Originally Posted by
cwpfly
So while the stopover is a neat offering (and was a primary reason that we decided to fly TK for this trip), the strident disregard of the pax-selected hotel, the haphazard provision of benefits and the lack of communication converted the positive to a strong negative.
Has anyone ever been successful getting a hotel change at the IST hotel desk?
You're right, the scheme IS neat, but it's imperfect. From the airline's perspective it's giving you what it promises - three nights in a 4/5-star hotel, with breakfast, free. They righted the initial glitch in terms of stay length, but either can't, or won't, comply with your request to maintain the original hotel choice. In principle they will not change a hotel voucher once it's been issued. Maybe that's a business decision to minimise workload related costs dealing with passengers, maybe the agreement they have with the hotels involves penalties for changes. But it's something covered in the T&Cs.
I have every sympathy with you. Logic and fairness are both on your side. But to save yourself further frustration it might be better to accept the choice you face: stay at a lovely hotel in an unattractive location, or make your own arrangements to stay elsewhere. In a very similar situation I ditched the hotel. I didn't eat the ice cream.