TRYP by Wyndham Istanbul Basın Ekspres

I stayed here as part of a surgery package, so my experience might be different from that of regular travellers. I was glad my surgery company chose this hotel. It was clean, the rooms were very comfortable, and the staff were amazing. Breakfast was included. The buffet was relatively small but nice, with cold meats and cheeses, salads, cereals, soup, bread, sandwiches, pancakes, an omelette station, and a few other things. There’s a pub attached, where we had lunch and dinner a few times, and we were always pleased with the food. We also ordered room service a couple of times. It’s the same menu as the pub, so the food was good, and I’d absolutely recommend the cheesecake. Our room was a good size, with a comfy bed and pillows, a big wardrobe, tea and coffee, and a fridge. The AC worked well, and you could also open the window. I can’t really judge the location since that depends on why you’re visiting, but it worked for me. There was a convenience store across the road and a Shell garage a short walk away for snacks. The Mall of Istanbul was about a 10-minute drive.

The breakfast was the one thing I really liked. I had several room problems: the door wouldn’t lock, the bathroom bulb was out, and the toilet seat wasn’t clean. The staff service wasn’t good, and they didn’t seem to care. After surgery, I was asleep around 10 pm when some young guys on my floor banged hard on my door as a joke and ran off laughing. It happened again another night around the same time. There were hallway cameras, including one right outside my room, so I reported it and asked staff to check and do something about the disruption to my sleep. They said they would and would let me know, but nobody followed up. I contacted them again and got the same answer, with no action. This isn’t a five-star hotel, and it wasn’t a good experience.

Turkish Airlines put us here after our flight was canceled. In my opinion, this so-called FIVE star hotel is milking Turkish Airlines. It was ugly and unclean, and the reception was rude. They gave us a dirty room, and there was no toothbrush in the bathroom. We were too tired to ask for another room. I’ve never seen a FIVE star hotel like this, and it doesn’t deserve a single star. From what I observed, reception calls guests by name in order, so people with Turkish names end up being called last at check-in. The other staff seemed tired and burned out.

We were a family of five put up here after a Turkish Airlines flight delay. The hotel was clean, tidy, and quiet, the staff were courteous, and we were given two big rooms. It’s close to the airport. A taxi to Hagia Sofia Mosque took about 30 minutes in traffic. Dinner was meant to be at 7 pm, but when we arrived the manager said it was at 8, despite the printed time. He said the printed time was wrong. That threw our plan to go out off a little, but it wasn’t a huge deal. We were due to return to the airport at 3 am and asked the manager if they could arrange something like fruit since there’d be no breakfast then. He said no 😐