Tag: Turkey Hotels

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Second Earthquake In A Month Topples The Bayram Hotel In Turkey

Where: Cumhuriyet Caddesi No: 1 / A, Van, Turkey
November 10, 2011 at 9:15 AM | by | Comments (0)

The Bayram Hotel in the city of Van, Turkey, survived last month's 7.2 earthquake with just "some cracks and a damaged elevator," according to a report by AJC. But another quake last night, this one of a lesser magnitude, rocked the city again, bringing down about 25 buildings.

So far, seven have been declared dead, though dozens are still missing. In some cases, the victims were actually journalists who had traveled to the city to report on the wreckage from last month's earthquake, which killed 600. The Bayram Hotel, along with another unnamed hotel, were occupied during last night's quake, and rescue workers are still working to locate guests buried beneath the rubble.

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Morgans Hotels Expanding Delano Internationally and Adding Another New York Hotel

February 14, 2011 at 10:10 AM | by | Comment (1)

Morgans Hotel Group isn't waiting for the Mondrian Soho to open on February 22 to get moving on its next projects: the brand has signed on to manage three new hotels, including a Delano Cabo San Lucas and a Delano Aegean Sea in Turkey.

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Someone Forgot to Pay the Electricity Bill at the World's Luxest Luxury Hotel

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Kundu Koyu Oteller Mevkii, Antalya, Turkey
December 23, 2010 at 12:34 PM | by | Comments (0)

We're gonna need more candles!

Here's another example of why those hotel star ratings and hotel awards sometimes don't mean all that much.

The Mardan Palace in Turkey, which is a seven-star hotel that beat out the Burj Al Arab and the Dorchester for the title of "leading luxury hotel" from the World Travel Awards, has had the power cut off because of unpaid bills.

The hotel is currently using generators to power up its 546 rooms and has only three weeks to pay off nearly $2.6 million in debts. However, the general manager has assured the press that the hotel will clear up the power snafu:

Aksam [newspaper] quoted the hotel's manager, Cumhur Ozen, as saying the issue stemmed from an end of year budgeting problem and promised to pay the debt.

"We are a large company. We invested 1.2 billion dollars. We won't be worn out by small debts," Ozen said. "We will pay the debt."

In the meantime, all the hotel employees have been asked to go on their annual leaves at this time. And we're guessing this hotel doesn't have any robots to take their place.

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The Hotel Missoni is Hungry for Turkey, Opening a Hotel in 2013

Where: Belek, Antalya, Turkey
December 6, 2010 at 9:00 AM | by | Comment (1)

Edinburgh...Kuwait...Oman...Brazil. The list of current and under-construction Missoni Hotels is an exotic one, and today we can add another city to the list: Antalya, Turkey. 2013 will bring a Missoni Hotel to the Turkish Riviera, and although this one will follow the pattern of the other Missoni by having the interior personally designed by Rosita Missoni, its exterior will differ greatly. It's going to have a celebrity-designed golf course!

Hotel MIssoni Belek, Antalya is bringing in Swedish golf champ Annika Sörenstam to create the 18-hole course, which will be just one of the attraction in the development around the hotel; there'll also be a country club, shops, residential villas and an olive grove. That last bit sounds much closer to Missoni's Italian heritage than gray days in Edinburgh.

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This Turkish Hotel Wants You to Go Nude at The Pool

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Datça, Turkey
April 27, 2010 at 11:01 AM | by | Comments (0)

But um, wouldn't sliding down that waterslide kinda hurt?

It's not April Fool's Day, is it? OK, just checking. We've heard of hotels that encourage guest nudity, you see, but never have we seen them in Turkey. Which makes sense, since the Adaburnu Gölmar Hotel—opening on May 1st—bills itself as "the first naturist hotel in Turkey."

It makes a little more sense when you realize that the, um, service, was designed for foreign guests—god bless those British and German tourists who just can't keep their clothes on.

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A Music Festival in a Five Star Hotel On This Beach, What More Could You Want?

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Konyaaltı, Antalya, Turkey
February 23, 2010 at 4:23 PM | by | Comments (0)

Is it festival time already? We’re thinking not, given the weather in Europe is leaving a lot to be desired this week. But that means it’s probably time to start fantasizing about music festivals. But not muddy, grubby, campy festivals; we're talking posh festivals that take place in a five star hotel. Is that cheating? Don’t care. We want to go to the Antalya SunSplash Festival in Turkey.

The festival itself is about fairly clubby music, with big name DJs like Norman Jay and Gilles Peterson (of Radio One fame). But what we’re really interested in is its location, Design Hotel Hillside SU – a sparkling white (in-room lighting is what makes the place trendy rather than boring) resort for Euro hipsters.

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Tagging Isn't Just Allowed, It's Encouraged at the Marmara Antalya

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Eski Lara Yolu, No. 136, Antalya, Turkey
January 26, 2010 at 2:30 PM | by | Comments (0)

We can't be the only ones who have daydreamed about unleashing our inner rebel in the form of graffiti art. We've long admired the medium, but have stopped short of spray painting freeway overpasses or surreptitiously leaving our mark on train cars late at night.

However, thanks to the Marmara Antalya would-be Banksys are being given a safe space to turn graffiti dreams into reality. In its light-filled hotel lobby, tagging isn't just allowed; it's encouraged.

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Mardan Palace Is Wacky, Glitzy and Has A Vacustyler

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Kundu Koyu Oteller Mevkii, Antalya, Turkey
August 4, 2009 at 8:59 AM | by | Comment (1)

Any hotel that uses Mariah Carey and Tom Jones for its opening entertainment is bound to offer a few surprises, and the Mardan Palace in Antalya, Turkey, does that and more – a whole lot more, if a recent Daily Mail review is anything to go on.

The review throws a bunch of crazy superlatives around right at the start, calling the Mardan Palace the brashest, wackiest and glitziest resort they know. And then the amazing facts begin: the bowls in the Italian restaurant cost $840 each, the cutlery bill for the hotel was $28 million (which seems a little hard to believe, but...) and the hotel's private beach includes $1.7 million worth of imported white sand, much of which will need replacing every year.

If money's no object, then you can have a heck of a lot of fun at the Mardan Palace. There are professional divers to help you explore the hotel's own reef, bathrooms with gold-plated sinks, a chocolate fountain at breakfast and a Vacustyler in the spa which is a kind of shrink-wrapping machine originally developed to help the circulation of astronauts.

Surprisingly, there are some relatively affordable room rates — we found a Premium room in October at €260 ($370) a night and even an Executive suite was only €480 ($680), although all the bookings from October 15 onward are blacked out — so get in quick for your glitz and brashness at this price.

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Marriott Will Take A Second Helping Of Turkey, Please

Where: Ankara, Turkey
July 13, 2009 at 3:17 PM | by | Comments (0)

Typically, Ankara was thought of as a supplement to a vacation to Istanbul, although it's Turkey's capital. But as Ankara grows to become its own important international business city, Marriott is ready to throw some weight behind the city with a J.W. Marriott in the Sogutozu district, due to open in October 2010. It will be Turkey's second Marriott hotel, but a first to have the "J.W." initials, meaning it's going to be a bit nicer than your average Marriott.

But why is it so special? Well, the 24-floor, 400-room structure from RMJM Architects will be super sustainable, with the building's complete design considered for maximum energy savings:

The hotel will bring innovative sustainable design to Ankara and will include a unique design of vertical stone fins that will act as solar shading devices on the east and west facades. The glass curtain wall uses environmentally friendly materials such as high-performing, low-e coating and tinting that contributes to the reduced solar heat gain. Plentiful bamboo trees and vegetation will be included in the landscape to offer additional shading at the site.

Despite these fancy eco elements, the above rendering of the building doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary; no crazy futuristic flourishes here, as green building finally catches up with taste. And just in case Ankara, and not Hawaii, is the wedding destination of your dreams, the hotel won't be all business as they're planning a wedding pavilion, a spa with indoor and outdoor pools, and three specialty restaurants, for wining and dining your guests with a lower environmental impact than your typical hotel wedding.

[Photo: RMJM Architects]

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Park Hyatt Istabul Opens With Armani and Gucci Inside

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Bronz Sokak 35 Tesvikiye, Istanbul, Turkey
September 3, 2008 at 10:59 AM | by | Comments (0)

[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).

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Ultimate Turkish Art Collection at the Casa Dell'Arte

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Kilise Mevkii Mutlu Sok, Torba, Bodrum, Turkey
August 27, 2008 at 3:24 PM | by | Comments (0)

We first heard about the Casa Dell'Arte in Bodrum, Turkey from the Travel + Leisure list of this year's top 30 new hotels, and now we can see for certain it made this list for a good reason.

Casa Dell'Arte--"Hotel of Arts and Leisure", as the website says--is a genuine art hotel, run by a family who also have an art gallery in Istanbul.

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Wheelchair Accessible Hotels :: Fully Accessible Hotels

May 15, 2008 at 4:40 PM | by | Comments (2)

This week our roving correspondent Monica Guy is writing about an oft-overlooked aspect of hotels and travel: disabled access. Monica knows a lot about this subject as she works and travels frequently with Stephen Hawking. However, feel free to chime in with your thoughts and experiences too. Got a question? Let us know and we'll get it answered for you.

A room at the Access Centre Hotel Marmaris in Turkey.So, you're disabled and planning a holiday. Given all the nightmare involved in finding a reliable, accessible hotel, aren't you tempted to go for specially designed and designated accessible hotel?

Accessible hotels are gradually popping up all over the hotel scene, but particularly near seaside resorts in the Mediterranean. They've been designed by architects to be suitable for guests with all sorts of different disabilities, from physical disabilities and wheelchair users to those with visual and hearing impairments.

Rooms often have hoists and lowering beds, wide doors, wheelchair-charging facilities, hand-bars everywhere, emergency cords, low-level switches, flashing or vibrating pillow alarms, accessible swimming pools, and all the rest, along with more disabled toilets than you can shake a walking stick at.

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