Relaxing in Mövenpick Istanbul

After a month-long travel writing break, I kick-off the new year by traveling to Istanbul, Turkey to visit my sister. I have the possibility to surf her short couch or sleep on the bedroom floor, but instead, I decide to look for a nice hotel, something affordable in a safe neighborhood.

What I usually look for in a hotel is 1. good and easy connection with the places I want to visit, 2. free wifi and 3. breakfast included. In a massive city like Istanbul (12 million inhabitants, I was told), the search for the best hotel which meets all your needs can be time-consuming with so many options to consider.

One of these options is The Mövenpick Istanbul. Not exactly a hotel that pops into mind when you think of affordable. But the hotel turned out to be just like the ice cream; expensive, but oh so yummy.

The lobby, photo by Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul

The Mövenpick Istanbul is clearly a business hotel, with its location in the business district – and therefore not at all empty during the week and the off-season. Though in the weekends, there are also enough couples and young families enjoying breakfast in the restaurant. We even spotted a man happily walking through the hotel in his shorts on white complimentary hotel slippers.

Service

When you stay in a low cost hotel, you expect low cost food and low-cost service. When you stay in a high class hotel, you expect high class food and high class service. The Mövenpick did not disappoint me on either level.

As a regular middle class hotel visitor, I only really noticed in this 5 star hotel how big of a positive impact great service can have on your day. No unhappy faces, no excuses, friendly greetings and complete hospitality are things that can give powerful boosts and turn guests into friends.

Room

The Mövenpick Istanbul does not have small rooms. Even the smallest one is quite roomy with its 35 m². The large bed was great, the duvets comfy and fluffy, the armchair with footstool was amazing and we were very happy with the complimentary coffee, tea and bottle of water every day.

The bathroom was big, with a large sliding door with a floor to ceiling mirror and the yellow rubber duck gave it a cute touch, just like the window between the room and bathroom. Though we kept the blinds closed the entire time, no need for anybody seeing you using the toilet!

The bedroom seen though the bathroom window, photo by Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul

Location

While many hotels (try to) boast about their proximity to the city center, The Mövenpick doesn’t have to do so. Its location right next to a metro station makes it a great place to relax after a busy sightseeing day, far away from the bustle of the city.

Besides that, there are also three huge malls very close to the hotel. The newly opened Sapphire Mall with many good stores, the Kanyon Shopping Mall with a great, modern cinema and the Metrocity Mall including a supermarket. If it wasn’t for the interesting historical sites in the old center, you wouldn’t even have to go as far as a few hundred meters for a fun-filled day.

Internet

A really big downside of this hotel is that wifi is not free in the standard rooms. Well, apart from 30 minutes a day. I cannot get my head around this. Sure, the executive rooms do offer free wifi, but shouldn’t every hotel offer this service to everybody by now – especially the high end hotels?

There might be enough people who are content with being offline for a few days while enjoying their holidays, but the smartphone generation will not appreciate this fact. I therefore friendly urge The Mövenpick Istanbul to change this policy to really earn five stars – and the respect of all travelers.

[Disclosure: The Mövenpick Istanbul, member of Great Hotels of the World Luxury Collection, graciously provided us with a few nights of accommodation, including breakfast ánd wifi. This does not influence my review of the hotel. We had an amazing experience and would definitely stay there again – though only when wifi is provided free of charge in all rooms.]