I've had a two month long process of trying to decide where to stay on this leisure trip to IST and have posted in another thread about it.

FS Bosph was the clear leader all the way through up until now. Why? Because I dont see us being able to secure palace rooms (view or not) and I really dont want to be stuck in those wings.

The alternative had always been PH in our mind. E305 with FHR gets us up to a Park King or even a Spa King if they are nice to us.

But then, seemingly out of nowhere, the RC became a contender if I could secure a full Bosphorus view room on the club level for a reasonable rate. The layout and views of those rooms looked particularly intriguing (http://www.ritzcarlton.com/NR/rdonly...38_920x518.jpg and http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Proper...8-D12BDFC099DF). And, using AXP Centurion, it can be had for E380 with the Centurion extras.

The RC gets universal praise except, as usual, on FT Lux Hotel threads. But I've learned to adjust my reading of the posts here as I do from other sources where the biases also are so clear.

As far as I can tell, the club will be lovely:
http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/20...;s_Club_Lounge

I like the walk-able access to Taksim, but the immediate surroundings and the hill between the property and the square give us a little pause...but then again we're young(ish) and very fit so I imagine we can traverse these sorts of difficulties.

In a perfect world, the FS would have a somewhat competitive rate...but they dont and the recent reports of FT friends staying at the FS were quite mixed...with complaints of the rooms, Aqua, etc. and ultimately the suggestion to splurge elsewhere. So Im leaning to pass on the FS, but the call of the FS' pool and the river and the outdoor bar still lives strong in me!