Property: Movenpick Istanbul, old town
Status: Explorer+ Diamond
Room booked: See discussion
Room upgraded/type: Yes, from Junior Suite to Superior Suite and from base room to same Superior Suite
Rate: For the first stay, standard rate including using points; for the second stay SNU
Early check in/late out: Not needed, but late check out from 12 till 2pm offered
Free internet: yes up to 150 Mbps but a bit flaky, kept dropping out.
Free breakfast: No
Welcome drink: Yes, in the app, only non-alcoholic beverages available
Welcome amenity: No, but I didn’t worry about it
Recommend: Yes
I really enjoyed my stay here and thoroughly recommend it. It’s only about eight months old and in the old town, meaning it’s about a 30- minute walk from the main tourist area.
I originally booked two nights using SNU - that is, to a junior suite. Later, I had to book another two nights immediately before the original booking, and for that I booked a standard room using some points as well.
On check in, they immediately said that they had put me in the same junior suite for my entire stay. However after me finding the junior suite very noisy (contrary to my emphasised request to be in a quiet room, - the hotel is on Atatürk Boulevard, which is about four lane each way very busy road), they upgraded me for all four nights to a superior suite on the back of a hotel. I was also greeted by a very effusive guest services manager who kept in touch my entire stay.
The superior suite was very comfortable and well appointed, and everything worked properly. There was no welcome amenity when I arrived, but I put that down to me changing the room. However, nothing arrived, but I didn’t want to ask for it as they had been so generous and flexible on check-in.
The staff were very good for the entire stay. They reacted very well to my using some Turkish - like hello, thank you, good morning, etc. There was a big boss who was always around, not just supervising but chipping in and helping, if a guest was waiting for something.
As far as I can tell, there was no grog available. There’s an indoor heated pool, a sauna, a steam room, which is really, really hot, a self-service hammam, and a frigidarium. And gym somewhere, but I didn’t indulge.
Breakfast was okay, naturally catering for a wide range of tastes, and so the Western one was nothing special. I had dinner in the restaurant when it was raining and it was okay but a bit pricey.
Just behind the hotel is a row of local style restaurants and a market, which was very pleasant wandering around, especially if you have no objection to great slabs of meat on display. There’s also a newly renovated hammam next door, which I used and which was very good.
The major flaw with the hotel, (not including the lack of grog, if that’s an issue), is the great use of polished marble flooring. In the shower it’s lethal and on the terrace after rain, it’s also very dangerous. I pointed this out to them, and it seemed a bit of a surprise to their thinking.
There are a number of mosques nearby, but none very close, and thanks to modern double glazing, the calls to prayer were not really intrusive.
It was about an hour by taxi on the drive in (A$82) but only 30 minutes on the drive out (A$60) thanks to lighter traffic and Fangio being behind the wheel, in some of the most aggressive taxi driving I’ve ever been in.
A small terrace there.
Polish marble floors in the shower and outside was problematic for me. In the end, I wore some of their slippers in the shower.
View from my room with the hammam on the left.
Front of the hotel
Top floor terrace with the restaurant behind the glass
