Istanbul has its fair share of great hotels and for this trip we decided to try Fairmont, in part because it would be a good use of a suite upgrade certificate before they expire in a few months.  I found a reasonably low rate with best rate guarantee, and claiming BRG originally prevented me from using the suite upgrade. However after having been denied by Fairmont reservations I contacted the hotel directly and they accepted the suite upgrade certificate.  When booking a suite at this Fairmont, you automatically get access to the Gold Lounge, but normally not when using a suite upgrade cert.  Once again the hotel was generous and allowed us Gold Lounge access nonetheless. 

Location

The location of the hotel might not be the best for tourism purposes but it is decent.  It’s about a 10-minute walk to the Sisli subway station which is only a couple of stops away from the Taksim station.  It’s also on the same line as Haliç and Verneciler stations which are both walkable distance to the spice bazaar and grand bazaar. 

Room

Based on Fairmont.com not all suites seem to be of the same size.  The suite we got was a corner suite which is larger than others according to the floor plan. The main advantage is that we had windows on two sides of the room and a very nice L-shaped balcony.  The views of the city from there were fantastic.  The entire room is very modern with sleek design, electronic curtain controls, and has a massive entrance door.  There is a TV on both sides of the wall between the bedroom and the living room with two sliding doors to separate the bedroom from the living room as needed.  Above and below the TV are some futuristic metallic panels.  There is no DVD player in the room but when we asked for one, it was brought the same day. Off the living area there is a high table with chairs overlooking the hotel pool.  There is also a small corner with a lounge chair which is I guess might be non-existent in non-corner suites.  The room has 1.5 bathroom, with the half bath being of a decent size although it could use a bit more counter space.  In the main bathroom there is a movable wall panel (sort of like a window) that you can open up to see through the main entrance area or to close off for privacy.  There is a bathtub inside the shower area with a TV in the wall right in front of the tub.  Strangely the shower door is a single glass panel that you can slide closer to the shower head or closer to the bathtub but then the other part remains open so there can be a bit of water spilling outside the shower.  Despite some lights in the shower/bath it was a bit dark, in part because the lights were not very bright, but also because of the color scheme they used – dark floor and dark walls.  In fact floors are dark throughout the room as well but it’s more of an issue in the main bathroom because the rest of the room has lots of natural light.  The bed was very comfortable and we had great sleep with strong AC.  Overall it was a great room and great value for the money when using a suite upgrade cert, but the main questions will come when those certs no longer exist under Le Club Accor (more on that below).  

Dining

Happy hour in the Gold Lounge on the 15th floor is a generous 3 hours, from 5pm to 8pm.  They had 3-4 hot dishes in addition to soup.  Some days the hot dishes were nice, the most memorable was a lovely sea bass dish, but other days it left a bit to be desired with sautéed veggies and meatballs.  There are several cold offerings as well including vegetables and local dishes.  Overall there was enough for a small dinner but not as extensive as some lounges in Middle East hotels.  I was surprised that desserts did not include baklava on any evening but there were other kinds of desserts.  The alcohol choices were a bit subpar for a hotel of this caliber, they only had one red and two white wines from Turkey, beer and liquor but no sparkling wine.  We had breakfast in the lounge with decent choice including local options such as fried sucuk and menemen.  Overall the food quality in the lounge was excellent, clearly better than for drinks.  I stopped by during afternoon tea (3pm-5pm) once and saw a few desserts but not much else. The lounge environment is great with several subdivisions which provide some privacy and it was not crowded at any time.  Most guests preferred to have one of the tables near the food station but we always chose to go to the more quiet area at the end of the lounge, which had a TV in the wall/mirror.  There is also a terrace outside the lounge with the same views as we had from our room given that it’s overlooking in the same direction of the city.  Similar to the room, the color scheme in the lounge is dark, but given that you are right next to floor to ceiling windows the lounge overall looks very nice.  What takes away a bit from the lounge experience is that we saw some people wearing their hotel bathrobe and/or hotel slippers in the lounge (so there is no dress code or it is not enforced), and also there were loud children crying and screaming on a couple of evenings, others running around, so it was not always a peaceful and enjoyable environment.  On evenings without unruly children, then it was the complete opposite: very quiet and relaxing.  

Service

In the Gold Lounge we had great service, including helpful advice regarding Istanbul but also for our upcoming trips after Istanbul.  When I asked after two evenings if they sometimes had baklava in the Gold Lounge they promptly brought me my own plate from the kitchen downstairs along with recommendations for where to buy the best in town – a great service-oriented effort as a reaction to a guest question, which was very appreciated.  The service we got pre-arrival was top notch with the guest relations manager being very responsive in answering queries and preparing our arrival including confirming the suite upgrade and Gold Lounge access.  I also informed the hotel ahead of time that it would be my wife’s birthday during our stay and they kindly brought a cake in our room which was a nice touch.   Another example of excellent service and desire to please.  

Gym

The hotel gym has great quality equipment which is obviously still new and working well.  The gym was quiet went I went there so I had full freedom to use the various machines.  The color tones in the gym are dark as in the rest of the hotel.

Overall

Overall the Fairmont is a great hotel which I highly recommend.  However competition in Istanbul is fierce and there are several other hotels with great reviews, for example the Park Hyatt and St.Regis which are in a similar hotel category as Fairmont.  As can be the issue for several Fairmont properties worldwide, staying at Fairmont makes a lot of sense when using Fairmont certs for upgrades but once those expire, depending on the city it can be a more difficult value proposition relative to other international hotel chains if you have elite status at more than one chain, particularly outside of North America where elite benefits with competitors can be generous.  If I can have free breakfast, free lounge access, and good odds of suite upgrades at Hyatt, Marriott, Starwood, and Hilton, would I return to Fairmont Istanbul in the future without breakfast, lounge, and only a minimal room upgrade? Or pay for such extras at Fairmont when I can get them for free elsewhere?  In Istanbul the Fairmont is very good but competition is good too, so it is not so easy to overcome the numerous perks elite guests can get elsewhere so Le Club Accor program is a liability for this specific property in my humble opinion because the bar is quite high in Istanbul.  That said, for guests with elite status with Accor and not with other hotel chains (or guests without status anywhere), I can recommend Fairmont without hesitation. 

In my previous review of Fairmont Istanbul about 1.5 year ago I mentioned how great the hotel is although I was worried about what the shift to Le Club Accor would do to this property given the competitive hotel market in the city with many other hotel chains offering generous perks to elite guests such as free breakfast, lounge access, and suite upgrades.  Fairmont Istanbul knows my conundrum, and given that I am a repeat guest they give me a special rate for a suite including lounge access and breakfast to avoid being uncompetitive.  Needless to say I highly appreciate their special treatment; I have returned this month and I thought I could provide an update about this hotel.

Room

For this stay we had the same room as in my previous review except that we were a couple of floors higher so no need to post new pictures because they would be the same.  The corner suite is still as great as before with very high quality finishes and everything is still flawless and in mint condition.  Bathroom amenities are in the large 90 ml bottles and they print my name on it, similar to Fairmont Québec City which is a nice touch.  In addition one factor I forgot to mention in my previous review is that Fairmont is near a busy road, however the suites are facing the opposite side of the building so you never hear traffic noise from the suites and as a bonus you get a view of the Bosphorus in the distance rather than a city view with a boulevard.

Dining

My previous review did not comment on the restaurant breakfast because we just stuck to the lounge breakfast, but in our latest stay we mixed the lounge and the restaurant.  The restaurant has more choice than the lounge (as can be expected), but given that the spread in the lounge is more than satisfactory, to be honest I probably prefer the quiet lounge with better service.  I can mention that the décor of the restaurant is attractive and service was good as well.  

In the lounge for happy hour I have not observed a deterioration in the last 1.5 year; it is still as good quality as before.  In fact last time I noted my mild disappointment that they did not have baklava in the lounge but this has been rectified since then.  

Service

Service remains a strong point at Fairmont.  Not only they are flexible with the pricing arrangement for me but also lounge staff is superb.  One evening we had to arrange a meeting with a couple of outside guests and they prepared a meeting room in the back and they took care of our guests well.

Wifi

If there is one weakness of this hotel it would be wifi.  Fairmont is in a business district rather than a tourist destination so you would think that wifi would be quite important.  Wifi worked without interruptions during our stay but speed was too low at about 2 Mpbs. 

Hotel Entrance

As an interesting note not related to anything else, local artists have recently painted the pillars near the hotel entrance which makes it look quite colorful.

Overall

Overall Fairmont is still a top notch choice in Istanbul.  As discussed in another thread on FT, the Raffles Istanbul hotel does not give free lounge access to Platinum guests and the price of entry level rooms there exceeds what I pay for a corner suite at Fairmont (which is one notch above the first suite category), plus the fact that lounge access is included with suites at Fairmont and consequently you get breakfast too.  I wish I could have tried Raffles to compare but I am not willing to pay more money for Raffles, lose the suite, and lose the lounge, without mentioning that I am always treated well at Fairmont so I am not sure service at Raffles will bring me a lot that I do not already have.  I guess I could also try the new Sofitel which is in a more touristy location at Taksim Square, and for people who do not need more than the basic room it’s probably good value for the money since you get free lounge access as Platinum guest.  However I should note that for entry level rooms, Sofitel and Fairmont are generally in the same price range but with Fairmont gift cards purchased at a discount twice a year you can get Fairmont for cheaper than Sofitel on a net basis, so even though Sofitel gives lounge access for free to Platinum guests, you have to pay a premium over Fairmont to get that lounge, plus the fact that I suspect they do not upgrade liberally to suites at Sofitel which means if I want a suite there I will end up paying more than I would at Fairmont, and I personally prefer the better service and better hotel hardware rather than the location at Taksim.  

Istanbul is a fairly low-cost city which means that a euro goes further than in most other cities.  Consequently in Istanbul I find it’s good value for the money to book a premium suite and be guaranteed to have that premium suite, rather than play the upgrade roulette by trying to save only a nominal amount of money.  In addition at Fairmont by booking the suite we get lounge access automatically, which makes the lack of free Platinum lounge access (unlike Sofitel) somewhat of a moot point.  When comparing Fairmont with other hotel chains, prices at St.Regis for the basic room are normally higher than Fairmont but there is no lounge and I may or may not get a suite there depending on availability, so my takeaway is that Fairmont remains an excellent choice.  Ritz Carlton might be a closer match to Fairmont because there is a (paying) lounge there and out of curiosity I intend to try it in a few weeks to compare with Fairmont.  

Fairmont Istanbul reopened after being closed for a few months during covid so I thought I would provide an update on what has changed.  Overall I was quite pleased once again with our stay – their covid precautions are better than other hotels in Istanbul and the changes to the Gold Lounge are excellent.

Room

We had a corner suite like in the past; this room remains in good condition and is one of our favorite suites in Istanbul.  Since our last stay at Fairmont, we stayed in suites at many other hotels in the city to compare: Renaissance, Ritz Carlton, St.Regis, Swissotel, Park Hyatt, and Conrad.  While the suite at StR can compete with Fairmont because of its unique and beautiful design, however it is not very big (57 sqm) compared to the large corner suite at Fairmont (96 sqm).  Also I would note that suites at Ren, StR, PH, and RC only have one bathroom, while others have 1.5 which is more convenient.

The one thing that changed for our latest stay was bathroom amenities: we did not have the large bottles, instead only small bottles, and my name was no longer printed on them.  In addition, only the soap provided in the shower was Le Labo, while the other ones near the sink in each bathroom was an unknown green one marked Fairmont Istanbul rather than a brand name.  I was told that they are currently not fully staffed so the lack of personalized printing is supposed to be a temporary issue.

Service

Some hotels have not reopened their executive lounge yet, but thankfully Fairmont’s lounge was open which is useful because it’s the main way I get good service from a hotel: I go straight to the lounge for miscellaneous requests.  Given that the lounge was not crowded at all, service was as good as before, if not better.

Of all hotels we have stayed in Istanbul post-covid, Fairmont had the best and most thorough covid precautions.  First off, upon arrival they disinfected our suitcases before bringing them to our room.  They checked the guest temperature for fever at the entrance of the hotel and also at the entrance of the restaurant; some hotels do not check at all.  Housekeeping was on request only, so guests worried about staff entering their room can decline, or others who prefer cleaning can still have this choice.  Overall their process is well handled.

There seemed to be a bit more new staff so more service slip-ups than in the past perhaps due to lack of training.  For example when we ordered in the room they made some mistakes and we had to call again on a couple of occasions.  That said, I had the same issues at St.Regis which is normally stellar for service so I suspect many hotels might not be fully up to speed yet.  Fairmont still ranks quite high for service in my opinion, but Raffles and St.Regis remain above.

Dining

For happy hour they have come up with a Gold Lounge a la carte dinner menu so we essentially received a 3-course dinner every evening if we wanted.  It is normally supposed to be offered in the restaurant only, but they accepted to serve us our dinner in the lounge so we could enjoy a quiet and relaxing environment with a drink rather than the busier restaurant.  Some choices on the menu were quite good quality for example the chicken and fish dishes.

Unfortunately breakfast was not offered in the lounge and it was in the restaurant only.  There was no buffet but the a la carte menu was extensive enough, perhaps not luxury level like Raffles’ breakfast but Fairmont does not have the same price tag so it was fair.  One nice feature is that they allowed breakfast to be served in the room instead of the restaurant.

Wifi

Wifi is still a weakness at this hotel, speed only 1 Mbps despite hotel occupancy not being very high.  I was told that they intended to upgrade their wifi but it has been put on hold during covid.

Overall

Overall we had a solid stay again and I was pleased with how they handled covid changes and the Gold Lounge is as good as ever with excellent service there.  I like to mix things up rather than stay at the same hotel every time, but in Istanbul the hotel where I stay the most is Fairmont: it remain’s where I get the best value for the money based on my preferences.