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Staying At the Edition Istanbul Will Be a Little Like Sleeping Inside a Sauna

Where: Buyukdere Cad No 138/1, Levent, Istanbul, Turkey, 34330

UPDATE: Turns out that the color scheme in the two photos is totally different for a reason! There are two color schemes available to the rooms: Dark Rosewood (the dark one, pictured above) and Soaped Oak - the lighter color, visible in the renderings. For new pictures of both color schemes, see after the jump.

It’s heeeeere! We’ve spent every day of the last three weeks scouring Edition Hotels’ Facebook page and website to see whether they’d put up rooms of the Edition Istanbul, and although there’s still no joy on either count, we now have our hands on the very first picture of a room. Time to play a game of 'Is It Anything Like The Renderings?'!

The good news? In size and style, it looks almost exactly like these pictures of what the rooms were meant to be like, apart from one small thing – the color scheme is totally different! It’s gone from a cool ash color on the walls and floor to a much warmer, redder wood. And even the lamps floating from the ceiling have morphed from a silvery bronze to a gold color. At the time, don’t forget, we were told that:

Designed in conjunction with Gabellini Shepherd architects, the Istanbul Edition aimed for "quiet elegance" and "modern luxury" by using a color palate of bronze and silver-gold, with extensive use of pale and dark woods.

Unless the color balance has been touched up beyond recognition, we don’t see any of that pale wood. Not even on the ceiling.

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Edition Istanbul Will Open (Early) Tomorrow

Where: Buyukdere Cad No 138/1, Levent, Istanbul, Turkey, 34330

Ah, there’s nothing quite like intrigue and confusion to get us all excited over a hotel opening. And an early opening? That gets us even more aflutter.

This morning, we noticed that the Facebook page of Edition hotels was suggesting that the Edition Istanbul was open. Open! Last we heard, our sources told us it was down for a March opening.

But, no sooner did we see that news, than we had an email from Edition’s PRs telling us that the hotel did not soft open today, and that the online reports were inaccurate. They told us that:

The hotel will soft open soon with the official launch in March/April.

So we called the hotel to clarify and spoke to a charming gentleman who told us that no, the hotel didn’t open today. But, yes, it’s opening soon – very soon. In fact, it’s opening tomorrow.

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Look Out London, W Istanbul Has Given Itself a Cougar Makeover

Where: Suleyman Seba Cad No. 22, Akaretler, Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, 34357

Minyon. "Titillating".

While we’ve been getting all breathless over the dishy W London, turns out the cougar matriarch of the European Ws, the W Istanbul has been quietly going under the knife. And now, just in time to steal London’s sassy new kid thunder, it’s peeling back the bandages to reveal its new look.

The hotel has opened two new restaurants, Frederic’s and Minyon. Frederic’s is an upscale Italian joint overlooking the Bosphorus with a 350-strong wine cellar, hearty ingredients (truffles, saffron, oysters), a revolving gallery of art that changes monthly and a cigar menu.

But the one we’re really excited about is Minyon, which is serving up international cuisine on small plates, to a backdrop art from young local artists, DJs, and a regular Wednesday night bash called Indie-Pendent Ladies (we likey). We can’t make the English tab on the website work, and sadly we don’t speak Turkish, but the pictures need no translation – stuffed avocado, salads, and a yum-looking crème brulee that we probably wouldn’t share. Also, any restaurant that describes itself as "titillating" gets a thumbs up from us.

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Sneak Peek at the Istanbul Edition, Opening This Spring

Where: Buyukdere Caddesi No 2, Besiktas, Istanbul, Turkey

Christmas came early for HotelChatter! A tipster let us know that the website for the forthcoming Istanbul Edition was live, complete with photo renderings of the guest rooms, descriptions galore and even a few special room rate offers! So let's get right into it.

First up, let's talk about the rooms. After all, this hotel plans on being a seven-star hotel Strike that. The hotel has no plans for seven-star status but instead plans to be a "luxury lifestyle hotel."

Designed in conjunction with Gabellini Shepherd architects, the Istanbul Edition aimed for "quiet elegance" and "modern luxury" by using a color palate of bronze and silver-gold, with extensive use of pale and dark woods (check out the hard wood floors in the pics below!)

The hotel has six room categories (not including the Penthouse Suite)--Superior, Superior with Terrace, Deluxe, Deluxe with Terrace, Loft with Terrace and Deluxe Prime.

Guest rooms start at 320-sq.ft. and feature an entrance vestibule, bedroom area, work station and seating area with wall-to-wall windows overlooking the city. Amenities include down comforters and pillows, customized linen, custom designed furniture and fabrics, silk carpets, oversized closets, glass enclosed shower and rain showerheads, 42” Bang & Olufsen flat screen TV’s with full cable access, iPod docking station and best of all free WiFi.

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Hotel Reopenings / Hotel Renovations / Historic Hotels / Istanbul Hotels / Hotel Spas / → All Tags

Istanbul's Grand Dame Is Getting a Little Nip and Tuck

Where: Meşrutiyet Caddesi No:52, Tepebaşı Beyoğlu , Istanbul, Turkey, 34430

Another week, another historic hotel revamp is nearly completed. This time it’s the turn of the Pera Palace in Istanbul, which is entering its last month of building works – it’s down to open 1 September. Just in time, too, seeing as we’re now more than halfway through Istanbul’s stint as European Capital of Culture.

The restoration has taken two years and €20m, and as well as a spruce up for the whole property, they’ve updated it with a spa. And although wishy washy hotel spas weren’t around when the Pera Palace originally opened in 1892, they’ve kept things traditional with a Turkish hammam, steam bath, sauna and Jacuzzi, as well as a modern gym.

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Still Not Happening: Istanbul's Fantastical Underwater Hotel

You know the feeling you get when you look at fantastical hotel models? You think: "wow wouldn't that be great! Too bad it'll never actually get built." Well, that's how we feel about the rumored Underwater Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, which—believe it or not—is due to open later this year.

YEAH RIGHT. Nevermind that we don't have a name for the hotel (the rumor is it's called "Poseidon"--snore!) and nevermind that the information about the place is the same stuff being circulated since early 2008; we would really like to sleep in a 7-star hotel underwater, so we want it to work out, damnit.

Yes, you heard that right—this baby is aiming to be a 7-star hotel, like Dubai's Burj Al-Arab, except that the Al-Arab is above the water's surface and this one won't be. It's being developed by Tanriverdi Holding, and the budget is a cool $500 million.

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The NYT Wants You to Get Thee to a (Turkish) Nunnery

Where: Tomtom Kaptan Sokak 18 (off Bogazkesen Caddesi), Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey

In this weekend’s travel section, the NYT checked in to Tomtom Suites in Istanbul, a newish 20-suite boutique hotel housed in a restored 1901 building that once was home to French nuns, and decided Hamlet’s infamous slam—“Get thee to a nunnery”—could be the hotel’s “fun-loving invitation” or slogan.

Highlights:“Tomtom Suites addresses the partier’s paradox: how to find a crash pad within striking distance of a night-life district that isn’t overrun by noisy lager louts,” the NYT writes, describing the location as a five-minute walk to nightlife-heavy Istiklal Caddesi. Spacious suites have contemporary touches (wooden floors, “high-tech gadgetry”) injected with “Turkish touches” (hand-painted ceramics, tubular harem-style tasseled cushions). The bathroom has a Philippe Starck-designed bathtub with underwater jets as well as Molton Brown spa toiletries. The top-floor breakfast terrace serves a tasty morning spread.

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NYT Pops Into W Istanbul for Some Turkish Delight

Where: SULEYMAN SEBA CAD 27, Istanbul, Turkey, 34357

Until the W Barcelona officially pops its cork this fall, the W Istanbul remains Europe’s only W Hotel. The NYT’s Fred Bernstein checked the place out recently, so we thought we’d compare his observations to those of HotelChatter’s Shira Levine, who just last month filed her own review of the “crazy sexy cool” spot. Overall, the two agreed on much.

Highlights: “There is no perfect spot in Istanbul — the city is too vast and complicated — but the W’s comes close,” Bernstein says. (Er, Levine put it differently: “W Istanbul is located on an attractive but weird corner where there is a complicated traffic pattern.”)

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This Is What the 7-Star Edition Istanbul Will Look Like?

Um. No, thanks.

This is the rendering for the proposed Edition Istanbul which will be the first ever Edition Hotel to open in December from the seemingly unholy union of veteran hoteliers, Bill Marriott and Ian Schrager. The building is currently undergoing a 100 million Euro renovation from an office building into a 7-star hotel which will have 80 guestrooms, all suites.

Please, pretty please, spend a lot of that money on the interiors. Please.

Edition Hotels / Hotel Hype / Istanbul Hotels / Bill Marriott / Ian Schrager / → All Tags

Top That! Edition Hotel Will Open in Istanbul in December

UPDATE: A rendering of the building is now pictured after the jump.

South Beach, DC, Honolulu, Istanbul. What do all these destinations have in common? They have all, at one point or another, been designated the location for the very first Edition Hotel, the new luxury hotel collection spawned by Bill Marriott and Ian Schrager.

Last we checked, Edition Honolulu would open in sometime in 2010. The Edition DC project was starting to look rather unlikely and we've got no idea what happening with Edition South Beach.

But now there's been an announcement that Edition Istanbul will open before all these other jokers on Dec 15, 2009.

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Park Hyatt Hotels / Istanbul Hotels / Hotel Delays / → All Tags

Park Hyatt Istanbul Gets Delayed Again

Where: Bronz Sokak 35 Tesvikiye, Istanbul, Turkey

Update: A rep just let us know that the hotel does not have a specific opening date. But they are holding a press conference on October 27 and the new opening date (probably mid-November) will be revealed.

Dear Park Hyatt Istanbul,

Remember when you said you were opening September 1? And then you said you were opening October 16? In fact, once you even claimed early 2008.

Well all those times have come.. and they have passed. We're guessing you're not open yet because now your site is telling us "end of 2008" instead of October. And also it won't let us make reservations. Even though we TOTALLY COULD before.

And while hotels do take a lot of work to open, this is a renovated building. It's been standing for almost 100 years! What is taking you so long?

We are able to make reservations starting November 17, but we don't know when you're really opening. We don't believe anything you say anymore. You've shattered our dreams too many times.

Call us (or not) when you're ready to commit.

Love,

HotelChatter

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Park Hyatt Istabul Opens With Armani and Gucci Inside

Where: Bronz Sokak 35 Tesvikiye, Istanbul, Turkey

[Update: Despite what the online reservations system initially told us, this hotel is offically opening on October 16th. Online reservations are being taken for stays later than October 18th.]

There are at least two reasons to stay at the new Park Hyatt Istanbul Maçka Palas: Istanbul is the only city in the world located on two continents, and Emporio Armani and Gucci boutiques are in the same building.

Of course, there is also the limestone bathrooms, with 25 of the 90 deluxe-sized rooms featuring authentic Turkish baths with heated stone seats. And it's located smack in the middle of the ultra-trendy shopping district, Nişantaşi, home of some of the best shopping in the world.

Each guestroom is equipped with the latest technology including high-speed broadband Internet access, flat screen television, a DVD/CD player and iPod docking station. And a boutique hotel wouldn't be complete without an exclusive spa and special spa suites.

This renovated 1922 building has a unique blend of the old art deco and new modern architecture found in other Park Hyatts. Glass tile is found in much of the hotel with a "Bordeaux Wall" in The Prime, the first Istanbul steakhouse, made entirely out of wine bottle glass.

The hotel officially just opened September 1 but already appears to be sold out for much of September. Rates start at 230 euros ($336 US).