TheCount2

I was at the hotel this past weekend and while there was a bit of a problem with the thermostat in my GC room, I enjoyed the food and drink in the lounge and a Bosporus view not blocked by the Ritz Carlton, and had a very pleasant stay.

What is a problem is not the hotel's fault - there is construction all around Taksim Square, and I found myself walking in muddy roads on several streets without sidewalks, or broken pavement. If you only take taxis or cars to and from the hotel it is no problem, but if you are a walker like me it is quite confusing to get around - and this applies to all of the hotels around Taksim Square including GH, IC, Nippon, Point, Taksim Suites, etc. Cumhurriyet St. is gone.

drjazz

I have been reading about how the taxis try to rip off people. What should be the approx. correct fare from IST to the Grand Hyatt?

Stewie Mac

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10A523 Safari/8536.25)

Never been ripped off in 15+ trips the last three years. Taxi IST to GH is 40-50 lire, depending on traffic.

peteropny

Airport taxis are fine as are those that wait at the hotel. Beware of the taxis that sit at tourist attractions, those are the ones that try to rip you off - better to just hail a passing one (wish I had remembered this advice at Dolmabache Palace last year.

Stewie Mac

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10A523 Safari/8536.25)

Ah - fair comment from Peter, I have never got a taxi from the tourist spots.

drjazz

One more taxi question: Do they take plastic or just cash?

peteropny

Cash

FlyingDoctorwu

I concur with the following. Here is my post about the subject...

FDW

cbrown5294

I stayed at this hotel in early Jan, it was great. I used a suite upgrade and had a very nice large corner suite. Lounge was wonderful and the staff were great!
My question is this....I never received any point credit so I called GP a few days ago and she had to put them in herself.I asked about my diamond amenity points and she said Intl hotels dont give this. I could swear they asked when I checked in and I told them points (I was pretty tired so did not pay much attention)
Does anybody have experience with a Diamond amenity at this hotel?


*never mind just read this on Hyatt website
at Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency properties outside of North America a Food and/or Beverage amenity will be provided

I never got this so too late now

RTW1

The Diamond amenity points is something for just the US.... In other places they actually provide a Diamond amenity, sometimes a nice one, sometimes something pathetic.

cbrown5294

+1
inbound was 55 lire (heavy traffic) to airport was 45 lire

One bit of advice, allow extra time when you arrive at IST airport. You have to clear security in the very front lobby then proceed to check in. It took 30 minutes on the day I departed. It reminded me of leaving Beruit airport few years ago.

TAHKUCT

http://www.hyatt.com/gp/en/benefits/...ip_diamond.jsp

5 Welcome amenity consists of the following: at Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency properties in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean; a choice of 1,000 bonus points or Food and Beverage option; at Andaz hotels in North America a choice of a locally inspired amenity, $15 Food and Beverage credit or 1,000 bonus points; at Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency properties outside of North America a Food and/or Beverage amenity will be provided; at Hyatt Place a choice of 500 bonus points or a complimentary beverage; at Hyatt House properties and a choice of 500 bonus points or $5 credit in the Guest Market; at Hyatt Residence Club Resorts 500 bonus points will be awarded.

fjfv19

Location: Location is fantastic. It is extremely easy to get to Sultanahmet area (major tourist attractions), Eminönü (port for tours / New Mosque / Spice Bazaar) but also close to İstiklâl Caddesi, which is a famous pedestrian street / nightlife location. I found the most fun place was Nevizade Sokak (Street). It had a great vibe and a young / hip crowd. The tables outside were packed with people in the middle of February. The one downside to the location as of this post is the proximity to a ton of construction which causes a good amount of traffic and some slight irritation getting from the hotel to Taksim Square. It is a mini version of the Big Dig.

Rooms:I found the rooms to be fine. The rooms on the higher floors can have a decent view of the Bosphorus although it is somewhat obstructed by other hotels closer to the water including the Ritz Carlton. The wash rooms are quite modern, shower had good flow, and the room was clean. The TV / remote was frustratingly difficult to use and had poor reception but I rarely watched and it may have been isolate to my room.

Campus: I enjoyed the campus of the hotel. The pool seemed nice although once again, I was there in the winter (February). I'm a fitness freak and the fitness center was quite nice for a hotel, with an appropriate number of treadmills, weights and space to exercise. My favourite location in the hotel was "The Library" which is a nice room with couches, pool table, TVs and an old-fashioned bar. I enjoyed some nice Turkish wine in this room after a long day of sight seeing.

Service: I had great service in the hotel and I'm just a Platinum (mostly a Hilton / Starwood guy). There was an issue that my reservation for two doubles came out as a king bed at check-in. The check-in agent was extremely apologetic that my room was not ready and comped myself and my travel companion a free drink at the bar. The concierge is fantastic and security is great.

I had a very pleasant stay on my vacation / mileage run to Turkey. It seemed that 5% - 10% of the plane from EWR-IST (Feb 14, return Feb 18) was FlyerTalkers and a large group of them ended up staying at the Hyatt, coincidentally, so it seems there should be a good sample of recent reports.

I had noted all the reports of taxi scams on FlyerTalk / Trip Advisor and it paid off. I took a photo of the license plate before I got into any cab which I did not take from the hotel. We were in a cab from Sultanahmet to the Grand Hyatt. The cab driver said he "couldn't get to the hotel due to the construction", even though I told him how to get there. He then hit a button and set the meter to 47.60 turkish lira for our 25 lira ride (according to the taxi book provided by the concierge), and started yelling at us / telling us he would take us back to the Hagia Sophia. My friend and I opened the doors and refused to close them. We gave him 30 turkish lira (the high end for the trip) and told him if he wanted to collect the rest, he could walk with us to the Grand Hyatt and talk to the concierge or file a police report. I repeated the word "hırsız", which is "thief" in Turkish, so he knew that we understood the scam. We did not close the doors, and left the cab.

I gave the concierge my photo of the license plate, left them a statement, and personally watched them call the Turkish police. Hopefully a reprimand will cause him to think twice before he scams another tourist. Istanbul is a great city but as a tourist, you really need to be prudent.

Advice: If possible, go to high end hotel in whatever area you are and have them find you a cab. A cab from the hotel is significantly less likely to try to scam, based on conversations with the concierge.

thegrailer

I am heading back to IST this weekend and would love to have this taxi book - what is it?

fjfv19

Check in with the concierge at the hotel. At the Grand Hyatt, they provided guests with a small card before entering a taxi which listed all of the major sights/tourist attractions/locales and the average cab fare from each to the hotel. It would give an average range of cab fares, and it was actually pretty accurate from my experience, albeit limited. I'm sure other hotels have something similar.

At the very least, if the range says 20-25 lira and you get charged 50, something is likely amiss. This information allowed me to challenge my driver who clearly tried to scam us.

Enjoy your time in Istanbul! It is a beautiful and remarkably historic city.