Review Grand Hyatt Istanbul

smittytabb

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Staff member
We chose the Grand Hyatt Istanbul for our first two nights in Istanbul because we each had Category 1-4 certificates from our Hyatt credit card anniversaries. So we each booked one back to back. It's a particularly good value for that certificate, especially if you are a Diamond member. Even though only one of us is Diamond, the hotel let us have those privileges for both nights and we also did not have to change rooms. We were given a deluxe room with a pool view which was huge (largest in the city) and had access to the concierge/club floor. Indeed when we checked in, the front desk staff took us right up a special elevator to the concierge floor to finish the process there. The breakfast and evening receptions there were particularly pleasant and a really nice benefit. We sampled the restaurant '34' the first night on a balmy evening and we sat outside and had a lovely meal, then had a nightcap at the Library Bar. It was a great reintroduction to Istanbul (my third time).

I'd stayed in Sultanahmet (the old town) several times, but this location in the newer part of the city offers a different perspective. Our stay in late May 2014 coincided with the first anniversary of the Gezi Park demonstrations and the hotel is a stone's throw from Gezi and the entire Taksim Square area. It was particularly interesting discussing politics with some of the staff at the concierge lounge and even more interesting witnessing the lack of local news coverage of an event we could see out our window. Later we witnessed vans of police being shipped in by the hundreds to the area and it was somewhat surreal. We had left to go across town to switch hotels before the teargas began, as it turned out, but we had quite a view into the happenings on that day.

If you want to stay in the Taksim area, I would recommend this property. The staff is terrific and the hotel is well maintained with excellent amenities and service.
 
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