Great spot in Istanbul

This tower is right on Taksim Square with direct public transport to Sultanamet and Eminonu, and right at the top of Istiklal Cadessi, pedestrian thoroughfare extraordinaire. It's not cheap but it's classy for the price, and for a supplement you get a room on the "sea side". We were on the 9th floor and had a view over the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, Sultanamet. The staff were most friendly, helpful and efficient. Breakfast was great, but watch out for the first floor evening buffet, it's expensive and "all you can eat" is not a good deal (go to a restaurant in Beyoglu instead).

No I'm not writing on behalf of the management, we really liked this hotel. If I didn't like it I'd say so (see my review of Edinburgh Holiday Inn which --).

Worst 5 star Hotel we ever stayed.

We stayed at Marmara Istanbul during first week of May. Hotel in regular conditions, gym is the best facility. Employees hardly understand english, if you don´t speak turkish, you are going to have problems to communicate, only one person speaks good english at public relations desk, (Ceci), rest of staff provides poor service, particulary Marmara Café Manager.

Terrible service, just an example: I requested to make me a special milk shake, they answered me, We don´t have a blender in all the hotel. 5 star hotel without a blender, hard to believe, but happended.

But they gave us a free drink coupon, lucky us.

Location is good, bad service, regular facilities, except gym. (Gym equipment and music are very good).

I won´t never stay there again, and it´s the worst 5 star hotel we ever stayed in all over the world.

Our honeymoon hotel

Great hotel, great location, all the amenities we are used to as americans. great spa, fitness club, fantastic top floor restaurant, fabulous breakfast cafe and did i mention great location??? loved it.

Very good hotel with a great location in the heart of Istanbul

I stayed at the Marmara hotel in the end of May 2005 -I visited Istanbul to watch the UEFA Champions League Final between FC Liverpool and AC Milan.

What can I say - a very nice luxury hotel with a perfect location - you only had to walk out its door and you are at the famous Taksim square in the middle of a crowd and the full of life Istanbul. Very clean and well furnished rooms of good size with great view especially if you are on the upper floors. I did like the breakfast although it wasn't something special though. Unfortunately, I didn't have any free time to check the swimming pool.

I will include several pictures so you can see for yourself the hotel, the room where i stayed and the marvelous Taksim square.

One useful advice - be careful with the hot water in the bathroom - it's REALLY hot!

An excellent Hotel

With my wife stayed there for four days in September 2005.The location is near the all day busy Istiklal Caddesi and a variety of shops ,restaurants, bars and night life.We visited the old city by tourist bus but the traffic is a pity.The staff was efficient and spoke good english( a difficulty everywhere else).The restaurants serve good cuisine and that on the roof offers (along with the adjacent bar) a fine view of the city and the Bosphorus.The room was big and clean.

I could stay there again if only the traffic does not get worse !

Nice hotel in a nice location

A very good 5* hotel in a really nice location, close to bars restaurants and just one step from the famous and croudy Istilkal cadesi ! The loby is great ! Rooms are not very big but well decorated and very clean. Excellent view espesially in the upper floors !

Personel is very friendly and helpfull. Breakfast was rather poor of a 5* hotel but still good. I defenatly suggest this hotel.

Excellent location

This hotel is situated in the modern part of Istanbul. It is a perfect loacation for going out in the evenings as there are many great restaurants a short walk away, all of which are better value than restaurants in the old town.

The hotel was recently renovated, and its website boasts that it has a roof-top pool. This pool is still under renovation, and therefore I doubt that it has ever existed.

The room we had was a bit small with an open wardrobe and too few coathangers. It was however perfectly clean.

The breakfast buffet was not particularly special.

A word of warning: my company booked many rooms at this hotel, but those who arrived late were told that there were no rooms left (despite the fact that the rooms had been paid for) they were sent to the Marmara Palace, which is a hotel that has no star rating and is absolutely filthy.

Located at Ground Zero for Socializing.

We stayed at The Marmara Hotel in April 2005. This is a luxury high-rise that is located IN Taksim Square, which is filled every night with locals and some tourists that are out for dinner, clubbing, shopping and coffee. You only had to walk out your door and you were right in the middle of the action. This is a very different environment then on the other side of the Golden Horn, where the hotels are smaller and there is really nothing other than tourist hotels, tourist shops and tourists. It was nice to stay on this side as you felt more like a real citizen there, mixing more into the local culture (which, by the way, is very similar to NYC or London). There is a subway in the square (although it currently doesn't go to many tourist spots) and there is a large bus station there too (which we used often). The hotel has several restaurants and bars, pool, workout facilities, etc. Staff was friendly and helpful and the rooms had great decor that looked like had recently been remodeled. Some of the rooms have sea views. The only complaint we had was that they had not yet turned on the a/c and it was quite hot in the afternoons as our room faced west. They advised us to open the window, but it only opened an inch and just let in a LOT of noise. They also told us they had fans, but were all out when we asked for one. They moved us to a room facing the water that was cooler, but is was also a smaller room. The other complaint was their exorbitantly high laundry service - $90 U.S. for six pieces - we should have just bought new clothes for that price!!!