The death toll from a fire that engulfed a hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday rose to 76, officials said, expressing great "pain" at the tragedy.

Witnesses said desperate guests had tried to escape using ropes, footage showed bedsheets hanging from the windows, and media reports suggest some had died after trying to jump to safety.

"Our pain is great," Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the resort in Kartalkaya, around 170 kilometres northwest of the capital Ankara.

The blaze broke out at 3:27 am (0027 GMT) in the 12-storey Grand Kartal hotel, which has wooden cladding, Yerlikaya said.

Some 238 guests were registered at the hotel, the minister added. It was a peak time during a two-week school holiday.

Turkish authorities detained four suspects including the owner of the resort hotel, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on X.

The minister previously announced that six prosecutors had been allocated to investigate the blaze.

Private broadcaster NTV said that the dead included three people who had jumped from the hotel's windows.

The fire is believed to have started in the restaurant and spread quickly, though it was not immediately clear what caused it.

Part of the structure backs onto a cliff, making it harder for firefighters to tackle the blaze. (AFP)