convict

Looking to stay at the Renaissance in Istanbul in March. Has anyone stayed there? Any thoughts on the property?

DK_1KGal

This is also called the Polat -- we had problems in Istanbul getting to the "Marriott".

Nice hotel -- several good restaurants -- fun place as you can sit and watch the ships all day / night from the various bars and restaurants.

Easy to use shuttle to get back and forth to "town".

We have stayed twice (award stays) and enjoyed both very much.

france usa

I have been to IST maybe 30 times and have tried many hotels. best are definitely Ciragan Kempinski and Swissotel. Polat is far from the city, although close to the airport. Just looks like a big hotel without anything fancy. Pool is great if, like me, you like doing laps - although, not a deep pool. If you have the choice for another property try to get closer to the city. But Polat is not the worst choice in IST.

Endor

Any comments on any Marriott properties in Istanbul (just the Ren?)

Seems like it is not in the city center. Bad idea for an award stay?

Sweet Willie

bump.....

christianj

I stayed at the Renaissance Polat Istanbul in May 2005 for 4 nights. IMHO the hotel is very nice and conveniently located near the airport. If you are interested in vacationing in Istanbul the hotel is located outside of the city center which however can be reached via the hotel shuttle. I was there on business so I didn't take advantage of the shuttle but other US tourists mentioned that it was an easy way to get into the city to see the sights. I had booked a club floor room and I would recommend this to others. Rooms where nicely furnished and very clean. Club lounge offered the typical breakfast and evening snacks. Several people in the lounge had mentioned that the hotel has a nice turkish bath in the basement. I would stay at the hotel again but it might not be the best alternative if you are looking for a place near the tourist attractions. If you are going there on business and want to be near the airport it's a great choice. A turkish co-worker had mentioned the Hyatt being a great choice if you are looking to be in town on a budget less than the Kempinski, Four Season and Ritz-Carlton. Hope this helps! Enjoy the great city. I was so impressed I would go back ASAP.

Swiss Tony

I would really suggest not staying at the Ren if you want to see Istanbul - it's a long way out and if you want to go back to your room mid-afternoon before heading out again for dinner, that's going to be a lot of wasted time.

I stayed at the Hyatt a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you do this, make sure you sign up for Gold Passport - even at the basic level, we got free tea or coffee delivered to the room each morning at whatever time we asked for it!

dan1431

The REN is a very nice property and the club floor is very nice but, it is not exactly near the city.

Personally, I did not find it a problem to use the shuttle bus to head over to the airport and then use the subway to head downtown.

However, if you really want to do the tourist thing, I would suggest a downtown hotel.

Dan

Sweet Willie

We might stay our last night at this property due to departure flight time, How much time is the trip to/from this property and the airport?

Is there a shuttle?

--

christianj

I am not sure about a shuttle since a co-worker took us to the airport. The airport is approx. 5 min. away from the hotel. Depending on which side of the hotel your room is on you will actually have an airport/runway view. I'm surprised that they don't actually call this the Renaissance Polat Istanbul Airport Hotel. Have a great trip! As mentioned before, I was so impressed by the city that I would go back immediately. I think it helped that we had a turkish co-worker show us around so we didn't have to be with all the tourist groups. Having a native show you the sights makes a world of difference. I had customers that went to Istanbul a couple of months after I was there and they stayed at the Four Seasons. Evidently they asked the concierge to recommend a local personal tour guide and they said it was something they would do again without hestitation. Might want to give that some thought.

dan1431

When I stayed there there was a shuttle but it did not run all the time....selected times throughout the day.

Dan

fryfrye

Just booked a 5 night award stay at the Ritz in Istanbul. Rez agent insisted that it was going to be 200k points, howerver MR desk confirmed the hotel was "downgraded" to a tier-1 in Feb, and would only require the 150k cert.

Any recent award stays at the Ritz since Feb08?


fryfrye

macabus

I was there last summer and really enjoyed the hotel.

It's worth 150,000 points for 5 nights, but not 200,000 IMHO.

Delta3MM

I'm sure the ritz is fantastic, but I just returned from there, and this time I didn't stay at a Marriott. Check out tripadvisor.com and look at the number 1 recomendation. It's a small boutique hotel, but well worth it in terms of location and staff. Highly recomended.

Sure, no point stays, so if that's important, nevermind. 150K Marriott points are worth $1500 - $2250 to me, and a 5 night stay in that hotel cost me about $1000, although I was in a small room (which was fine).

They were offering free incoming airport transportation, breakfast, free internet and afternoon light snacks. They even gave me a free dinner in their resturant (which was excellent) for one of the nights.

Billy

fryfrye

Gotta do the Ritz. Esp if its only 150k points. 5 night stay is $2170, so I think its a good deal. I will post back in late october my findings, and I always update TripAdvisor.