banzani

stayed here for 3 nights in Dec. Upon cki was upgraded to club room on 24th floor. Asked about suite but was told upgrade to club room only. Oh well...hotel was half-empty (at my guess) but chose not to argue as I spent little time in the room. Fruit and sweets waiting in the room.

Room itself very nice, larger than normal, panoramic windows, nice bathroom, though shower didn't perform very well.

Only had a short visit to the lounge, OK snacks in the evening, oddly enough they were serving Miller beer (my guess is there are probably 10,000 better beer brands to be had from places closer by). Breakfast in main restaurant of average quality (no fresh yoghurt or juice, for example).

There is a nice fitness/spa area, but it gets busy in the late afternoon as they seem to sell memberships. The outdoors looked nice for the warmer months.

While everything is pretty new, it is not maintained 100% properly (mold in the corners of the showers in the fitness area).

Drinks, like in so many hotels in IST, ridiculously overpriced in lobby and bar.

Overall a good stay, and would return if needing to stay in airport area. Would not recommend if needing to go downtown with rush-hour flows (morning into town, back in the afternoon).

charder

what room did you have? 2401. It is the only room on 24th floor with big window front.
Suite is possible but one has really to argue and if you got one of the bigger club rooms it does not matter

banzani

spot on :-:

charder

Shower was working for me but tricky to handle. I do not know why some hotels make such easy things complicated.
No fruits or sweets when I arrived

ordogg

Hi staying here for one night at end of a trip to Turkey. After spending a few days in IST staying at Grand Hyatt, we're going to Cappodochia and Ephesus. We arrive IST late afternoon and have a 810 am flight the next morning to FRA.

Since we will have already spent 4 days in IST on front end of the trip, is it a good hotel just to hang by the pool?

Any suggestions for a last night in Turkey dinner near hotel?

Thanks!

LIH Prem

http://www.gelik.com.tr/atakoy/eng/index.asp

Enjoy!

-David

Crazy4Birds

I booked a club level room for a 3 night stay, and after a regular club room on the first night, was upgraded to a suite on the 22nd floor for the next 2 nights.

Club lounge had very nice selection of evening appetizers, with Turkish wines/beer. Turkish white wine was quite nice! Club lounge breakfast was also fine---great views over the Sea of Marmora from the hotel....European Kestrel entertained us soaring in front of the Club Lounge windows.

On a rainy weekend, the traffic into/out of the city was actually quite light----I used the hotel shuttle only once to get into town, and it dropped us off very close to the Sultanmet tourist zone. Do pre-reserve it, as it also picks up pax from a nearby hotel, and thus fills up...

The staff at the hotel were very friendly and accomodating, and I was very pleased to have stayed there.

b8b

How often does the shuttle run?

How is the hammam?

Oxon Flyer

Shuttle timetable to/from the city and airport are hidden away in a dark corner of the hotel website

b8b

Thank you. That was very helpful.

The timetable shows departures, do they also pick you up as well? Perhaps at the same time they drop the other folks off?

I suppose you could always take a metro to the airport and then take the shuttle from there to the hotel, correct?

Oxon Flyer

Yes, the shuttle picks up in the city at the drop-off times.

phlashba

Hammam is good --- I enjoyed it. And as others have mentioned if you can snag room 2401 as I did it is great -- not a suite but BIG with a killer view. Club Lounge down the hall was attentive and nice.

TerryK

You really need to fight to get your upgrades. I was put on a premium room on 2nd floor; worst room in that category. Was told the hotel is full and all suites are sold out which contradicted what showed on www.spg.com. Too tired to argue and was there for one night anyway.

Not sure why anyone wants to stay at this location. It is not that close to the airport and far from downtown. Shuttles to downtown only runs twice a day. Shuttles to airport runs more often but there are 2-3 hour gaps in the afternoon. I ended up didn't use the shuttle at all. IMHO, airport shuttle needs to run at least hourly to be of practical use. There is no public transportation either to airport or downtown.

phlashba

I agree with you about the location. I only stayed there at the end of my trip to be closer to the airport. Unless you have business at or around the hotel or are doing as I did for airport access I would stay near Taksim or Sultanahmet (both are very different so it depends on taste) -- last trip I stayed in Sultanahmet but next time would choose Taksim as it is much more lively with better modern accommodations.

john11111111111

Stayed here for one night.

Time from plane landing to sitting in room, 55 minutes. Taxiing to stand 15mins, walking 5 mins, visa 2 mins passport 5 mins taxi 15 mins (cost 18Lira) checkin 10mins.

Shuttle is only part time, evening not at all, sometimes only once per 2 hours, so you probably have a 50:50 chance of finding it useful. It's a 12-seater minivan.

Hotel was fine, seemed a bit out of the way though.