Our focus at Craft is singular: to deliver our travel intelligence by discovering places and experiences beyond the industry echo chamber that align with what our clients actually desire and what we ourselves as travelers deem noteworthy. That might mean turning toward understated island hideaways like Symi. Other times, it means bringing fresh perspective to destinations like Bodrum, a location frequently written off as a flashy resort hub out of step with traditional Mediterranean cachet. Even in the more predictable places, we return constantly to uncover nuance where others settle for repetition and recognizable brands. We invest our own time and resources on the ground with an unwavering mission to prioritize substance over performance. Because let’s be honest, no one needs another advisor in a sun hat spinning in a flowy dress for a Positano photo op.
Real substance comes down to how we measure value, a metric that extends far beyond room rates and brand prestige. Value can be defined in many ways, and we are constantly looking for value in places you wouldn't expect. There is no perfect correlation between price and experience. Even a hotel designed for consumption can deliver great value and feel special. If a hotel doesn't have a strong sense of place, it should have full command of the wants and needs of the clientele it's serving. Great PR and branding do not always translate to a high-value guest experience.
Much of it comes back to the question I raised several months back on professional hospitality versus amateur: do the people behind the product really "get" it? Sometimes the answer will surprise you. And we at Craft will only know the answer by experiencing it firsthand... so that's what we'll keep doing!
*A brief note on our approach to this region: We do not ignore or downplay recent anti-LGBTQ developments in Turkey, yet refraining from sharing our experience in Bodrum would be a disservice to our travelers. Bodrum (at least for now) stands apart as an open, historically gay-friendly destination. Writing it off due to national political currents would mean conceivably blacklisting feedback across every Muslim-majority country we visit. Our responsibility to our clients is to deliver honest, lived ground intelligence rather than performative boycotts.
