Istanbul Marriott Hotel Asia

Great staff, very helpful, had a good meal at the bar in comfort so i was able to work on laptop, munch away and have a drink. beautiful rooms, welcome note and treat was a lovely unexpected touch, good range of channels on the TV for many languages. Highly recommend if you need a place to stay in the area.

Everyone at the hotel was marvelous. Friendly. Helpful. Warm. Polite. Without exception. But we had an especially lovely time meeting Samet, the bell hop, and Gizem, the guest relations specialist. It was a pleasure seeing them when we would get back to the hotel after a long day of sight seeing. They were always friendly and helpful, showing us the best ways to get around Istanbul, and translating for us and the taxi drivers. Great folks! As for the hotel itself, it is a beautiful property. Clean. Elegant. Quiet. Luxurious. Comfortable. The patios and pool areas are immaculate. There is a serious gym, too, with a large number of exercise machines - like nothing I have ever seen at a hotel. The rooms are roomy and very well kept. The beds are very comfortable. The showers are very enjoyable because the water pressure is very high, so you really feel invigorated after you're done showering. The breakfast was SUPERB. There was nothing missing. I mean nothing. Great variety. Great tasting. Very inviting. Great presentation. Loved it. And it was very reasonably priced at 280 TL. Lastly, as for the location, the Asian side is considerably quieter, cleaner and more manageable than the European side. Getting to the European side is a piece of cake. For 200 TL (about $10 US at the time of this writing), you get right to the Sultan Ahmet area, or even as far north as Taksim, by taxi. It takes about 25 minutes. That cost includes the gratuity. Or, you can walk 10 minutes from the hotel to the Kozyatagi Station on the M4 Metro (Red) line. You pay about 12 TL (72 US cents), ride the metro for 4 stops, transfer to the Marmaray train, and take that for 2 stops across the Bosphorus to the Sirkeci station. That will leave you right in the thick of the Sultan Ahmet neighborhood. It takes about 40 minutes "door-to-door." Well worth it given how much more sane the Asian side is. Oh, and there's a very nice shopping center right across the street from the hotel.

The staff were very kind and promptly addressed situations, and we even made friends. The gym was exceptional and I managed to work on my belly at least 2-3 times a day, for 7 out of 9 nights we were there. My 4 year old daughter took up swimming lessons while my wife enjoyed the Spa. The grilled salmon became my favorite for each day’s meal. Also, we were happy that the hotel does think about its little guests too, and so my 1 1/2 year old son enjoyed playing in the kids pool too. He was always the first to put on his swimming clothes.

The breakfast was excellent. The breakfast staff were very efficient and friendly too. There was a huge variety of different food types daily and new foods were introduced daily. We thoroughly looks forward to the breakfast each day. The rooms were very spacious and modern. The bathrooms were big and modern too. The rooms were cleaned well everyday. Housekeeping was up to standard. The staff were very warm and friendly.

All good and perhaps in future I expect atleast a free breakfast when I spend so much in Marriot. This isn't a big deal for them :)