Sheraton Istanbul City Center — Hotel in Beyoğlu

Warmth an absolute dream stay we had with a wonderful representation of Istanbul and their people, their hospitality and their food! We stayed in May 2025, as a family of 5, two rooms and one was a suite on their 7th floor. Our suite, had no American plugs at all, ut our regular room, downstairs, did offer 2 American outlets. The location was absolutely terrific and we had no issues catching an Uber. Do not take a taxi in Istanbul. It's not worth the swindle we encountered, or the hassle, but Uber was flawless. There is a Starbucks right next door and a gas station 1 block away where we bought amazing pistachio chocolates to bring home, really a neat experience to shop there and see all the delightful offerings of snacks for so cheap! The daily breakfast is beyond! As a Platinum Elite guest, we expected a lot and this hotel absolutely delivered! Their lounge is beautiful, o erlooking a garden, always offering an incredible selection of treats like cheeses, fruits, nuts, breads and a large variety of food and snacks as well as a fridge with Soda, water and sparkling water. This was much appreciated. There was also always coffee and variety of Teas, available one of the nicest M Lounges, ever. Beating out New York, Los Angeles,Las Vegas, Cincinnati, San Diego,, all of them in the States! The Breakfast buffet is so comprehensive and "extra" even locals will patronize here and come to buy a spot to dine. It was divine and I'll come.back to post pictures for this review. Their on site restaurant is fantastic! The offer all traditional fare as well as thoughtfully offering some American dishes for those looking for something more simple, which was appreciated by my children with a less adventurous palate- but those dishes were expertly done, with authentic tomato sauce and aldente pasta and beautiful burgers, elevated and complete. An absolute joy for us to be able to enjoy authentic food of Istanbul and the region and our kiddos to have their comfort foods and find their ability to try our dishes, since being satiated with their familiar fare. We found this invaluable and it was wonderful that they tried so much of the incredible food we ordered. It is no wonder this restaurant is revered in the area, although we're told it's expensive for Istanbul, we absolutely were delighted for every dinner. We tried so many things and loved it all! The breakfast buffet was something we knew was said to be good, but it surpassed expectations on every level! There are no less than 75 items and each more scrumptious than the next. The eggs in tomato sauce is divine! Freshly made breads and pastries and cakes are a wonder, every single thing made fresh and so divine with fresh fruit, dried fruits, nuts, fish, meats (no bacon. No bacon. No pork at all, remember!) But you won't care! They have waffles and freshly made syrups and the coffees! You can make your own cappuccino or Americano, espresso- you name it! Even of your breakfast is not included with your stay, you absolutely must purchase it and enjoy the incredible flavors of the Traditional Turkish breakfast. It's exquisite, what they offer there and they do it every day, expertly! Our rooms were always cleaned when we left our room. Beds made and towels stocked and our suite refrigerator was stocked with waters and sodas, every day. We enjoyed the bar in the evening and one night ordered food late night. Everything, top tier. Service, food, ambiance. We wished we had 5 nights there instead of just 3. I'd write any faults, were there any had, but we just experienced the very best of the best at this hotel. So clean, so professional, so beautiful and enjoyable. We are so grateful for this experience and would absolutely choose here to stay when returning to Istanbul. I was concerned. I had read some reviews that had me so worried but I thought I could count on our Platinum Elite Status, should we encounter any problems- I felt prepared, but we experienced nothing but top of the line accommodations, top of the line service and top of line experience, we were...

I'll start with saying the rooms are clean and the beds are comfortable and any staff that I did interact with was kind. At the end of the day it's more than adequate but from the perspective of a 5 star hotel and other sheraton properties, this falls short of what one would expect.

1. English competency in staff that regularly interact with customers. Everyone I had to speak to at the main desk had a good command of english but how can your concierge staff not be english competent? This is a hotel with a lot of foreign guests with english being the common language between them, a concierge that sits at the front should be able to communicate and understand english. I had to use google translate otherwise I would have been sent to incorrect areas and given incorrect information several times and I spoke with 3 different concierge gentlemen. Your room cleaning staff and the kitchen might not need english competency but concierge? front desk? person answering room service? That's simply not okay for a 5 star global hotel chain.

2. Room issues. I can't say every room is like this but my room in particular was facing the main road and the window wasn't sealed. I could hear wind, cars, and horns all night. I didn't want to bother the staff after having a couple of discussions about other things I couldn't compromise on when I could just use the earplugs I had and it became a non issue but still not acceptable for a sheraton. I had heating and ac issues where my unit was definitely on the fritz intermittently. Even though they sent someone up to take a look, that person didn't speak any english so I had a rough time explaining stuff to him and the front desk staff should have taken the time to communicate what was happening to someone who doesn't speak english. In my entire stay, the room temperature never moved a single degree because of the hvac, it basically followed the temperature of outside even if I did feel slightly cool or slightly warm air flowing. I was able to make it work but again a huge let down for this calibur of hotel.

3. Pool was closed my entire 5 night stay and the staff downstairs kept saying ti was undergoing a one day maintenance and it would be open maybe tomorrow. That tomorrow never came though. Not a huge deal but again, kind of unacceptable if someone wishes to use that facility and are inconvenienced.

4. From my understanding I would have been charged for more than 2 complimentary 500ml bottles of water per day per room. For a city where the tap water is not drinkable and even the hotel staff willingly admit as much, and with water being as cheap as it is, this policy is outrageous. There are ways around this that I won't get into but a guest at a 5 star hotel shouldn't be nickle and dimed like this or forced to get thrifty

5. My shower's version of any temperature water was a blast of cold water followed by a blast of scalding water instead of mixing them together. Outrageous and basically forced me to keep the water colder than I normally like to avoid getting blasted by water that was too hot.

6. Some power outlets didn't work, especially the usb outlets. Annoying.

Location is not great. Nothing is really walkable and assume everything is 30-45 mins away depending on traffic or time of day and you'll need to use a car of some sort. The few things around it are a tourist trap with super inflated prices. Staying somewhere near taksim is much better. I don't think I'd stay here again unless it was just a one day affair. They obviously can't be blamed too much for location but dealing with notoriously terrible istanbul cabbies to go anywhere is certainly a factor you should consider. They do have a free shuttle that regularly goes between the hotel and taksim and back...

The pool cap not only ruined my impression about hotel but also spoil my trip and put a shadow over the entire hotel chain. I've stayed at the Sheraton City Center Istanbul for a couple of days. The hotel isn't in the best location-it's close to Taxim Square, but it's a 15-20 minute tough walk uphill. The atelier offers a shuttle to Taksim Square, but unfortunately, it only runs once an hour, making it inconvenient for a short stay. I chose this hotel because it had a pool. After checking in after a long flight, I really wanted to swim in the pool. The receptionist told me the operating pool hours. After showering and putting on a robe, very small size only, I went down to the spa, where I was warmly welcomed, but they wouldn't let me into the pool because hotel rules require guests to wear a swimming cap. As a bad luck for me cap is not provided at pool area, they said I need to ask reception for one. The hotel website didn't mention the swimming cap, nor did they inform me about it upon check-in. I had to go to reception to buy a swimming cap and return to the pool. Technically, access to the pool is free, or rather, included in the room charge, but the cap wasn't. I was upset and, in a rage, I contacted the hotel manager. The manager listened to me and said that it was due to the high hygiene standards of the Sheraton franchise. I asked, if your standards are so high, why don't you provide the caps directly to customers in the spa area for free? After that, the manager became irritated and started arrogantly and rudely behaviour. He made some very offensive comments, such as, "I'm ready to pay for your cap out of my own expenses, just leave me and don't distract me from my work." I haven't met such a rude customer service hotel manager in a long time. I've stayed in 1,000 hotels worldwide, and probably more than a hundred of them were Sheraton and Marriott hotels worldwide. To be honest, I don't have much hair left on my head, and wearing a rubber cap is physically uncomfortable me, I would prefer to avoid booking in such hotel in future. I've never been required to do so anywhere, except at large sports pools where there's a lot of people traffic, but never ever in hotels. Objectively, the hotel is not bad; it's still new and the rooms are in decent condition, but this hotel's hygiene standards sometimes shine, like with obligatory pool caps that reflects old fashion view on hygiene and is obsolete now, but same standards perfectly accept having thick layer of dust on the glass shelves in the rooms like on foto. It is too much noisy in the room, you hear any sound from coridor and feel room floor vibrations. Ultimately, I'll never stay at this hotel again, and if you're considering staying there, I advise you to think twice before deciding whether you'll encounter any problems that the manager and staff will instead resort to sarcasm. Food at breakfast is average, nothing that match 5 star rating, room service ofer only international salads burgers or steaks, no local tasty food.

I do not recommend the elderly and those who have heart problems to walk to the Taxim square because you need to go up hills and it's quite tiring. Every hour the Shuttle Bus leaves the hotel and the last bus returns back at 21:30 back. Well, if you decide to use the pool after my bad experience, don't forget to have a pool...