SanDiego1K

I, too, am interested in updates on the hotel.

I believe that I read it was renovated in 2004. Is it still fresh?

What is the current charge for internet? Is there free wireless in the lounge?

What is the food service in the lounge? Breakfast, afternoon tea, evening appetizers, desserts? Or something less?

In an older report a diamond member reported getting an upgrade to a suite. Does that still happen?

How many restauarants are there in the hotel? What type of food do they serve? How is the quality of the food?

LegalEagle

Stayed there a number of years ago in November and thought the food on the Sunday brunch was spectacular. (They do label buffet items that are haram for the observant). The Turkish bath had a chemical odor around it but the tile was beautiful.

barnetda

I stayed there for 3 nights two weeks ago.

I had a suite which was large and pretty modern.

Food in the lounge was good. Breakfast continental style. Good pastries for tea and nice selection at cocktail time.

I cant recall if it had free wireless in the lounge. Internet access was aprox $20 a day i believe.

I would definitely stay there again.

FlyingVeryHigh

The hotel is still fresh. Rooms are spacious and very modern. Bathrooms in particular are great. There is no free internet. It costs 15 EUR per day and only cable connection available in the rooms. The system will give you a user name and password. Keep those to connect to wireless internet in public areas.

The breakfast is very very good. It's served in "Agora" restaurant which is the main restaurant of the hotel. They also have an a la carte menu offering local and international cuisine. There is an Italian restaurant called "Spazio". The food here is also very good. There is a bar called "Library Bar" which used to be a cigar and cognac bar but smoking is now prohibited in public areas of the hotel. The lounge is called "Mezzannine" which serves snacks and beverages all day long. There is the afternoon Tea "HyTea" between 15:00 and 18:00 which last year cost about 20 EUR including unlimited tea and coffee. Food and beverage is generally very good at the hotel but rather expensive.

If you book your room through the hotel (website or by phone) you will receive an upgrade to a Regency Club room but not a suite. If all RC rooms are sold out, then you will be upgraded to a suite. Upgrades depend on availability of the hotel and are not guaranteed...

Let me know if you need any more specific information about the hotel

FlyingVeryHigh

Hyatt Regency has now a new SPA (since May 2007) called "GAIA SPA" and it is beautiful and very modern. If you stayed at the hotel before this date, it was the crappy old one

bsb21

How is the Club Lounge staff?

If you are booked/confirmed in the Club Level (or Suite), do you check-in in the lounge? If so, how is that, functional or not?

FlyingVeryHigh

There are currently 2 girls taking care of the Regency Club. They are both very nice girls. One is a very experienced girl and the other is still quite new. There is a separate reception on the 8th floor located right across the RC Lounge. If you stay in a suite or at the RC, you will be checked in and out from there. You need to go to the reception at the lobby first and when the staff figures out your are staying at the Club floor, they will (they normally need to) walk you to the elevator and even until the reception on the 8th floor (depending on how busy they are).

If you stay at a suite or an RC room, you will receive a complimentary breakfast at the RC Club Lounge which is continental (so no hot stuff). There is also a cocktail hour between 18:00 and 20:00 where they serve unlimited alcoholic beverages and finger food.

If you stay at the RC floor, ask fro a sea view room. They will try to get you one as long as the hotel is not sold out...

bsb21

Dear FlyingVeyHigh,

How do you know so much about the hotel?

Do you stay there a lot or are maybe involved in managing it?

sfvoyage

When I stayed there last (about 10 years ago), I noticed all their housekeepers were male. Why was that, and is it still true?

mecabq

This is the case in general in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent. In some respects Istanbul is like Europe, and in other respects like the Middle East. Chalk this up to the latter! It's the case at all of the hotels in Istanbul.

To add to the main topic of this thread, I concur about the Hyatt -- it is one of the best hotels in the city. I prefer it slightly to the InterCon next door and the W. It is comparable to the hotels in what I would consider the next category up, i.e., R-C and Kempinski Cirigan Palace (FS is a different story).

The rooms are nicer, bathrooms are beautiful, and pool area is the best I have experienced in the city besides the Kempinski. The service is excellent, and the hotel certainly feels fresh and modern. The Regency Club is not as nice as the clubs at the InterCon or R-C (especially for breakfast), but is serviceable.

I hope to experience the Park Hyatt soon.

FlyingVeryHigh

No.. This is no longer the case... The numbers are now almost equal....

bsb21

How is security?

I have seen a lot of people complaining on Tripadvisor about it!

I know that the RC is also very strict, yet the Four Seasons is not.

mecabq

Security is lax at the hotel. On the one hand, they stop cars outside the perimeter and use the little mirror to look underneath, and also ask taxis to open their trunks. On the other hand, they wave me (presumably, because I look like a Westerner) right around the metal detector, or if I go through they don't pay any attention to the beeping. This has been my experience at most of the hotels in Istanbul.* I don't consider this a problem, although I guess the people on Trip Advisor do.

There have been long threads on FlyerTalk (check the Europe forum) about security in Istanbul. There is no doubt that, statistically, your chances of being involved in a terrorist incident or street crime are higher in Istanbul than in other cities in Europe. There are explosions in the city from time to time, although rarely in areas frequented by visitors. All of the usual tourist risks, scams, and minor nuisances are certainly on display. If one is the paranoid type, then one could certainly find reasons to feel insecure there. I would advise such a person to just stay home. Personally, I don't feel insecure in Istanbul and would never advise the average traveler to avoid it.

*Side note: It's rather funny, actually, when I am with my Turkish partner, they make her go through the metal detector while waving me around. It's the same at Customs at the airport and in other places. Turkey is the only country I have ever been to in which they treat locals like second-class citizens and foreigners like dignitaries. (Maybe Pakistan has some similarities in this respect.) Sad, I suppose, but my Turkish friends have a sense of humor about it, as I guess one must in the complex, conflicted, quasi-military dictatorship that is Turkey.

best

Mec---that is amazing and disturbing.

demue

Now I stayed there last night and had to send some emails and it was 8 Euro for 1 hour, 15 Euro (IIRC) for 3hrs and 24 Euro for 24hrs . Definitely not 15 Euro for 24hrs. The IC next door costs 15 Euro per day but not the Hyatt.

The rooms were decently furnished and are certainly of good size. whether they are largest as they claim I don't know. I reserved a non-smoking room and was assigned a smoking one and when I complained about and mentioned that Hyatt guarantees the non smoking they stopped arguing about being quite full. I was then told I could get an upgrade to a Deluxe room which was exactly what I had booked. Okay nice spin on giving me what I'm paying for.

What I found a let down is that in a place where it is not recommended to drink the tap water they don't even give you one bottle of purified drinking water to brush teeth or make a tea or so. Both Hilton and IC do (2 bottles) and their rates are even lower. Now I'm nobody at Hyatt and don't expect anything so it doesn't get me worked up. I will only make 6 stays to get Plat and 3 FFNs.

Just dropping in at Hyatt because I have to stay in Kolkata a few times and there is no other chain I have status with and FFNs are an inteesting concept so I'll give it a try. Lets see if I can get a room at the GH in BKK after Xmas (Added: I did. This pre-booking of FFNs is a nice feature)