"Location. If you are looking for a hotel in the middle of Istanbul hi-end shopping, then Vakko has an unbeatable one. Starting with Prada just opposite and Luis-Vuitton next door and a lot of other international and Turkish boutiques right on the same street.
Looks. Also it is clear that this small hotel was intended as a chic place competing in a top hotel range: St.Regis, Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons. Starting with bellboys wearing half-cylinders on their heads, club-music in elevators, wooden key-cards instead of plastic ones. And, of course, the rooms – excuse me – suites. Very technologic – everything in the room manipulated from a pad installed at the entrance. Lavish walk-in wardrobe. 2nd toilet at the entrance in addition to one in traditional bathroom. Exuberant amount of “luxury sponge” towels. Amazing amenities: starting from 5 different types of tea and ending with a wine fridge with several bottles of wine inside. Impressed I was even after roughly 30 years of traveling and hundreds over hundreds of nights spent in various upmarket hotels all over the world.
Wrongs. Now why it is that I didn’t get confused in number of stars to rate it. Upon arrival at any hotel anywhere, first thing I ask is: what are room’s windows facing? Not because I care about view – I have seen them all. To understand how noisy it is going to be and to reject a room right at check-in in case it will become clear that there will be no proper rest in it. 3 people “taking care” of my check-in at Vakko informed me that my suite is facing the shopping street, but it is on the 6th “high” floor and their windows are 100% soundproof, so there will be no disturbance at any time at all. Ok, I accepted that and – after 12+ hours flight from Asia and being stone jet-legged, I was just thinking about getting to my room, unpacking, having dinner and getting to bed. So – as it turned out - after having my worst dinner in Istanbul in hotel’s restaurant l’Aletelier (supposedly serving French cuisine, but somehow having several pasta dishes as main courses and with both fish and meat being brought to the table not salted, not spiced, absolutely tasteless), I am returning to my suite looking forward to getting under blankets. And then I suddenly notice that I can hear absolutely everything going on below on the street. I WhatsApp front desk team and ask what the purpose was of telling me stories about their windows being so soundproof, do they think I won’t figure out. “One of the windows must be not closed”, - the answer came. So, they come-up with a “technician” and suddenly it is found out that none of the floor-to-ceiling windows are locked either in bedroom or living room. And it must be the maids, who are opening the terrace doors during the room cleaning “to let fresh air in” and leaving them unlocked (because there are 2 electric lock buttons nobody, but “technician”, knows how to use). Ok, with “technician’s” interference all terrace doors are getting locked. Not that it helps “sound proofness”, because it is still possible to hear every car horn and every dog barking outside. OK, but I am so tired, I can’t think straight, so I am getting to bed and … electricity goes off. I poke my head into corridor and – surprisingly – all the lights are on there and so are in the room across the corridor from mine (at the very same time inhabitant of this room also went out). I put on the bathrobe and slippers and go down to reception also in somehow functioning elevator. “Yes, there is a problem in some rooms right now”, - says the guy manning the reception. “We are going to solve it right away”. So, it isn’t a blackout in the area the hotel can’t control, it is a technical problem in the hotel itself or in a part of the hotel, if to be correct. I went up to the room, waited in the dark, went down again to motivate them a bit more and 2 more times like this. Finally running around my floor started, the team being made of same windows “technician” and nighttime bell-boy. They were opening all electric boards, including ones in my room, trying to find which fuse was it. In about 30 more minutes the lights came back and before leaving technician said: maybe the problem was because of TV. OK, there are 2 huge TV in the room, but I never watch TV when in the hotels. Just disconnect them, - I told him and so he did, so I was finally able to go to bed.
Next 2 days they were trying to win me over with really good and personalized service. To start with they assisted me to change the rooms to one on the same floor and windows looking into interior yard and got rid of the noise from outside, butlers were escorting me to restaurants nearby, I was asked by WhatsApp what time they can enter the room to make it up or to prepare it for a night, every morning they asked whether they should bring me coffee… My wife arrived and joined me for the last 2 nights. So, it is the last one, we have an alarm set for 09:00 a.m., because we have a plane onwards, DND sign is on our door (I double-check afterwards to make sure I didn’t forget it past evening)… and at 08:20 a.m. we are waken up by door being opened and all room lights lighting-up. I put my bathrobe on and get out of the bedroom to find a maid with her trolley chatting on the phone. “What was that???”, - I wrote later to front desk in our chat. “Rest of our clients is our priority, blah-blah… , but the maid assumed (at 08:00 a.m. and seeing DND in front of her face), blah…, they thank me for my understanding”, - ingenious answer came.
No, I don’t have any understanding paying more than euro 750,00 per night."
A Tripadvisor traveler review
Nov 24, 2024
