The Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul

“Outstanding service and attention that I have never experienced before”

Please read this... I am totally blown away by my recent stay. I always leave reviews on TripAdvisor, but this is genuinely one of the best I’ve ever had to write. My stay at The Ritz-Carlton was exceptional from start to finish and set a new standard for hospitality. From the moment we checked in… more

Please read this... I am totally blown away by my recent stay. I always leave reviews on TripAdvisor, but this is genuinely one of the best I’ve ever had to write. My stay at The Ritz-Carlton was exceptional from start to finish and set a new standard for hospitality. From the moment we checked in, we were upgraded to a beautiful twin bedded room with a partial Bosphorus view, which immediately made the stay feel special. From the beginning, the attention to detail throughout the hotel was outstanding. Walking into our room and seeing 3 framed photos of my beautiful daughter @kassyalicee (insta model) already placed there (as in the photos I’ve attached) was such a personal and touching surprise, something I’ll never forget. We arrived around 2am early Saturday morning, and immediately called room service for ice, a kettle, and additional water. Everything arrived in two separate deliveries within just 5–10 minutes, incredibly fast and efficient service at that hour. A huge thank you to Safa, the Receptionist/Manager, who went far above and beyond for us. Before we left, I couldn’t remember the airport taxi company we had used, and even though he was off on Sunday, he personally gave me his mobile number and told me to message him if I needed help arranging transport. That level of care and genuine hospitality is incredibly rare. I did message him and he assisted in ordering a takeaway breakfast for us on our last morning, which was incredible. I also mentioned that because of our early flight we wouldn’t be able to enjoy breakfast, and when I asked whether it might be possible to switch it to dinner, Safa instead kindly arranged access to the club lounge for us, which completely elevated our stay and was such a generous gesture. Special thanks especially to Oguzhan and Nisa in the restaurant. Oguzhan was endlessly patient and accommodating with all my very particular fussy food requests and Nisa was equally wonderful, attentive, kind, and consistently making sure everything was perfect throughout our stay. The porridge and egg-white omelette were prepared by the bald chef, who was excellent. I asked him to remake them exactly to my preference (no salt, no oil, egg white only), and he did so immediately with a smile. What stood out even more was that the next day he remembered my order perfectly and repeated it without me needing to ask, exactly the same, just as I like it. During breakfast, there was also a lovely lady playing the piano, which created such a relaxing atmosphere, I found myself quietly humming along to the music each morning. I also have to mention something that really showed the integrity of the housekeeping team. I had mistakenly left valuables out in the room, including our Rolex watches, my daughter’s engagement ring, and cash, after thinking I had set “do not disturb” while we went to the gym and breakfast. The room was tidied as part of the service, and everything was exactly as we left it. Nothing was touched. I am genuinely so grateful for the honesty and professionalism shown. The gym was also excellent for keeping up with training while away. The equipment and machines were fantastic for a hotel gym and made it easy to fit in proper workouts during our stay. The only small issue was that there were only two exercise mats available, one was being used and I didn’t see the Filipino manager I had seen the day before, to ask where additional mats were kept. A couple of very minor notes, it would have been nice to have an extra shower cap in the room for both myself and my daughter rather than just one, (I could have easily ordered one through housekeeping) and also and a small bottle of bubble bath would have been a lovely touch for the bath, though neither of these detracted from what was an otherwise outstanding experience. I also wanted to share a bit more context about why I chose to stay at The Ritz-Carlton Istanbul for the first time. On a previous visit to Istanbul around 3 years ago, while I was dining at Nobu and had a migraine/headache, I asked a member of staff if they had any Nurofen. They very kindly went out of their way to go to a pharmacy and bring some back for me. That level of care and thoughtfulness really stayed with me, and I remember saying at the time that if I returned to Istanbul, I would stay at The Ritz-Carlton. This wasn’t just luxury, it was genuine care, kindness, and attention that made us feel truly valued as guests. Thank you to everyone involved for making our stay so memorable. We will absolutely return.

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