The Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul — Hotel in Şişli

We are very happy with our stay here at the Ritz Carlton, Istanbul. They recognised the Marriott membership status of Ambassador Elite and we were being upgraded to the Istanbul suite (very generous of the hotel!).

There are just way too many things that we are very happy about this hotel:

1. The concierge, Ibrahim was very helpful since the first day we were there. He recognised us by name and he knew our room number without needing to ask for it the next time he saw us in the lobby. The attention to detail is commendable! Front desk too was really good, check in was very fast, and they gave us all the details that we needed without taking too much of our time, recognising that we needed rest since we arrived quite late at night.

2. Christopher at the Spa was very very helpful, friendly and kind. Thanks to his kind suggestion, I felt very relaxed after our hectic travel schedule. The suggestion for using argan oil for both my hair and my face is marvellous. My hair is still very silky until today (it has been 3 days now since the hair treatment). Rasti and Zegna from the spa also provided great service for massages and hammam!

3. Lounge was good with panoramic scenic view of the Bosporous, good supplies of snacks, very friendly staffs too! If I were to nitpick something out of this, it would be the concierge from last night (I think she has red hair?), she assisted me to find out about the cologne that I was interested in and it took a little too long, I had informed her to bill it together with the room for the next day when we check out, and we will collect the perfume at the concierge counter, and when we were at the concierge counter today, the concierge on duty was puzzled as he was not informed at all. However, he has helped me resolve this quickly, got a bottle for me and we made payment in less than 10 minutes!

4. Housekeeping was also very prompt, detail-printed, and amazing! It was almost like they are invisible, they came when we left, just the perfect timing and when we were back, the room was back to spick and span. Amenity was generous I think, with Diptyque toiletries and Marvis’ toothpaste.

5. In room dining was very good too with a good selection of Turkish food and Nobu menu. We are both very happy with the service provided and would like to thank the staff that took our pre-order yesterday night and sent our food in a very time wise manner this afternoon. It is so easy to plan our travel schedule, when they are so helpful and punctual.

6. Nobu is actually in the hotel itself. This is so amazing 😆 We just had to walk a few steps downstairs to Nobu restaurant. The service was very good, quick and thoughtful. The food selection was good and we were very happy with the dinner.

We are of the opinion that this hotel is of very good value for travellers like us, who don’t have much time and/or energy to spend outside of the hotel, since this hotel has almost everything we needed, a good spa, good restaurants and great service. We are really glad that we chose this hotel as a place to rest for three days before our next intercontinental flight :) We also would like to express our appreciation for all the staffs that have helped us throughout our stay here, we will definitely be back to the Ritz Carlton whenever we are...

I recently stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Istanbul with a friend, and unfortunately, the experience was far from what one would expect from a five-star luxury hotel bearing the Ritz-Carlton name.

Upon arrival, there was no staff present outside to help with luggage or guide us into the hotel. Once inside, we discovered that our rooms were not ready—despite it being the proper check-in time. What followed was an incredibly frustrating wait of over 1 hour and 20 minutes, as we were told we had to wait for a full bus of tourists to be checked in before our turn. No priority, no organization, no hospitality. We were simply told that we could not be helped until the group—approximately 20 people—were all checked in, one by one.

During this time, not even our luggage was collected, and we were left standing in the lobby with no clear communication or courtesy.

The situation at the front desk was deeply disappointing. One of the staff members, whose name began with Fur*, was particularly unhelpful and dismissive. Along with a nearby colleague, he informed us there were no Bosphorus view rooms available, even though that is what we had booked. He claimed it was a booking platform error and offered no solution, instead saying that a manager would follow up—yet no one ever contacted us.

We later found out that, had we paid them €200 in cash (which they later dropped to €100), they might have been able to “find” us a room with a view. This was said quietly, off the record, and without any official receipt—which is highly inappropriate and unethical.

Only one of our two rooms was available, and we were asked to wait until the previous guests checked out before the second room could be prepared. Even then, the room was not clean when it was finally given to us.

To make things worse, when we tried to book a table at Nobu, located in the same hotel, we were told there were no tables available for the next three days. When we explained we were only staying for two nights and had just checked in, the response was a cold “nothing we can do.” We were promised a callback, which never came. Follow-up calls were brushed off, and the entire situation gave the impression of intentional neglect after we raised concerns about the room.

We also asked for the contact information of the Director to escalate our complaint and were only given a generic reception email—no direct contact was provided, which seems like an intentional way to block access to upper management.

It’s worth noting that the only highlight of the stay was the breakfast staff, who were warm, attentive, and displayed the level of service expected from a hotel of this class. They were the only team that left a positive impression.

This experience was extremely disheartening. The lack of professionalism, the questionable practices at the reception, and the disregard for guest satisfaction were simply not what one expects from the Ritz-Carlton brand. I sincerely hope upper management becomes aware of how the property is being handled on the ground and takes...

Update: they did interviews and the housekeeping lady confessed that she did steal the money. They are returning the money stolen.

Got money stolen from my room by housekeeping at The Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul. They’re telling me I have to pay for the nights I stayed with points (I booked 5 nights on purpose, not less because you get better value with the 5th night free), they won’t reimburse anything, and security/manager kept saying they would come to room soon but ended up an hour late. Manager initially told me I can pay for one night and leave (I’ve been here less than 24 hours) but then later changed it to me needing to pay for 2 days because I checked in yesterday 11:30pm or so. At one point the front desk guy said they’re literally in the elevator but it took another several calls and 20 more mins after that before they showed up. I was exhausted and dirty and waiting to shower and I just kept waiting and waiting.

Basically I scheduled a cleaning, left my room this afternoon, I had 2850 Turkish lira and wallet in my left pocket with my mask and airpods in the right pocket. I know I had this because I took out 1500 twice for a total of 3000 just a few hours before, spent exactly 30 on lunch (was 25 and 5 tip) and 120 on nearby palace museum entry (only a few hours passed during this incident and I can recall exactly what I did, no other stuff was purchased or paid for, and I’m 100% certain on this)

I come back and my shorts are folded... money, airpods, and mask have moved to the left pocket (I never put my mask in same pocket as money because it’s not sanitary and I also always keep airpods on right side with my phone). Because of this I knew something was wrong, and I immediately counted the money. I noticed it was short 300.

During the investigation apparently they found that the cleaning lady had called into security because she dropped the pants on the floor and security came in and they verified the amount of money together to be 2550. To me that makes it really really strange and even more likely that she stole. I now have confirmation that they were touching the money in the contents of my pocket so I wasn’t just imagining things. And now I’m not sure if the security guard was in on it as well.

Now I have to stay here tonight because I am being forced to pay for it. I don’t feel comfortable at all and they’re not doing anything of substance to help. I’ve been here for less than 24 hours and they insist on charging me for 2 nights. I’ll be paying 35k points a night instead of 28k. They just keep saying they don’t have evidence so can’t blame the lady who will continue to keep going to peoples rooms after...