Continuing my review of the hotels I’ve stayed at while in Istanbul, now’s the time for Raffles: 

**Location**: This is the hotel’s weakest spot. It’s located in Zorlu Center which is a complex of offices, luxury high-rise apartments, and an open-door shopping mall. The hotel takes up several floors of one of the 3 buildings of the complex. When you leave the complex area, you’re surrounded by highways, meaning you cannot walk anywhere. Sultanahmet is 40 minutes away by car, and traffic in Istanbul is no joke, so 40 minutes can turn into 80 very easily. There’s also a metro station inside the mall. Long story short, this is not a hotel for first timers in Istanbul. It’s more business oriented or for people who’ve been in Istanbul already and want to visit a different part of the city or are just looking for a relaxing stay without leaving the premises. 

**Property/Room**: The hotel has the largest rooms offered by any hotel in the city. Their entry level room is 650sqft which is giant! All the rooms come with enormous balconies with either a city view, Bosphorus view or a mix of both. The spa and gym are some of the best I’ve seen in Istanbul; they offer a membership for locals too so it’s really well kept. They have an outdoor pool and indoor pool which are also a nice addition (none of the pools are heated) for those who want to have a “staycation”.  We were upgraded to the Junior Suite which is almost 1400sqft with views overlooking the entire city. I felt like a sultan! 

**Food/Breakfast**: Their main restaurant is a fusion between Turkish and Japanese food which was very good. Breakfast was at the same location and was okay. What you’d expect from a breakfast buffet at a hotel of this caliber. Perhaps what stood out the most was the service.

**Service**: Their strongest selling point. Service was immaculate. All rooms come with their own butler and unlike other hotels that offer the same service (St. Regis Venice!) you actually feel their presence. We had 2 butlers during our stay who communicated with me via WhatsApp and you could ask them pretty much anything. They left us beautiful gifts all around the room every single day (I know some people love these little touches, myself included), from traditional hammam bath items, perfumes, key chains, bath salts, etc.  

When we checked in, it took 20 minutes for the room to be ready and instead of asking us to wait in the lobby, they invited us to the Bosphorus Lounge to have a complimentary drink and some snacks. 

We felt truly pampered throughout the entire stay. 

**Pricing**: The hotel’s pricing starts a bit lower compared to the other luxury options in the city,  but where you truly feel the price difference is for the suites. A suite the same size at any other hotel would cost 2 to 4 times more. Of course the tradeoff is the location. For peak summer, the entry level room starts at $530/night. Our suite was $1,090/night. 

**Final thoughts**: If you’re not coming to Istanbul to tour the city, this is a great hotel. I had a lot of work to do and didn’t need to leave the hotel so having a suite so spacious, service so attentive and such great amenities made for a perfect stay. That said, if I had to take a 40 minute car trip everytime I want to go explore the city, and another 40 minutes when I want to get back, I wouldn’t be very happy. This is more of a “staycation” type of hotel. If you need to relax for few days, work, or even do some shopping, you’ll love it.

Happy to answer any questions!

Raffles Istanbul - Amazing stay with one major drawback