DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Istanbul - Old Town {TUR}
Jan 31, 2013, 12:14 pm
#106
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: CAE,AGS
Programs: AAExP, Hyatt Globalist, HHonors Gold, IHG Spire, Marriott Plat
Posts: 3,124
I spent two nights at the Doubletree Old Town last weekend and had an enjoyable stay; however, it all turned sour when I departed. I had a 5:55 a.m. departure on KLM at IST. I inquired about airport transportation at the front desk to leave the hotel at 3:30 a.m. The reception staff told me to expect to pay about 20 euros for the early morning ride to the airport with the hotel taxi. As the concierge walked me to the taxi I inquired once more about the fare and he said it would be 18 to 20 euros. This sounded reasonable to me.
My driver was an older man who never said a word all the way to the airport. There was little traffic and the trip time was very short - 20 minutes I estimate. The taxi was labled "Doubletree" on the side. Upon arriving at the terminal the driver said I owed him 45 euros. I was shocked. I asked twice more and he insisted the fare was 45 euros. I paid.
I felt ripped off. I don't like being told one price and then charged more than twice that amount. This has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I won't be staying at the Doubletree Old Town again and I can't recommend it for this reason.
My driver was an older man who never said a word all the way to the airport. There was little traffic and the trip time was very short - 20 minutes I estimate. The taxi was labled "Doubletree" on the side. Upon arriving at the terminal the driver said I owed him 45 euros. I was shocked. I asked twice more and he insisted the fare was 45 euros. I paid.
I felt ripped off. I don't like being told one price and then charged more than twice that amount. This has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I won't be staying at the Doubletree Old Town again and I can't recommend it for this reason.
Feb 1, 2013, 8:50 pm
#107
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: PDX
Programs: AS 75K, BW Plat, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 10,724
We just returned from a trip at the Doubletree at Istanbul Old Town and would never return there. 
To answer some of the questions from earlier posters - there was no suite upgrade for us. We got a room with a terrace (no view) as opposed to the standard room we had booked with cash on a prepaid rate from the Hilton website. IMO, the upgrade was quite pointless as it was January in Istanbul so whether one has a terrace or not really made no difference (unless you're a smoker). The size of the room was very small.
Check-in was efficient and we were given the Doubletree cookies. A bellman from the hotel actually took our luggage and came up to the room with us. He then showed us our room. We gave him a tip when he left and he was quite thankful and certainly wasn't expecting it (DH had to "chase" him out to give him the money, lol) The upgrade to a terrace room was probably quite a small upgrade for a Diamond - but we weren't exactly expecting an upgrade (not a listed benefit anyway), so it was fine. Everything went well and we quite enjoyed the modern and new property, though the room was very small (only just enough space to open 1 large suitcase after moving the chair and table, and pushing the lamp to the very corner). However, there after, our experience went downhill.
While on our way out to the various sights the next morning, we stopped by the front desk to ask for a map and to confirm about the tram stop one should get off for the various sights as well as the walking distance. We were provided detailed information (great service, I naively thought at the time) which we only later found out to be completely inaccurate! A nice guy from front desk told us (he also wrote it down on a piece of paper) that we should get two Istanbul cards (one for each of us) which would give us discounted tram fare of 1.9 YTL as opposed to the regular fare of 3 YTL. He also told us that the card is free, but we would need to put a 10 YTL deposit per card which we will get back when we return the card. We asked him about remaining credits on the card which he informed us that any remaining credits will be refunded with the deposit when we returned the card to where we bought them as well. I even asked him twice about this point because it seemed a bit suspicious in my mind that you can basically get this card and enjoy the discount at basically no cost. We went out and bought the cards at the stand just outside of the hotel as told and found out that the deposit on the card was actually just 6YTL and there's a 1YTL cost/fee for each card which we didn't mind anyway. Then, after using the cards, we found out that it actually cost 2 YTL instead of the 1.9YTL we were told. No big deal again, but this already suggest that the hotel personnel could've been better educated.
The main issue with those Istanbul cards came around on the last morning when we brought our cards back to the stand and asked for the money back - the guy would only give us our 6 YTL deposit back each card and told us that the remaining credits cannot be refunded. We then went back to the hotel front desk and explained the situation. The immediate respond we got from the guy (a different one, and unfortunately the one we spoke to didn't work that day until the afternoon) was "Who told you this?" hum... not very friendly with the tone he said it either! Not impressed, I remember the name of the guy we spoke to and replied with that. The guy at front desk made no effort and just said to us that we were told the wrong information, period. No apology, no offer to do anything. At this point, our driver has been waiting by the front desk for like 10 minutes already to bring us back to the airprot.
DH then suggested if the hotel could refund the remaining credits since they are the one who told us the wrong information. The guy didn't even say a word or reply to my DH at all. He simply picked up the phone and started speaking in Turkish, how rude! I mean, I certainly would expect him to tell you something in English first before he made that call. My guess is that he probably called the GM or someone higher up since after he got off the phone, he then asked a bellman to check the balance on our cards from the tram stop outside of the hotel. At this point, we really needed to get going so that we don't risk missing our flight. Because of this, I said to the guy at front desk that "we really needed to leave to catch our flight. would it be possible to make this fast?" He then replied "He's [referring to the bellman] going!" in a rather rude way. The bellman came back and told the front desk the balance on our cards (which is the same as what we told them, but I guess they have to verify themselves because we might cheat them on 26 YTL!?), and the guy at front desk then gave us some cash (26 YTL) for the remaining credits. DH had to remind him that it should be 38 YTL as there's a 6 YTL deposit on each card! 
This was not the only incident we had. We also had housekeeping entering our room around 9am in the morning without knocking! And it was a guy from housekeeping who tried to enter while we were changing! The reason we didn't have the do-not-disturb sign up was because this was the morning of us checking out, and you certainly don't expect housekeeping to show up that morning.
In our 5 days there, we received only 2 turndown services, which suggests that something's not quite working. Despite paying for 2 adults and having 2 adults listed on our reservation, we were only provided with 1 bathrobe in the room. Housekeeping even replaced our initial 2 hand towels with just 1 after the second morning. Needless to say, the 2 turndown services we received also only had one pair of slippers by the bed.
As for the hotel itself, it's actually quite sleek and modern. Wifi was offered to us for free with my Diamond status; however, it's otherwise quite expensive I believe. Breakfast was above average. But there were just too many incidents that we had which made us believe that the hotel really needs to better improve their service.
On the last morning at 11ish (before 11:30am), we returned to our room after a late breakfast only to find out that both of our keys had stopped working. Hotel check-out time is at 12 noon. We checked with a lady who happened to be on our floor and she suggested that based on her papers (which she was holding on a clipboard), we had checked out already!? Then when I spoke to front desk and ask how this happened, they just say that this is an issue with the magnetic strip on the key - on both keys happening at the same time on the last morning!? I don't think so. It really bothers me when front desk would basically just lie to my face - certainly not acceptable. They could've said sorry and apologized for accidentally checking us out somehow.
DH also had an incident with the spa. Long story short, he got hive and red rash all over this body (except for his legs) after a Turkish bath. Now, we both travel a lot and have gotten Turkish bath before and never experienced something like this. We are not blaming the hotel/spa for what happened (in fact, I had a great spa the day before with a different therapist), but rather how the situation was handled afterwards was not exactly great. Initially, the lady just declined outright and tried to convince us that this is normal - a bit of red, yes, normal; but he was in pain. This was what bothered us the most. A doctor came and DH was then given some medicines including some antibiotics. Some of his capillary were broken and one could see little red dots all over his arms. At the end, we were fine with the handling and DH did feel a lot better after applying some cream. Honestly though, the situation could've been handled a lot better at such a hotel - the lady could've been more sympathetic (instead of declining there was any issue) and could know better as to what to do.
We've been back for a week now and just got our credit card bill. We booked the hotel online as usual in a prepaid (advance purchase) rate which was confirmed in Euros. Because the rate was confirmed in Euros and the email confirmation clearly stated that Euros will be charged, we had used our Euro credit card for this. However, we just found out that the hotel actually charged us in Lira instead! As a result, we were charged extra service fees and FX conversion on our Euro credit card. The Euro credit card is basically only good for Euro transactions and nothing else. We certainly don't use it for non-Euro charges as it doesn't make sense to convert from our "home" currency (CHF and USD) to Euro to pay the bill for non-Euro transactions. My CHF and USD credit cards have better fees (or no fee) and conversion rate (inter-bank rate) on foreign transactions. After contacting Hilton and liaising with the hotel, the hotel refused to do anything. A representative from Hilton 1-888 verified that she also sees the same Euro rate on her side as in my confirmation. Yet the hotel insisted that they are not able to charged in Euros for American Express cards. But wait, Doubletree's policies clearly stated that rates are confirmed in local currencies unless otherwise specified in the confirmation email. and our confirmation email specified Euros
I pointed this out to them, but they didn't say anything. The amount of extra charges is not big at all, but it's rather an issue of principles. If they want to charge in Lira, they should have told me so in the reservation process and not promised one thing but do another. This issue is still open and DH will be sorting this out directly with the credit card company now. [in comparison, the SPG website includes a note saying that hotel rates may be charged in local currency at a conversion rate used by the hotel for the day]
After all, if you find a cheap rate and don't expect much more than a room and know ahead of time that the hotel will charge you in YTL despite telling you that they'll charge you in Euros, you may find the place alright. But there are so many other/better choices in quieter neighborhoods which are closer to the main sights (Doubletree is a few tram stops, or a 15-20min walk away in a rather loud shopping area - we had noise issue in our side-street facing room). I would not stay there again. My experience at one of the nearby Best Westerns in Istanbul 2 years ago was definitely much more pleasant.
To answer some of the questions from earlier posters - there was no suite upgrade for us. We got a room with a terrace (no view) as opposed to the standard room we had booked with cash on a prepaid rate from the Hilton website. IMO, the upgrade was quite pointless as it was January in Istanbul so whether one has a terrace or not really made no difference (unless you're a smoker). The size of the room was very small.
Check-in was efficient and we were given the Doubletree cookies. A bellman from the hotel actually took our luggage and came up to the room with us. He then showed us our room. We gave him a tip when he left and he was quite thankful and certainly wasn't expecting it (DH had to "chase" him out to give him the money, lol) The upgrade to a terrace room was probably quite a small upgrade for a Diamond - but we weren't exactly expecting an upgrade (not a listed benefit anyway), so it was fine. Everything went well and we quite enjoyed the modern and new property, though the room was very small (only just enough space to open 1 large suitcase after moving the chair and table, and pushing the lamp to the very corner). However, there after, our experience went downhill.
While on our way out to the various sights the next morning, we stopped by the front desk to ask for a map and to confirm about the tram stop one should get off for the various sights as well as the walking distance. We were provided detailed information (great service, I naively thought at the time) which we only later found out to be completely inaccurate! A nice guy from front desk told us (he also wrote it down on a piece of paper) that we should get two Istanbul cards (one for each of us) which would give us discounted tram fare of 1.9 YTL as opposed to the regular fare of 3 YTL. He also told us that the card is free, but we would need to put a 10 YTL deposit per card which we will get back when we return the card. We asked him about remaining credits on the card which he informed us that any remaining credits will be refunded with the deposit when we returned the card to where we bought them as well. I even asked him twice about this point because it seemed a bit suspicious in my mind that you can basically get this card and enjoy the discount at basically no cost. We went out and bought the cards at the stand just outside of the hotel as told and found out that the deposit on the card was actually just 6YTL and there's a 1YTL cost/fee for each card which we didn't mind anyway. Then, after using the cards, we found out that it actually cost 2 YTL instead of the 1.9YTL we were told. No big deal again, but this already suggest that the hotel personnel could've been better educated.
The main issue with those Istanbul cards came around on the last morning when we brought our cards back to the stand and asked for the money back - the guy would only give us our 6 YTL deposit back each card and told us that the remaining credits cannot be refunded. We then went back to the hotel front desk and explained the situation. The immediate respond we got from the guy (a different one, and unfortunately the one we spoke to didn't work that day until the afternoon) was "Who told you this?" hum... not very friendly with the tone he said it either! Not impressed, I remember the name of the guy we spoke to and replied with that. The guy at front desk made no effort and just said to us that we were told the wrong information, period. No apology, no offer to do anything. At this point, our driver has been waiting by the front desk for like 10 minutes already to bring us back to the airprot.
DH then suggested if the hotel could refund the remaining credits since they are the one who told us the wrong information. The guy didn't even say a word or reply to my DH at all. He simply picked up the phone and started speaking in Turkish, how rude! I mean, I certainly would expect him to tell you something in English first before he made that call. My guess is that he probably called the GM or someone higher up since after he got off the phone, he then asked a bellman to check the balance on our cards from the tram stop outside of the hotel. At this point, we really needed to get going so that we don't risk missing our flight. Because of this, I said to the guy at front desk that "we really needed to leave to catch our flight. would it be possible to make this fast?" He then replied "He's [referring to the bellman] going!" in a rather rude way. The bellman came back and told the front desk the balance on our cards (which is the same as what we told them, but I guess they have to verify themselves because we might cheat them on 26 YTL!?), and the guy at front desk then gave us some cash (26 YTL) for the remaining credits. DH had to remind him that it should be 38 YTL as there's a 6 YTL deposit on each card! This was not the only incident we had. We also had housekeeping entering our room around 9am in the morning without knocking! And it was a guy from housekeeping who tried to enter while we were changing!
The reason we didn't have the do-not-disturb sign up was because this was the morning of us checking out, and you certainly don't expect housekeeping to show up that morning.In our 5 days there, we received only 2 turndown services, which suggests that something's not quite working. Despite paying for 2 adults and having 2 adults listed on our reservation, we were only provided with 1 bathrobe in the room. Housekeeping even replaced our initial 2 hand towels with just 1 after the second morning. Needless to say, the 2 turndown services we received also only had one pair of slippers by the bed.
As for the hotel itself, it's actually quite sleek and modern. Wifi was offered to us for free with my Diamond status; however, it's otherwise quite expensive I believe. Breakfast was above average. But there were just too many incidents that we had which made us believe that the hotel really needs to better improve their service.
On the last morning at 11ish (before 11:30am), we returned to our room after a late breakfast only to find out that both of our keys had stopped working. Hotel check-out time is at 12 noon. We checked with a lady who happened to be on our floor and she suggested that based on her papers (which she was holding on a clipboard), we had checked out already!? Then when I spoke to front desk and ask how this happened, they just say that this is an issue with the magnetic strip on the key - on both keys happening at the same time on the last morning!? I don't think so.
It really bothers me when front desk would basically just lie to my face - certainly not acceptable. They could've said sorry and apologized for accidentally checking us out somehow.DH also had an incident with the spa. Long story short, he got hive and red rash all over this body (except for his legs) after a Turkish bath. Now, we both travel a lot and have gotten Turkish bath before and never experienced something like this. We are not blaming the hotel/spa for what happened (in fact, I had a great spa the day before with a different therapist), but rather how the situation was handled afterwards was not exactly great. Initially, the lady just declined outright and tried to convince us that this is normal - a bit of red, yes, normal; but he was in pain. This was what bothered us the most. A doctor came and DH was then given some medicines including some antibiotics. Some of his capillary were broken and one could see little red dots all over his arms. At the end, we were fine with the handling and DH did feel a lot better after applying some cream. Honestly though, the situation could've been handled a lot better at such a hotel - the lady could've been more sympathetic (instead of declining there was any issue) and could know better as to what to do.
We've been back for a week now and just got our credit card bill. We booked the hotel online as usual in a prepaid (advance purchase) rate which was confirmed in Euros. Because the rate was confirmed in Euros and the email confirmation clearly stated that Euros will be charged, we had used our Euro credit card for this. However, we just found out that the hotel actually charged us in Lira instead! As a result, we were charged extra service fees and FX conversion on our Euro credit card. The Euro credit card is basically only good for Euro transactions and nothing else. We certainly don't use it for non-Euro charges as it doesn't make sense to convert from our "home" currency (CHF and USD) to Euro to pay the bill for non-Euro transactions. My CHF and USD credit cards have better fees (or no fee) and conversion rate (inter-bank rate) on foreign transactions. After contacting Hilton and liaising with the hotel, the hotel refused to do anything. A representative from Hilton 1-888 verified that she also sees the same Euro rate on her side as in my confirmation. Yet the hotel insisted that they are not able to charged in Euros for American Express cards. But wait, Doubletree's policies clearly stated that rates are confirmed in local currencies unless otherwise specified in the confirmation email. and our confirmation email specified Euros
I pointed this out to them, but they didn't say anything. The amount of extra charges is not big at all, but it's rather an issue of principles. If they want to charge in Lira, they should have told me so in the reservation process and not promised one thing but do another. This issue is still open and DH will be sorting this out directly with the credit card company now. [in comparison, the SPG website includes a note saying that hotel rates may be charged in local currency at a conversion rate used by the hotel for the day]After all, if you find a cheap rate and don't expect much more than a room and know ahead of time that the hotel will charge you in YTL despite telling you that they'll charge you in Euros, you may find the place alright. But there are so many other/better choices in quieter neighborhoods which are closer to the main sights (Doubletree is a few tram stops, or a 15-20min walk away in a rather loud shopping area - we had noise issue in our side-street facing room). I would not stay there again. My experience at one of the nearby Best Westerns in Istanbul 2 years ago was definitely much more pleasant.
Feb 11, 2013, 9:51 am
#108
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: YYZ
Posts: 35
The wellness center is situated at the -3 floor.
There is no swimming pool available; but there is a huge Hammam which is very clean and modern. Even bigger than Grand Hyatt`s hammam!
The Sauna only is seperate men/women but hammam is mixte.
You can find the jaccuzzi and the steamroom in this area as well and the GYM amenities.
You can also get a relaxation massage in the massage room.
^
There is no swimming pool available; but there is a huge Hammam which is very clean and modern. Even bigger than Grand Hyatt`s hammam!
The Sauna only is seperate men/women but hammam is mixte.
You can find the jaccuzzi and the steamroom in this area as well and the GYM amenities.
You can also get a relaxation massage in the massage room.
^
Feb 11, 2013, 10:57 am
#109
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: BUR / LAX
Programs: UA MM/Gold; WN A-list; HH something depending; Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,551
You can spend less elsewhere, but for our first time we decided to stay in the hotel and we were very happy with the entire experience.
The hotel is very responsive to emails, you may want to just email them.
The gym/spa/equipment are very new/clean.
Feb 14, 2013, 11:26 pm
#111
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: BUR / LAX
Programs: UA MM/Gold; WN A-list; HH something depending; Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,551
Ask the hotel and check FT. Make sure the front desk knows what you expect to pay when they arrange the taxi. And when you get in the taxi just confirm "meter or fixed price?" and agree on the flat rate or watch the meter get turned on. Like any other place in the world. Armed by FT and advice from the hotel, you know what you should pay.
Last edited by abaheti; Feb 15, 2013 at 8:40 am
Feb 15, 2013, 10:40 am
#112
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: UK
Programs: HHonors Lifetime Diamond, Priority Club Plat, Accor Gold, Flying Blue, Exec Club.
Posts: 963
Good stay, king suite upgrade, transfer back was arranged with the hotel and worked fine- SwissAir flight- better than the transfer I arranged out to the Hilton (not the HIlton's responsibility, just the company I arranged it with!).
Just my five pence worth!
Just my five pence worth!
Apr 23, 2013, 5:51 am
#113
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 180
Hi All,
Recently signed up to Hilton Honours - looking to move up the membership levels.
Visiting Istanbul in June - currently got a boutique hotel with excellent reviews booked - http://www.hotelseraglio.com/
Tempted to try and stay at the DoubleTree instead in order to build points. So far the cheapest I have seen it is via Expedia. Just wanted to know:
1. If I booked through expedia can I still claim points for stay etc?
2. Any chance of an upgrade? (still only Blue with only 1000 points!)
Recently signed up to Hilton Honours - looking to move up the membership levels.
Visiting Istanbul in June - currently got a boutique hotel with excellent reviews booked - http://www.hotelseraglio.com/
Tempted to try and stay at the DoubleTree instead in order to build points. So far the cheapest I have seen it is via Expedia. Just wanted to know:
1. If I booked through expedia can I still claim points for stay etc?
2. Any chance of an upgrade? (still only Blue with only 1000 points!)
Apr 24, 2013, 3:58 am
#114
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 180
Hi All,
Recently signed up to Hilton Honours - looking to move up the membership levels.
Visiting Istanbul in June - currently got a boutique hotel with excellent reviews booked - http://www.hotelseraglio.com/
Tempted to try and stay at the DoubleTree instead in order to build points. So far the cheapest I have seen it is via Expedia. Just wanted to know:
1. If I booked through expedia can I still claim points for stay etc?
2. Any chance of an upgrade? (still only Blue with only 1000 points!)
Recently signed up to Hilton Honours - looking to move up the membership levels.
Visiting Istanbul in June - currently got a boutique hotel with excellent reviews booked - http://www.hotelseraglio.com/
Tempted to try and stay at the DoubleTree instead in order to build points. So far the cheapest I have seen it is via Expedia. Just wanted to know:
1. If I booked through expedia can I still claim points for stay etc?
2. Any chance of an upgrade? (still only Blue with only 1000 points!)
Apr 24, 2013, 6:35 am
#115
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: UK
Programs: HHonors Lifetime Diamond, Priority Club Plat, Accor Gold, Flying Blue, Exec Club.
Posts: 963
Booking through expedia has been answered previously, and there is a lot also on booking through "opaque" channels to be aware of for the future.
I would contact the hotel and ask them to add your hhonors number to the booking, maybe email them?
An upgrade for blue, hmmm..... I wouldn't hold your breath........ would be like giving an upgrade to everyone........ suppose it doesn't hurt to ask, but you are not entitled to it by status......... ask again when you get to Gold!
I would contact the hotel and ask them to add your hhonors number to the booking, maybe email them?
An upgrade for blue, hmmm..... I wouldn't hold your breath........ would be like giving an upgrade to everyone........ suppose it doesn't hurt to ask, but you are not entitled to it by status......... ask again when you get to Gold!
May 7, 2013, 2:58 pm
#116
Join Date: May 2010
Location: BOS, NYC
Programs: DL Plat, HH Diamond, SPG Gold, Hertz Gold
Posts: 572
It was our first experience with a hammam, and we loved it. Highly recommended, and very nice to be able to go back upstairs vs across town when finished. There were options for the Turkish bath on its own and then the Turkish plus western massage (and facials, etc). The Turkish experience was around approximately $125 USD without tip (from memory; I'm sorry I'm not certain). At the time, I recall thinking it was in line with hotel massage services in the USA.
You can spend less elsewhere, but for our first time we decided to stay in the hotel and we were very happy with the entire experience.
The hotel is very responsive to emails, you may want to just email them.
The gym/spa/equipment are very new/clean.
You can spend less elsewhere, but for our first time we decided to stay in the hotel and we were very happy with the entire experience.
The hotel is very responsive to emails, you may want to just email them.
The gym/spa/equipment are very new/clean.
May 7, 2013, 4:11 pm
#117
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: BUR / LAX
Programs: UA MM/Gold; WN A-list; HH something depending; Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,551
I'm sorry, I just looked through all my Turkey emails but I must have deleted the information after my trip. The manager, Murat Yetişgen, shows up on various travel review sites and seems to respond individually to every complaint and compliment. You might be able to reach them that way.
Or use Skype or Google voice to call them directly and make your request?
We originally had two reservations, both on points because we decided to stay in Istanbul longer before leaving the USA. When we got there they combined it all and let us stay in the same room. Then due to a flight cancellation we needed to extend one extra night; they did it for us no problem on points.
Or use Skype or Google voice to call them directly and make your request?
We originally had two reservations, both on points because we decided to stay in Istanbul longer before leaving the USA. When we got there they combined it all and let us stay in the same room. Then due to a flight cancellation we needed to extend one extra night; they did it for us no problem on points.
May 7, 2013, 4:13 pm
#118
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: YVR SFO
Programs: UA G
Posts: 4,866
Do you by chance know the best email to get in touch with this hotel? We've got a three night stay but on two different reservations (booked one before deval and decided to stay longer so we booked a second single night after deval). I'd like to be able to get in touch with them beforehand and see if they can make this happen. Thanks.