Sheraton Grand Istanbul Atasehir — Hotel in Ataşehir

My first time in Istanbul, and had a wonderful stay at the Sheraton Atasehir. I booked a deluxe room but was upgraded to a corner suite because of my Bonvoy platinum status. The suite was wonderful, very luxurious and well apointed (marble bathroom, etc. the standard of a 5* hotel). Amenities were modern e.g. smart TV, automatic blinds. The bed and pillows were also very comfortable as I find is the norm at Sheraton hotels (Sheraton has its own line of bedding). Guest relations left me the most wonderful welcome amenity upon check-in which was much appriciated - it actually took me by surprise as it was far better than some of the amenities I recieved in Ritz-Carlton/St. Regis hotels!||Staff were courteous and efficient. There was one lady in breakfast who checked in on me everyday and made me feel very welcome. The housekeeper who made up the room everyday was also very attentive (clothes were always folded nicely upon my request). Reception was very helpful and handled requests/complaints effectively; one day my friend was ill and couldn’t go down for breakfast, so they kindly brought up a delicious in-room breakfast spread. They also decorated the room on my last day on occasion of a birthday. I mostly conversed with reception through the Bonvoy app which is such a useful perk, i’m glad the hotel is active on the app and takes this feature seriously.||Food offerings were fantastic. Breakfast is a wonderful spread of Turkish food (with lots of cheeses and mezze!). As a platinum member, I was also entitled to lounge access. I had dinner there every night and each time the buffet didn’t dissapoint; the desserts were especially delicious. One night a member of staff made me a personal cheeseboard which was much appreciated!||The spa was adequate with a sauna, steam room and indoor pool. Attendents were friendly. Overall, a very nice and well-run hotel. I would reccomend anyone to stay here as it is a solid choice in the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio. ||Below i’ve listed some negatives for management to consider, although do note that for myself, these were relatively minor and did not take away from the good experience I had:||-No printer in Exec. Lounge, very wierd especially for a business hotel.||-Lights in my suite sometimes automatically turn off. The problem seems to be fixed when I open and close the front door (seems like an issue with the automatic sensor).||-Temperature controls in the suite are confusing and not straightforward. Also the hotel only has heating and no AC during winter months but the room is very warm so I had to repeatedly tell maintenance to turn on the AC via the central system.||-Audio on the TV is quite low. You would expect a decent speaker in a €400+ suite.||-Elevator is semi-private and can be tricky to operate at first, but I got used to this and it wasn’t...

Hotels on the Asian side of Istanbul are often cheaper than on the European side, and quality a bit lower as well so it’s fair. I stayed at Sheraton Grand Atasehir and in light of my stay I found it on par with hotels on the European side, if not better and I can highly recommend it.

I booked the entry level room and was upgraded as Ambassador Elite to a corner suite. The room had decent hardware, including quality hardwood floor in the living room (not vinyl), floor to ceiling windows, and a convenient half bath near the entrance in addition to the main bathroom which was very bright thanks to a large window in the shower / bathtub enclosure. There were even electric controls for curtains which is normally only a feature for luxury hotels. Apart from the carpet in the bedroom, it would be hard to find faults to this room, I simply wish they had extended the wood floors to the entire room.

Unfortunately the Club Lounge was closed due to covid, or should I say fortunately? Instead of cutting corners, as a replacement they offered a 4-course full restaurant menu which consisted of far more than junk food; I enjoyed the salmon among other things.

Breakfast was more standard for what can be expected in Turkey. There was no buffet and there was also no menu to choose from either. It was a set menu plus a choice of eggs.

Most of my stays in Istanbul have been on the European side but I can say Sheraton Grand Atasehir can hold its own; compared to Hilton Kozyatagi which is one of the rare hotels on that side where I stayed before, Sheraton Grand is easily the better option and the price is not very different. I also think Sheraton Grand is clearly a step above Renaissance and Sheraton City Center on the European side, and outside Marriott group, it’s also better than Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt. Loyalty elite treatment was great with the corner suite upgrade and the excellent happy hour so it’s a great choice for elites of the Marriott loyalty program to people who don’t mind...

The first impression of the hotel is “nice”. However, there are quite a few negatives to make me not desire to stay there again.

Drop off was easy (not crowded, no chaos, but the hotel seemed deserted to me.

Then I had to go through a security check, and luggage separately. I was not impressed by how serious they were taking their job.

At reception the lady was incompetent, but maybe because she was an intern. I do not know.

For example, I asked her to lookup my SPG membership. She said she would … but she did not want to do that right then and there. I thus expected a phone call or email confirming success (or failure). That did not happen. I had to ask at checkout.

The elevator is semi intelligent. You need your keypass AND type in your floor number to go up (the keypass knows my floor). To go down, all elevators were often on the ground floor, so it took a long time before one came up (there are four elevators, why not default one half way and one on top)?

The room was extremely hot (I think 24-26C). I am used to sleep in 18C. I switched on the airco to 18C, bit nothing changed. I opened the window, but nothing changed. I called reception to fix it. They said they did, but nothing changed.

The bathroom is nice, the shower great.

The bar is very unfriendly, nobody there, the bartender reading a newspaper, a glass of wine approximately $15 😢 Nothing (like peanuts) accompanying the wine.

Food in the restaurant was eatable, but far from exquisite. The plates were cold, waiting staff plenty but not attentive (even in empty restaurant). If you order three courses, you receive them in random order very close to each other and before you finish your first plate.

The breakfast is nice, but so plentiful I am sure 99,5% of the food will be wasted 😢 Also waiting staff was often not present to welcome you, and tables were often not directly cleaned after a guest left.

All in all a far cry from supposedly being a...