OUR STORY

In Ancient times, Bodrum has been best known as the home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus built by Artemisia II, who adopted and greatly developed this beautiful Aegean city with roots going back to the fourth century BC. While its popularity in Turkey and prominence as an archeological treasure trove became apparent only in the middle of 20th century, it wasn’t until the 1970’s that Bodrum became a haven for beauty seekers, local and worldwide, and it partly owes its fame to the efforts and vision of several entrepreneurs who fell in love with it. One of these people is Ayla Emiroğlu, the founder of Maçakızı Hotel.

When Ayla Emiroğlu moved to Bodrum in 1977, there was little more than a few simple houses, cars and stray cats in the town. Emiroğlu was the headmistress, the boss lady that talked to the wild flowers on her property and disciplined her staff without so much as an admonishment. She worked with the same people for years, and they loved her. She fed the most basic staples of Turkish home cooking to the wealthiest, and they loved it. They loved it so much that they would follow her wherever she went – even to the first ever beach club she opened in a far-flung bay, inaccessible by any other mode of transportation but boat. Then came along her son, Sahir Erozan…

Writing his own success story in a different part of the world, in Washington D.C., Sahir Erozan was the maverick that created several hip restaurants and clubs in the U.S capital. He vaguely remembered the smell of jasmine in the garden of his mother’s little pension in Bodrum. But it was during a trip in the early 1990s that he fell in love with the peninsula again and decided to work with his mother first in her second beach club project in Gölköy, and then the property that we know and love today as Maçakızı Hotel in Türkbükü.

In 2019, Maçakızı family grew to introduce the lavish Mediterranean sanctuary that is Villa Maçakızı. Erozan married his mother’s authentic, rustic style with his own vision of contemporary luxury and reinvented the true meaning of affluence and comfort in privacy. Located in the beautiful Paradise Bay, the newly-renovated Villa Maçakızı offers the laid-back Mediterranean lifestyle in a more refined, charming environment within nature and a uniquely customized stay.