Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel

We stayed for a 3 nights layover, so these are just our impressions. Breakfast had a great range, and room service was efficient. One day our coffee and tea weren’t refilled, but they brought them up within five minutes after we mentioned it. The hotel facilities, including the gym and pools, were great. The staff at the front door helped with our luggage on arrival and departure, and checked the taxi we had booked. Our main disappointment was the front desk. Check-in took over 15 minutes because only one counter was open and the guest ahead had an issue that took a while. At checkout I waited over five minutes while the officer dealt with something else and didn’t attend to me until I asked. My wife also had a negative experience asking the desk about lost and found. Since this was our only hotel in Istanbul, we can’t say whether that’s typical or specific to this place. The location felt too far from the tourist spots. We walked 15 minutes to catch Marmaray to Sirkeci station, seven stops away, around 20 minutes each way and usually crowded. A taxi is another option, but still takes up valuable time. We also bought two bottles of alcohol at Istanbul Duty Free as souvenirs to take home, but the security officer at the entrance scanner said they couldn’t go to our room and had to stay in luggage storage until checkout. I checked Agoda and Trip.com straight away and couldn’t find any such rule. We assumed it was for religious reasons and respected it, until we saw wines and liquors in the minibar, LOL. We couldn’t understand the policy, and it really put us off the hotel. I struggled to choose between 3 and 4 stars, but it definitely isn’t a 5.