Amiral Palace Hotel

“Outstanding customer service”

What stands out most about this hotel is the excellent customer service and helpfulness of the front desk staff. A few weeks ago I saw some negative reviews about precisely this, but they do not correlate with my experience. They must have involved different staff, no longer there. The current s… more

What stands out most about this hotel is the excellent customer service and helpfulness of the front desk staff. A few weeks ago I saw some negative reviews about precisely this, but they do not correlate with my experience. They must have involved different staff, no longer there. The current staff bent over backwards to help me with everything conceivable. It was the best customer service I've experienced in my lifetime. Congratulations to the staff for doing such a good job! The breakfast is great. The rooftop restaurant, with a wonderful view of the Bosphorus, is peaceful but expensive. The pool is kept at 28-32 degrees C -- too warm for lap swimming, although it is rectangular pool of (I'm guessing) c. 4x7 meters, so in theory you can swim some short laps, provided not too many people have the same idea at the same time. The hotel is very close to "the sights" of Sultanahmet, especially the Blue Mosque. You walk uphill on a few short (and remarkably trafficky!) cobblestone blocks to get to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, etc. It's a safe area. Very touristic. You can walk around at night. Restaurants and shops here are relatively expensive. My room was on the second floor facing the sea. All I ever heard was seagulls. In contrast, the musak in the hotel lobby--always the same tune, day in and day out-- which you don't notice at first, could eventually drive you crazy. The management would like you to prepay your entire stay, which some customers are understandably unwilling to do, but now in March at least, they will accept prepayment night by night, which I think is fair.

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“Amazing experience”

This is an incredible hotel that pays attention to all the details. Nice and friendly staff (also with kids), tea time with free delicious bakery, hot water in the spa, free amenities of all kinds. Nothing negative to say; I would come back for sure if I have the opportunity to return to this fanta… more

This is an incredible hotel that pays attention to all the details. Nice and friendly staff (also with kids), tea time with free delicious bakery, hot water in the spa, free amenities of all kinds. Nothing negative to say; I would come back for sure if I have the opportunity to return to this fantastic city of Istanbul.

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“Decent choice for a week stay with a family - good location”

I stayed here for a week in mid March with my husband and 7 year old son. All of the staff are eager to help, friendly (including helping to get a corkscrew out of the [complementary] bottle of wine) and were very responsive via email. It is very conveniently located for the Old Town sights - minut… more

I stayed here for a week in mid March with my husband and 7 year old son. All of the staff are eager to help, friendly (including helping to get a corkscrew out of the [complementary] bottle of wine) and were very responsive via email. It is very conveniently located for the Old Town sights - minutes from the Blue Mosque, Haiga Sofia and other tourist sites but "off" the main stretch of road full of restaurant touts, which we appreciated. We travelled via public transport from SAW airport which was long but very easy, with just one change then a 15 minute walk (mostly uphill) from Sirkeci station but people with mobility issues/lots of luggage/small children may find it easier to take a taxi from Sirkeci. Caveat: we are from London so our child has been well trained in lugging bags around stations/escalators effectively! There is a good swimming pool (temperature was too warm for proper swimming, but large enough to swim rather than just a plunge pool as experienced in another hotel in the area) which we used most afternoons during the stay. At one point there were 5 groups (3 couples and 2 families with young children) trying to use the facility at the same time, which was far too many as there are only 4 lounger chairs but at other times we had it to ourselves. We were there during a very rainy/cold/windy week over Eid so suspect that like us, other people were spending longer than usual in the hotel. Other positives are their afternoon tea in the lobby (on Saturdays, until 1800) but we only found out about it because we happened to arrive back whilst it was in progress - this should be better advertised and potentially every other day (if not every day) to align with a lot of their competitor hotels in the Sultanahmet/Sirkeci area, particularly given their stand out cakes at breakfast. Our son LOVED the breakfast (lots of cakes!) which is served in the roof top panoramic restaurant. This area was cold (lots of people in fleeces/coats) when it was rainy and windy outside, but on the last day the sun came out and it was too hot, but again, I think this is just a reality of Istanbul! We paid extra to include cancellation on the day (given it was a hastily arranged trip as our original holiday was cancelled due to the current conflict in the Gulf) yet were still contacted to pre-pay 48 hours before arrival. I refused and said we would pay on arrival, which was fine, but I have never been asked to pre pay via a link if I have booked a "pay on arrival/flexible" room. We had upgraded to a suite so that our son could have his own space, which was a good call, however as it was on the ground floor, whilst it was very private (people on the street could not see us) it was quite noisy at night due to the floor to ceiling windows and corner element of our particular room. It was not enough to warrant changing rooms, but if we returned we would certainly ask for a different room. The cleaning was absolutely fine and they left 1.5L of bottled water every day. The technology/wifi was excellent - we could screen share tablets/phones to the TV to watch downloaded Netflix episodes etc with enough USB/charging sockets in suitable locations for "modern" lifestyles, and there was also a fridge in the room.

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