TK in IST: Thread #3 - Transit and Stopover Hotel, Touristanbul, Sleeping Rooms
 

As TK is moving to Istanbul Airport, it would be useful to create a new thread specifically for Istanbul Airport as the information for Atatürk Airport won't be anymore valid.
I would also create a WIKI for this thread as well which would give the essential information for long connections.

I have an 8h45min layover in ISL later this month, booked in J. When I booked my flight the rule was free hotel for layovers over 7 hours in J, now the rule is 9 hour threshold. Am I out of luck or is the rule dependent on when the flight was booked?

Unfortunately, you are not eligible for the free stopover hotel service. If the duration of one of your flights are longer than 8 hours, you could ask for a sleeping room in the Business Lounge. If the duration of both of your flights are under 8 hours; you could either book the airport hotel ( YOTEL ) in your own expense, book a hotel in the city for the night on your own expense or spend the 8h45min layover in the airport. Also if your stopover is during daytime, you could benefit from the Touristanbul service.

I don't think they have a restriction for sleeping room that does not allow passengers if a shorter connection is possible. So, you should be OK. However, things could have changed from Atatürk Airport to Istanbul Airport. Just simply present both of your boarding passes to the agent at the sleeping rooms. Keep your mouth shut and don't indicate anything that you have chosen a longer connection.

Also be aware that the duration of one of your flights should be more than 8 hours to benefit from this service.

Thanks, I think I will get a sleeping room then and also save myself from paying the visa fee.

That said, is it not somewhat questionable to sell a flight that comes with a free hotel and then change the rules after the purchase and no longer give the promised free hotel?

Cautionary tale - YOTEL
 

Hi all, I’m currently trying to get some sleep in the business lounge after the YOTEL messed up my reservation. I’m travelling LHR-IST-ECN and e mailed the hotel with my reservation details including exact date and times of flights and the hours I need the room. For such hourly reservations you had to e mail according to the website. So I duly receive a confirmation of my reservation and look forward to a stay on my 8hr layover.

I get to the YOTEL and am told that my reservation is actually for tomorrow. And that despite my reservation showing 00:30 on 9th April, the system is only checking in for arrivals on the 8th. Even though ‘now’ is the 9th as shown on my reservation... You cannot run an airside hotel on such a ludicrous reservations set up. It needs to be run by the hour on exact times and dates as promised. People won’t just rock up after 3pm and check out before 11 at an airside transit hotel! The airside hotel at Ataturk never had such an issue. Sadly despite my pleas I’ve not (quite rightly to be fair) been allowed to have a sleeping room so I’m trying to get some shut eye in a quiet corner.

I’ll be letting YOTEL know what I think of them in the morning. Just a cautionary tale to the community.

BTW, did you have the option of leaving the airside (transit area), more like going downstairs and clear immigration like before at Ataturk? In your case you could also ask to leave the transit area to get hotel rooms outside.

p.s. I see elevators on both sides of the terminal building so I suppose I can go down if needed to clear immigration, I'll report back if no one has provided any updated.

Thanks for sharing this images SFOTraveler1984.

When passing by the hotel desk, have you noticed if there was any sign of the Arrival Lounge? It should be somewhere around there but as it's not ready yet, nor Turkish Airlines nor the airport doesn't give any information.

And obviously the new hotel desk is much more better than the previous one in Atatürk.

I did not see any sign of the arrivals lounge - to be honest, I also didn't really look for it. I might have some time tomorrow to check before my next flight.

Thank you for sharing this image which is really useful. How did you access this airport navigation website? The official website still has the old one which is not working.

Edit: Found it. It's on the TK app