Tag: Istanbul Hotels
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The Tides are Changing at Viceroy Hotel Group
Tides Riviera Maya, now the Viceroy Riviera Maya
Now that the Tides South Beach is no longer a Viceroy Hotel (it belongs to cool kid hotel brand, King & Grove), we've been wondering what would be happening to the Tides Hotel brand that Viceroy had spun-out from this iconic South Beach property. Well, today we have our answer. Sort of.
Just after the Tides Riviera Maya in Mexico finished up their sexy renovations, it was announced that the hotel is now going by the name Viceroy Riviera Maya.
Hotel Hype / Hotel News / Mondrian Hotels / Morgans Hotel Group / Istanbul Hotels / → All Tags
Mondrian is Now Adding Istanbul to The Notches on Their Bedpost
The Mondrian's gal will be getting around soon.
Gosh, it's not even 2012 yet and we're already thinking ahead to 2014. That's because in addition to opening a hotel in London, Mondrian Hotels is planning on opening another hotel abroad--in Istanbul.
The press release put out yesterday by parent company Morgans Hotel Group says that Mondrian, the whimsical and fanciful design brand, will open a 128-room room in Istanbul's Old City area. And the hotel group's new partners, The Light Group will create original food and beverage options for the hotel. There will also be a spa, renovated from an existing historic Turkish bath.
Can't wait until 2014 to test out these new Mondrians? Word is the Mondrian Qatar should open in early 2013. Sadly, the Mondrian Bahamas (yes, Mondrian is going Caribbean) will not be open until 2014. We better rest up because we will be sleeping around a lot in the next few years.
Edition Hotels / Istanbul Hotels / Hotel Openings / Bill Marriott / Ian Schrager / Hotel News / Hotel Opening Rates / → All Tags
Staying At the Edition Istanbul Will Be a Little Like Sleeping Inside a Sauna
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.
Hotel Openings / Edition Hotels / Istanbul Hotels / Bill Marriott / Ian Schrager / Hotel News / Hotel Opening Rates / → All Tags
Edition Istanbul Will Open (Early) Tomorrow
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.
Hotel Refurbishments / Restaurant Openings / Hotel Restaurants / Istanbul Hotels / W Hotels / Starwood Hotels / → All Tags
Look Out London, W Istanbul Has Given Itself a Cougar Makeover
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.
Sneak Peek / Edition Hotels / Istanbul Hotels / Bill Marriott / Ian Schrager / Hotel News / Hotel Openings / Hotel Opening Rates / → All Tags
Sneak Peek at the Istanbul Edition, Opening This Spring
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.
Hotel Contests / Great Hotels of the World / Istanbul Hotels / → All Tags
Can You Write a Travel Story? Then You Can Win a 5-Night Trip to Istanbul
Want to go to Istanbul for free, with your hotel and everything totally taken care of? Well, if you think you can spin a good travel tale, then the Great Hotels of the World want you.
Great Hotels of the World (not to be confused with Leading Hotels of the World), are holding the Travel Writing Competition for a five-night stay at Midtown Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. The winning prize includes return flights, transfers, breakfast, a romantic dinner and "VIP travel writer treatment." All you have to do is start writing now.
Hotel Reopenings / Hotel Renovations / Historic Hotels / Istanbul Hotels / Hotel Spas / → All Tags
Istanbul's Grand Dame Is Getting a Little Nip and Tuck
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.
Edition Hotels / Hotel Hype / Istanbul Hotels / Autograph Collection / → All Tags
You'll Have to Wait a Little Longer for This 'Edition'
We now know that if there was a concrete opening date for any one of the proposed Edition Hotels that we've heard about (from Hawaii to Chicago to Istanbul), the Marriott press machine would be working overtime to build the buzz.
But since the Edition Hotels website still only has "Development" listed in the place of where "Hotel Locations" should be and that there really isn't any information on this page, we're going to go ahead and say that you'll be waiting even longer to get your "Edition."
Adding to that, we did find a sort of dubious website for the Edition Hotel Istanbul, which last time we checked was to open on December 15, but there's really nothing on this site either--just a bunch of construction pics. Ho-hum. (Also, this bland building is supposed to turn into a 7-star hotel? Eeee.)
Meanwhile, there's nothing new out there on the hotels to be included in the Autograph Collection from Marriott. We're guessing they are biding their time until 2010 to really get moving. Right? Right?
Got Edition Hotels or Autograph Collection scoop? Drop it in our stocking.
NYT Reviews / Istanbul Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
The NYT Wants You to Get Thee to a (Turkish) Nunnery
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.
NYT Reviews / W Hotels / Istanbul Hotels / → All Tags
NYT Pops Into W Istanbul for Some Turkish Delight
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.”)
Turkey Hotel Guide / Istanbul Hotels / Intercontinental Hotels / Hotel Breakfasts / → All Tags
The Ceylan Intercontinental Is a Decent Hotel with An Excellent Breakfast Buffet
Last week Shira Levine spent a few days getting her Turkish Delight on in Istanbul, Turkiye ("Turkey is a bird; Turkiye is the country") and checking out the transcontinental Eurasian city's hotel scene. Any questions about where to stay in Turkiye? Send 'em to us and we'll have Shira answer them for you.
First Impressions
It's nice when a medium hotel surprises us with doing things right we weren't even expecting. That way there is some balance to our disappointment when something isn't right. Istanbul's Ceylan Intercontinental Hotel is one of those hotels. While it's been awarded five stars, our feeling is that it has a five star quality in a very 1992 kind of way. Nevertheless, the lobby is classic. It's wide open and bright with shiny and gilded decor and dramatic stairs that lead to some good early morning dining.
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