Just completed a three night stay and thought I'd put some thoughts here for anyone who it may help.

We booked on points and applied NUAs to the stay. 2 days out nothing had cleared and I got in contact with the hotel. T-1 the NUA cleared into a bigger atrium view room. Again I contacted the hotel and asked for an exterior view and got the "we'll see what we can do" response. On check in we received a king Bosphorus view. Small room, well designed with a great view of the water. The hotel is on the 2nd block off the water so only the upper floors look over the water block buildings and provide a view.

Breakfast was good. Not one you'll talk about for years to come but had most everything you may want in the buffet and cook to order eggs,

We didn't have time to take advantage of any of the restaurants at the JW. Staff is very helpful and the concierge helped us obtain a relatively obscure item from a local pharmacy--even offering to scour the city for one if they didn't carry it.

We walked everywhere at the JW location is outstanding. Galata bridge is only a few minutes away and the immediate area is outstanding. We also walked up the hill to the tower neighborhood twice for dinner--all very accessible if you like walking.

We spent a few days exploring ourselves and also did a Culinary Backstreets tour (outstanding--it was just the two of us) as well and hiring Metin Koca for a day in the old city. The JW provided a great list of restaurants to us of which we had already made three reservations.

Overall a great stay. We were happy with our room and I don't think an atrium room would be *bad* if it was all they had on points. From reports here and on TA it does seem like they are stingy on upgrades. The location is fantastic though and that goes a LONG way.