Did you like the Breakfast at PH in Istanbul? I thought it was less than mediocre.Rooms were very nice,area very nice,But Breakfast,meh!

Both the GH and PH were pretty much standard buffet w/ eggs to order so I can't say either was anything exceptional, but certainly not bad. GH certainly seemed more extensive with a nicer presentation.

I did appreciate that the PH breakfast area had the aircon on.... GH seemed to think that the 80 degree/80 percent humidity was somehow comfortable in the mornings and opened the doors in the bfast area for all to experience. Seemed to be a common thing in Turkiye tho... no restaurants with aircon, taxis would never turn it on, shiny new airport was sweltering. If I had to do it again, I would never go in August.

Does anyone know what the lounge hours are? Mostly wondering whether it's possible to stop by outside of breakfast and evening happy hours to grab some water or soft drinks.

In my poor memory, lounge hours around 7or8 AM-11PM, and happy hour ends at 8PM

When I was there in August, the lounge was accessible throughout the day, from the start of breakfast until a couple of hours after the snack/drink spread. However, they no longer had bottles of water available in the fridges. It might have been a temporary thing. I will be back there in February and can report back then.

I'm looking to book a stay here for next year, and am thinking about the Executive Suite on points. Do these have the partial sea view, or do we have to pick a Grand Suite and beg/pay for the view?

Just finished 4 night stay. We were put on the 8th floor King room with a view of Bosphorus. No upgrade to a suite even though suites were available before arrival. We did arrive at about 2 am and at that time I did not have energy to negotiate for a suite. There was a welcome letter and a bowl of fruits in the room awaiting us. Overall, the room was old but well maintained. No problem with adjusting temperature to our liking but the weather outside was 50-60 F. The only problems with the room were: (1) the toilet was flushing only on the second time. (2) water was accumulating outside the shower door, and (3) luck of electrical outlets to recharge our laptops. Note that only Turkish electric outlets were available but we had our adapters.
During our stay the lounge was open from noon so the breakfast was only in the restaurant. I think the service and the offerings were fine considering that our rate was $140/night. Therefore you can try local smoked and salted fish instead of Nova Lox and there is no Humboldt Fog but local cheese as offerings. The international food section was a bit limited but Turkish food was nice and I liked that. The freshly squeezed orange, grapefruit, and pomegranate juices were nice but no berries can be found this time of the year. Overall, we did enjoy the breakfasts mainly because of local Turkish specialties. Prosecco was available at ca. $10/glass extra charge. The breakfast hours were from 7 am till 10:30 am each day,
During the day the lounge would offer two types of cakes, fresh fruits, coffee + tea, and a fridge with soft drinks including still and sparkling water. The happy hour is from 6 till 8 pm and included hard liquor (Ballentine Blended, Beefeater, Jim Beam, different vodkas), white, rose, and red Turkish wine, and Zonin Prosecco. Two hot dishes were rotated each days, and then some salads, small sandwiches, fruits, and Turkish sweets. The lounge was never crowded - not more than 6 or 10 people at a time in March 2024, and the food selection was fine. On one day the salmon+shrimp stew was excellent while chicken on another day was just OK.
Overall, a very solid property if you are paying ca. $150/night.
Few tips: At current rates the yellow taxi ride from IST to the Grand Hyatt is about 720 Turkish Lira (or $22.30) or ca, 800 Lira if the driver is creative. There is no night surcharge and you pay the meter, You round up the fare instead of tip. The ride was about 30--35 min in the middle of night and then at 7 am. The IST airport is a horrible place to get Turkish Lira because my US ATM card was refused by the bank and the only bank exchange was offering the rate with effective 20% commission.
The hotel is a short 5 min walk to Taksim square where you can catch Metro or even airport bus (did not use the bus) or you can walk downhill to catch the tram to the old town. For tram and Metro tickets you can use credit card. There is a Palace museum at the waterfront and a short walk from the tram. Be prepare for high admission prices if you are not a Turkish national. You will be paying 25 Euros to go to Sofia which accounts for about 5 Euro per fresco you will see. Of course, you can still go to the ground floor for free to pray.

Did you notice or remember whether any of the standard Grand Suites (king or twin) were available that you weren't upgraded into, or just generic suites including premium ones that aren't eligible for a complimentary Globalist upgrade?

A bit dated but still a great stay
 

I’ve been staying in an AirBNB in Istanbul for two weeks. My family decided to spend Friday night at the GH to check it out. We had a great stay although the room itself is somewhat dated (though fully functional and clean).

Booking and Check-in
I paid around €140 plus tax and booked into the base King room. At arrival I was informed I was upgraded to the Sea View Grand Suite which was certainly appreciated. We arrived around 1PM and the room wasn’t ready but they held our luggage and when we came back around 4PM we got right in. 4PM late checkout was granted.

Room
Very spacious with 1.5 baths, plenty of closet space, and a view to the Bosphorus from the bedroom. Although the room is dated, everything was clean and worked perfectly. There’s a huge desk in the living room which was handy for working.

I didn’t hear any noise from within the hotel. There was a tremendous amount of horn honking at certain points but it quieted down in the evening and I wasn’t bothered by any noise.

There was already a rollaway setup for my son along with three sets of towels, robes, and slippers.

The toiletries in the suite were not standard GH toiletries and I found them a bit too heavy/musky but that’s just personal taste.

The in-app Bluetooth key virtually never works for me, but it did actually work flawlessly at this hotel.

The Pool was open but quite chilly. My son went in for around five minutes. It’s certainly a pretty space and I’m sure would be nice in the summer.

The Club was never too crowded and was pleasant. Happy Hour is 6-8 with Turkish wines, Efes, and hard alcohol along with snacks (see picture below). There’s also a continental breakfast in the morning but we took breakfast in the restaurant.

Restaurant Breakfast was a very elaborate spread and very tasty. Aside from the buffet there were eggs cooked to order, and a coffee and fruit juice bar. It did get pretty crowded on a Saturday.

The Spa is included for Globs. I assume there is a charge for others (the attendant told me “included for Globalists” when I checked in) but I don’t know what it is. I used the Sauna and no one else was there.

The Location I thought was very convenient. I will say I went for a walk around Taksim Friday evening and virtually as soon as I left the hotel people started approaching me trying to sell me on their nightclub or what have you. Easy enough to ignore but there are lots of touts. The area does get very crowded but I enjoyed it.

Overall I thought this was a great stay at €140. The Suite was probably at least 700 sqft, we had a great breakfast, enjoyed evening snacks, and had a much more comfortable bed than our AirBNB.

Two other notes about Istanbul:

• We had 16 days here and ate at Erhan Restaurant in Sultanahmet 6 times. I highly recommend it, the food is excellent and the owners (family run) are so welcoming. If you’re sightseeing in the historic area, skip all the touts and try Erhan.. my favorite was the Eggplant Puree appetizer
• We typically use Google Maps for public transport planning and for some reason it always wanted us to take busses to get around. We learned the busses rarely came on schedule, often got stuck in traffic jams, and were just not reliable. I recommend sticking with the trams and subways even if it means more walking.. it will be a better experience

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Living Room with rollaway

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Bedroom

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Bathroom (there’s a shower stall to the left that I didn’t get in my picture)

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View from the Bedroom.. including the Ritz, which also looks quite dated from the outside at least.

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Pool - quite chilly in April but would be nice in the warmer weather

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A welcome amenity was delivered around ten mins after we arrived

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Club Lounge Evening Snacks

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Breakfast Selections