What It’s Like to Stay at Maxx Royal Bodrum, a New Resort on Turkey’s Glittering Turquoise Coast

A homegrown luxury brand is bringing a new approach to Turkish hospitality to the glamorous peninsula.

By Sarah Khan 10/10/2024

Welcome to Checking In, a review series in which our editors and contributors rate the best new (and revamped) luxury hotels based on a rigorous—and occasionally tongue-in-cheek—10-point system: Each question answered “yes” gets one point. Will room service bring you caviar? Does your suite have its own butler? Does the bathroom have a bidet? Find out below.

Maxx Royal Bodrum

In three words: Glamorous beachside bliss

What’s the deal? 

Didn’t it seem like everyone on your Instagram was in Bodrum this summer? You weren’t imagining it: The beguiling peninsula on Turkey’s celebrated Turquoise Coast is certainly having a moment, with a host of global hospitality heavyweights—Mandarin Oriental, Aman, Scorpios, and Edition, with more like Bulgari and St. Regis forthcoming—popping up along the coast in recent years, and global jet-setters have been descending in droves. When Maxx Royal opened in May near Cennet (“paradise”) Bay, one of Bodrum’s most scenic stretches, it set itself apart from the fray as one of the few Turkish brands making a play for the luxury circuit—joining the ranks of the iconic Maçakizi, a few minutes’ sail away.

This marks the third resort offering from a homegrown group that has properties in Antalya, and comes with a partnership with Mykonos icon Scorpios, here set on a promontory abutting the property.

The best room: While the villas, which range from two to five bedrooms, are hard to beat with their contemporary design and gardens with private pools, the Lagunas are a standout in their own right. Whether you spring for a duplex with two or three bedrooms or the spacious studios and one bedrooms, each of them flanks an undulating seawater lagoon overlooking the water.

Maxx Royal Bodrum

The Rundown

Did they greet you by name at check-in?
Not merely at check-in—if you book a private car transfer from the hotel (starting at 190€), the resort will arrange a complimentary airport meet-and-greet service, with someone waiting for you the moment you deplane.

Welcome drink ready and waiting when you arrived? Bonus point if it wasn’t just fruit juice. 
From strong Turkish coffee that jolts the long-haul weariness right out of you to glasses of champagne, anything you want appears in a flash in the airy reception area. Enjoy it as a mammoth digital art installation by Turkish-American artist Refik Anadol swirls in the background.

Does the resort have a standout perk?
The hotel has a fleet of boats ranging from Axopars to Mazu 52s which can be chartered for short jaunts or full day tours of the peninsula—but the best way to bypass the summer traffic is to book a breezy water transfer from the airport (starting at 500€).

Maxx Royal Bodrum

Private butler for every room?
Only the villas come with butler service, but all guests are assigned a dedicated team of Maxx Royal Assistants. They’re available via WhatsApp 24 hours a day to help with any arrangements, from restaurant bookings to tours and more.

Is there a heated floor in the bathroom? What about a bidet?
No heated floors, but you won’t miss them; as this is a seasonal property, the weather is pretty much always sublime when you’re there. Bathrooms are equipped with discreet in-seat bidets—no fancy high-tech remotes and screens to navigate, but they get the job done.

Are the toiletries full sized?
Yes – the jewel-toned bathrooms are fitted with full-size Diptyque products.

Maxx Royal Bodrum

Is there a private pool for the room’s exclusive use? How are the spa and gym?
Villas have private pools, but the Laguna category come with direct access to a shared seawater lagoon. Everyone else can make their way to any of the three heated pools around the property. The spa, spread across 61,000 square feet, has a gleaming white marble Turkish hammam, a tranquil indoor pool, and dedicated treatment rooms for everything from ayurvedic massages to skeletal alignment to ozone therapy. The expansive gym, meanwhile, could give Equinox a run for its money—one of the best hotel gyms I’ve ever seen.

Are the restaurants worth their salt?
While Maxx Royal as a brand is deeply rooted in its Turkish environs (the shopping promenade features standout Istanbul transplants like jewelry emporium Begüm Khan and leather purveyor Madame Malachite), the resort’s dizzying array of restaurants evoke a cosmopolitan sensibility with global culinary stars aplenty: There are outposts of Spago, Caviar Kaspia, Michelin-starred chef Alfredo Russo’s Oro, and Dubai-London-Ibiza hotspot Maine. Other highlights include the laidback beach restaurant Casa Sol and the museum-like pastry shop Le Melange.

Is there caviar on the room service menu? If so, what kind?
Not on the room-service menu, but the resort is home to a seaside location of the iconic Caviar Kaspia, so you can sort out any cravings there. Choose from Imperial Baeri, White Sturgeon, Oscietra Reserve, Beluga Royal, and much more.

Caviar Kaspia
Maxx Royal Bodrum

Do you want to spend Friday night in the lobby bar?
The sleek Lounge Bar, actually located three levels below the sky-high lobby, is a stunner, but just a few steps beyond lies the alfresco pool bar—either is a great place to while away an evening. If you need something more high-energy, Scorpios is a stone’s throw from the lobby.

Would you buy the hotel if you could?
Given the size it might be a bit too much maintenance for a holiday home, but I’ll definitely be back.

The Verdict
Maxx Royal Bodrum somehow manages to have something for everyone: nightlife revelers will make a beeline for Scorpios and families will head straight for the 12,000-square-foot Maxxi Land kids’ club; everyone will while away their days by the pools or the beach. And despite its vast size, the lush walkways and tucked-away corners manage to make the hillside sprawl feel refreshingly intimate.

Rates: Doubles from around $1400 a night

Score: 8

What Our Score Means:

1-3: Fire your travel agent if they suggest you stay here.

4-6: Solid if you’re in a pinch—but only if you’re in a pinch.

7-8: Very good. We’d stay here again and recommend it without qualms.

9-10: Forget booking a week. When can we move in permanently?

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Omega Just Unveiled 9 Watches in Its New Constellation Observatory Collection

The line-up shows up a bevy of metals and colours, too, as well as two new calibres.

By Nicole Hoey 31/03/2026

Omega’s latest watch is in a universe of its own.

The Swiss watchmaker just unveiled its new Constellation Observatory Collection today, the next step in its Constellation lineage and the first two-hand hour and minute timepieces to ever earn Master Chronometer certification. And if you were paying attention to any of the dazzling watches spotted at the Oscars this year, you would’ve caught a glimpse of the new line already: Sinners star Delroy Lindo rocked one of the models on the Academy Awards red carpet, giving us a pre-release preview of the collection.

Developed at Omega’s new Laboratoire de Précision (its chronometer testing lab open to all brands), the collection houses a set of nine 39.4 mm watches. The watches underwent 25 days of scrutiny there, analysed via a new acoustic testing method that recorded every sound emitted from the timepiece to track irregularities, temperature sensitivities, and more in the name of all things precision. (Details such as water resistance and power reserve are also thoroughly examined.) This meticulous process is all in the name of snagging that Master Chronometer label, meaning that the timepiece is highly accurate and surpasses the threshold for ultra-high performance. The Constellation Observatory Collection has now changed the game, though, thanks to its lack of a seconds hand.

A watch from the Constellation Observatory Collection, with the Observatory dome on display. Omega

“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of OMEGA, said in a press statement. “The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete. It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification.”

In addition to notching its place in history, the collection also debuted a new pair of movements: the Calibre 8915 and the Calibre 8914, each perched on a skeletonised rotor base. The former’s Grand Luxe iteration will appear on the 950 Platinum-Gold model in the collection, which offers up that base in 18-karat Sedna Gold alongside a Constellation medallion in 18-karat white gold with an Observatory dome done in white opal enamel surrounded by stars. The second Calibre 8915, the Luxe, will find its home on the other precious-metal models in the line, either made with the brand’s 18-karat Sedna, Moonshine, or Canopus gold seen across the case, the hand-guilloché dial, and, of course, the movement itself. (Lindo chose to rock the Moonshine Gold on Moonshine Gold iteration, priced at approximately $86,000, for Sinners‘s big night at the Oscars.) As for the Calibre 8914, it can be found in the collection’s four steel models.

 

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A look at a gold case-back from the collection. Omega

Each model is a callback to myriad design features on past Omega models. That two-hand dial, for one, comes from the 1948 Centenary (the brand’s first chronometer-certified automatic wristwatch), while the pie-pan dial (seen in various blue, green, and golden hues throughout the line) and that Constellation medallion caseback both appear on watches from 1952. The star adorning the space above 6 o’clock also harks back to 1950s timepieces from Omega. And to finish off the look, you can opt for alligator straps in a variety of colours, or perhaps a gold iteration to match the precious-metal models; the brick-like pattern on the 18-karat Moonshine bracelet was also inspired by Omega watches from the ’50s.

We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for any other Constellation Observatory timepieces (or any other unreleased models from the brand) at the rest of the star-studded events headed our way this year—perhaps the Met Gala?

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Best Combustion Supercar: Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider

A modern classic in the making, combining naturally aspirated power with elegant restraint to deliver performance that feels as refined as it is visceral.

By Vince Jackson 20/04/2026

In a year when carmakers of all persuasions sheepishly extended hyperbolic electric targets, it’s fitting that the monastic puritans of Maranello—who, lest we forget, won’t finally yield to the sin of battery power until October with the Elettrica—opted to make combustion their major power play.

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For all the yesteryear romance, progressive technologies and engineering, such as a world-class 8-speed transmission, advanced electronic aids and independent four-wheel steering, are baked into the deal. The 12Cilindri’s clean, stark design somehow toggles between retro and modern; and while vaguely polarising, one can’t ignore its magnetic road presence.

In terms of aesthetics, Ferrari describes the 12Cilindri as being “ready for space”; in many ways, a fantasy vehicle that transports users to another dimension is probably what the world needs right now.

The Numbers

Engine: 6.5-litre V12

Power: 610kW

Torque: 678 Nm

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto

0-100 km/h: 2.95 seconds

Top speed: 340 km/h

Price: From $886,800

Photography by SONDR.
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Inside Loro Piana’s First Sydney Boutique

A first Australian address brings the Italian house’s textile-led approach to retail full circle.

By Horacio Silva 26/03/2026

On the fourth floor of Westfield Sydney, near the Castlereagh and Market Street entrance—in the space formerly occupied by Chanel—Loro Piana has opened its first Australian boutique. It is a significant address change for that corner of the mall, and a meaningful one for the Italian house, which has sourced Australian merino wool for decades but until now had no retail presence here.

The facade is understated—creamy, tactile, more about texture than theatre. Inside, the store unfolds across a single, expansive level divided into distinct men’s and women’s wings. The separation is clear without being heavy-handed: womenswear leads from soft accessories and leather goods into ready-to-wear, while menswear occupies its own assured territory, with tailoring and outerwear given proper breathing room. Footwear (supple loafers, luxurious slides, pared-back sneakers) is particularly strong, and the sunglasses are a quiet standout: mineral-toned frames with a disciplined elegance that feels entirely of the house.

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Sydney’s luxury landscape has matured in recent years; global houses no longer test the waters but commit to them. Yet Loro Piana’s arrival feels different. It is not trend-driven expansion but material logic. For a country whose sheep stations have long contributed to the house’s fabric story, this boutique reads almost as a thank-you note written in cashmere.

 

Photography: Courtesy of Loro Piana.

 

 

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This Stylish, Water-Resistant Dopp Kit Might Be the Last One You Ever Buy

Patricks’s limited-edition wash bag is designed to keep liquids in and out, so it can come along wherever your travels take you.

By Justin Fenner 11/03/2026

If all you’re going to do is look at it, a leather Dopp kit from a fashion house is a fine choice. But if you take travelling seriously—and do it often, for business, pleasure, or both—such a bag will inevitably end up blemished with droplets of water or stained by errant flecks of toothpaste. Get stuck with a cavalier team of baggage handlers, and it can even get soaked in your favourite fragrance or anti-ageing serum.

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3. Fold-flat Construction

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4. Technical-Fabric Shell

The durable recycled-nylon is easy to maintain and woven to survive splashes and leaks from your go-to products.

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And which models will get discontinued next, thanks to a new collaboration between Kalshi and Bezel.

By Nicole Hoey 11/03/2026

You can bet on pretty much anything these days, from when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will get married to who will be the next James Bond—and now that includes the Rollies on your wrist, or on your wishlist.

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To see Watch Futures in real time (and scope out how some pieces in your collection are faring), you can use the Kalshi app or its website.

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