Retaj Royale Istanbul

Five Stars? More Like Two, if That!

I recently stayed at what was advertised as a five-star hotel, and let me tell you, that’s a laugh. It’s more like a two-star experience, and that might be generous.

First off, the staff must have missed the “hospitality” memo. Rude doesn’t even begin to cover it. When I found toenail clippings under the side table and hair, not to mention per stains in the washroom toilet lid, the response was less “we're sorry” and more “that’ll be an extra charge for cleaning.” Because, of course, you’d want to charge for a basic hygiene service!

Speaking of charges, prepare to be nickeled and dimed for everything. Water bottles? Extra. Towels? Extra (and they’re more like blankets, by the way). And good luck with the AC—it’s a clever system where you have to leave your key card in a slot. If you think you can ask for two cards so you can come back to a cool room, think again! Housekeeping will just toss your second card out, leaving you to sweat it out when you return.

As for the restaurant, calling the food terrible is an insult to bad food everywhere. Even a toddler could whip up something better, and prices for that even were outrageous! Breakfast was somewhat edible, but let’s not get too excited.

Every time I tried to raise an issue, the front desk staff were extremely rude. When reporting an issue online it’s only ever some generic, "Thank you for your feedback. We’ll make it better next time." Spoiler alert: they don’t.

If you’re looking for a true five-star experience, do yourself a favor and stay far away from this place. It’s an experience you won’t forget—if only for all the wrong reasons.

This is not a 5-star hotel! The food is super mediocre. The WiFi in the rooms doesn’t work with your passport number. When you call the front desk or room service, they never answer. When you go to the front desk or ask anyone working there for anything, they are rude and very short with you. Possibly the worst hotel I’ve stayed at it!

Worst Hotel ever, the staff especially the kitchen need urgent lessons in empathy and client treatment, don't recommend it, the rooms are big but the staff is the worst you can imagine.

They call it 5 star Hotel
Doesn’t look like it at all
Max 2 star hotel
The AC units are not working
When you ask them
They say we have turned it off
We can not turn it on
That was their answer
And on the front dest the lady was very unprofessional
Does even know how to talk to someone ?
Looking at all this it looks like 2 star hotel

Service is very poor. I requested for complimentary water, nothing came.

The restaurant manager asked me to sign an empty invoice, together with other guest/s. Telling me that Turkish airline will pay for.

When we sat down, they did not ask for allergies whatsoever, which can cause terrible incidents.