I struggle a little bit with the JW Bosphorus - there's some really good, a lot of fine, and a few annoyances that start to add up. It's not a bad property, but it's challenging when it's one of the more expensive options in the city (especially compared with Adahan DeCamondo, the W, Orientbank, etc.). I have the STR and RC coming up, so I'll be able to better compare at this price point, but yeah, I'm just not sure the JW provides much over less expensive options. Here are my pros, cons, and photos:

A few random notes:

• The property is very obviously owned by the Qataris - Qatar flags out front, portrait of a Qatari royal at the check-in desk
• Construction is going on across the street (Peninsula) and next door (other building touching the hotel) - my bed touched the wall next to the construction - I could hear things at 10 AM, but it didn't wake me up or anything
• On points, so I can't comment on the EUR-TRY exchange rate fairness
• Looks like most of the rooms face the atrium

Pros:

• Used a SNA to secure an upgrade to a Premier Bosphorus View Suite (highest SNA category), which stuck at check-in
• The suite on the 5th floor was ready when I arrived around 2 PM - though, they thought it wouldn't be
• The suite is spacious - two full bathrooms, large living room, large bedroom, walk-in closet
• The view is nice and very much as advertised (though, the windows are small)
• Automated curtain controls
• Living room couch was quite comfortable
• Bed was decent - slightly firm / just-right mattress, decent (not too thick, not too thin) covers, pillows were a bit weak (use two, and you'll be fine) - nothing here will wow, but I slept good
• TVs seemed to have YouTube and Netflix apps
• Nice Hermes toiletries (same orange scent as Sheraton Grand Doha)
• Lots of towels and water bottles (stocked as a suite)
• Noise isolation was pretty good - all things considered
• Welcome gift of baklava was actually really delicious - moist, etc.
• A few service highs
  • One associate at the desk was quite friendly and remembered my name across both days of my stay and came up at the door as I walked in to make sure a problem I faced with the WiFi had been resolved
  • I asked for 2 PM checkout, which was accepted
  • Check-in was pretty friendly
• Elite breakfast at Galata Lounge (not a real lounge, but a restaurant) was really delicious
  • Buffet + made-to-order eggs
  • Really tasty lattes
  • Delicious eggs royale on some of the best sourdough bread
  • Great Turkish sausage scramble on the buffet
  • The servers came around with some really good cheese-filled pastry (yum, yum)
  • Servers quite friendly

Cons:

• Weird service interaction caused by Wi-Fi - I had no issues connecting my phones to the Wi-Fi (which worked fine), but I couldn't get the log-in page to work on my laptop - I waited and waited and then went down to the front desk to ask if they had voucher access codes (as maybe the issue was my room number login as that was the step that was hanging) - there were five employees in the desk area - one asked what I needed, I explained - then, no one really said anything - seemed like no one was listening - one told me to turn off my firewall (which my computer doesn't have as a user setting) and that they don't have voucher codes - as I was leaving, the friendly associate I mentioned in Pros came up to me and told me to call on down if I still couldn't get it to work - I let the login page sit for 5 minutes, and it finally worked
• Lots of phone calls and bothers - someone called twice in the evening and once at 1 PM - I never answered as I was either eating or in the shower during all of the calls - someone also knocked while I was on the toilet and came in, but I think they left as I could never find them after getting off the toilet
• Shower design is dumb in the bedroom's bathroom (in hindsight, I should have used the more normally-designed living room bathroom shower) - two shower doors that don't meet fully, so water gets out on the floor - rainfall head has weak pressure - wand head has strong pressure, but the two wand holders don't let you angle the wand head, so you can't actually use it as a steady shower head for your body (either hits just your back or the top of your head + plus sprays water out of the cracks where the doors should meet)

I'm not sure I would return quickly as I've had better experiences in IST for less money (based on cash price when I booked - even though I only paid with points).

Photos: