JW Marriott Istanbul Bosphorus — Hotel in Beyoğlu

THE JW MARRIOTT ISTANBUL BOSPHORUS IS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST! This is thanks to their phenomenal service, food, and most especially how much they care for you!

Huge credit goes to all of the amazing and wonderful teams: Guest Experience: Beyza Nur, Beyza, Rabia, Laura, Ceren, Taner Concierge: Chiara Housekeeping: Malex Other Teams: Taygun, Enes, Yousuf

I took my mother for a Mother's Day/Belated Birthday trip to Istanbul, and it was our first time visiting the amazing city. After months of planning, researching, and preparation we decided to stay at the JW Marriott.

Before arriving, Beyza and Rabia had reached out asking if there was anything they could do to make the stay special. I asked for recommendations they had on where to take my Mother out for dining, shopping, and sight-seeing. Then when we arrived at the hotel, I was amazed at the level of attention, care, and detail Laura and Ceren gave my mother and I literally as soon as we stepped foot at the property. They went the extra mile to make it special for my Mother by letting her choose which room she wanted by first showing the options. Along the way Laura provided decorative gifts for my mother, and told us the wonderful history of this 180 year old masterpiece of a property. Once we selected which rooms, settled, then went out to see some of the city - when we returned we were speechless at the decorations, pageantry, and desserts they provided as a Mother's Day gift for my mother. Then when we went downstairs to thank them, I met Rabia - and she went next level and offered Turkish Tea, Coffee, and more desserts! Like WOW!

Then as if that level of quality and services were not enough, everyday whenever we would see Beyza, Laura (and the other wonderful team members), they wanted to know how we were doing? Did we need any help? Did we experience any problems? And to not be shy so they could help us. One example was my mother needed to get a topcoat. Chiara from the Concierge team asked my mother what her preferences were at a detailed level. Even with so many shopping options around, Chiara gave my mother very customized recommendations to which shopping plaza to go to, which area, what style they offered, the price range, and other details. We went there, and she was 100% accurate and my mother got the topcoat of her dreams thanks to her!

Also during the stay, I learned how "creative" the local taxi drivers were with their pricing at times and what a frustrating experience it could be travelling around the city. The JW Marriott team could tell my focus was off without me saying a word. They provided so much care, support, apologies (even though they had nothing to do with it), and snacks/desserts to help lighten the situation. Immediately Taygun and his team literally inspected and checked every Uber/Taxi driver we got to ensure our safety, and the drivers would not take advantage of us. It is unbelievable how much the extra mile the teams at this JW go for you!

Malex and Housekeeping teams always delivered wonderful service and care with smiles to help us with anything we needed everyday. And Enes and Yousuf could sense I might need help moving items around, drop what they were doing, and jump in to make sure they were helping me. It was actually hard to leave the hotel because everyone made us feel like we were home with family!

All the teams at this JW Marriott all exemplify class, empathy, care, and understanding the importance of the customer experience. As someone who has stayed at countless Marriott and other properties around the world - I have never been so in awe of this level of care, compassion, ownership, knowledge, and class. It is incredibly evident to me that they are the jewels in the crown of Marriott's customer service and ethos, and are incredibly invaluable assets for the organization.

I hope the examples set by the JW Marriott teams' first class quality of care, service, and help are the benchmark for all services across not only at Marriott, but for every organization - regardless...

I had my first stay at JWM Istanbul to compare with other properties I tried in the city before. My first room “Executive Partial View” was far from impressive as explained below but I ended up in a much nicer suite which was a huge contrast with the first room.

Two main issues with my first room: (1) There was an odd layout such that the wall of my bathroom was not adjoining with the wall of my bedroom because that space in between was part of my neighbor's room as can be seen on the floor plan. (2) The view was not "partial", all I could see was the building in front because my room was on a low floor. I was quite puzzled so I called reception to ask what room type I had. I was told the difference between exec and entry level is that exec rooms are bigger but I replied my room certainly did not feel big due to the bizarre layout. And then I told them about the view - they informed me that the building in front is new, they acknowledged that they need to rethink the name of room types.

As a result of the conversation they proactively moved me to a Premier Suite which was a great gesture. It was night and day with the first room, higher floor, great views of the Bosphorus, spacious suite and two full bathrooms. The quality of the furnishings was mixed, the cabinets felt a bit cheap but the hardwood floor was a definite plus. While the views were nice, since it’s a renovated building it did not have floor to ceiling windows and the ceiling was not as high as more modern hotels. My room was on the highest floor (8th floor) besides the hotel restaurant on the 9th floor. Unfortunately I could occasionally hear chairs being moved in the restaurant so soundproofing could have been better.

For breakfast there was a buffet served by staff (not self-served) and a choice of eggs, which was a fairly standard Turkish breakfast and nothing out of the ordinary, possibly a bit weak for a hotel of this caliber and definitely not as good as the breakfast I had at W just one week prior which is a hotel almost half the price tag of JWM. The restaurant itself at JWM was great however with even nicer views of the Bosphorus than I had from my suite.

Service during my stay and before my stay were very good. The hotel pre-arranged for a PCR covid test to be done from the comfort of my room. The hotel concierge was also helpful in tracking a package which was supposed to arrive before my stay but ended up arriving late. My interaction with staff regarding the room change was also positive along with the check-in experience.

Overall JWM has some strong points but it’s double the price of other hotels which do a fine job as well such as Le Meridien, Renaissance, W, Sheraton Grand, etc. therefore the bar is high. In this price range I think a good comparison point to JWM is Fairmont. The location of JWM is far better than Fairmont, but for the hotel itself Fairmont is a superior property all around. Without the suite upgrade at JWM, the entry level rooms at Fairmont are more spacious than at JWM, the rooms at Fairmont are a notch above in terms of quality, Fairmont has an excellent Gold lounge whereas JWM has no lounge, and I can get all of that at a lower price at Fairmont than at JWM. The way JWM can be better value than Fairmont is because suite upgrades as Marriott Ambassador Elite are normally more likely than suite upgrades as Accor Diamond, and if the upgrade happens at JWM then I arguably end up with a better deal especially if I value having more space. The problem with JWM is that when hotel occupancy rises in the future, the premium suites might become out of bounds for upgrades and if upgrades become limited to room types such as Exec then it will be a harder...

The JW Marriott Bospherous is excellently located; however, there are significant drawbacks to this property. In full disclosure, I am a lifetime titanium member and while I hold Bonvoy luxury properties to a high standard, all the statements below are factual and based upon my experience which consisted of a three night stay which occurred September 2024. The rooms are notoriously small and lack important amenities. It is impossible to sleep due to the poor construction. The sounds from the other rooms and the halls are magnified. The rooms receive limited natural light and there is NOT sufficient lighting to offset. The stand up showers flood due to the poor execution of basic engineering principles. The property does not adequately recognize Bonvoy status (recognition is notional and at the minimum level) Some hotel personnel have poor attitudes and display passive aggressiveness towards clients. Now let’s get into details I was told I received an upgrade to a 30 square meter room. There is NO WAY room 514 is 30 square meters. I can understand checking in on a Saturday evening, leaves minimal chance to obtain a suite. However, I believe the reception or the management had ZERO intention of offering me an upgrade the following day after other guest checked out. I assess there is some type of undisclosed discrimination attributed to not being a GCC citizen, since the majority of the hotel’s investors are from Qatar. I can’t say this definitively, but this is my perception. The noise was the worst I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve stayed at hotels undergoing major renovations (St. Regis in Dubai). This hotel was significantly worse. The workers would slam their vacuum cleaners against our door at 0800 am. I’ve never seen such behavior before, this is not consistent with what I expected from a JW Marriott. The room is dark it is depressing. Women will have a difficult time putting on makeup. I could not make out the color of my socks or other clothes due to the lack of lighting. I would not stay here if someone suffers from Seasonal Affects Disorder (SAD) or Depression. This might be the worst bathroom at a Bonvoy property I’ve encountered. I’ve easily stayed at over 300+ Bonvoy properties. Hotel showers have a propensity to flood due to a lack of drain maintenance; however, this one was incorrectly built. The shower drain is located higher than the floor slope. From an engineering perspective, this will result in flooding. Even with tall shower shoes, we could not escape the flooding. The dirty shower water spilled onto the bathroom floor (no auxiliary floor drain was located). Therefore, we were forced to use multiple towels to clean up the excess shower water. I estimate the hotel does not properly recognize elite status. Elite Guest were asked to choose between breakfast, points or a 10 USD food credit. This the the only JW Marriott property I know of which does not have a club lounge. I found three member of the staff to be rude, vulgar and obnoxious. I asked one chambermaid to remove the decorative pillows and foot protector from my bed. She proceeded to curse me out in Turkish and then directed an obscene hand gesture in my direction after complying with my request. I was not rude with my request. Additionally, a receptionist was mega-passive aggressive when I explained to her the situation concerning a lack of work space in the room. NOTE: There were no chairs in the room when we arrived. There was only a small foot stool which could have served as a chair for a kindergartner, but...