DoubleTree by Hilton Istanbul-Avcilar

It was clean, employees were so kind

Nothing

The neatness and how presentable the staff where

The distance of the hotel to the airport

Clean , staff , space

Ac

The room was a decent size, clean, and had everything you'd expect. The hairdryer was of good design, which is a plus compared to some hotels, and the Wi-Fi was pretty solid. The TV was old, so the picture quality wasn’t great, but honestly, that wasn’t a big deal. The bed was okay, though it was a little sunk in around the mid back location, likely from guests sitting up to watch tv. The room had a 180-degree view, but with the grey winter weather and the industrial area outside, there wasn’t much to see. The continental breakfast was fine. The omelette made by Domra-Sema was really good, but other than that, I was a bit disappointed by the breakfast options. The chicken soup was nice, but sadly, it was only available one day during my week-long stay.

The biggest letdown was the hotel restaurant. Honestly, I couldn’t figure out if it was open or not the entire time I was there. When I first arrived, I was turned away because it was late, which was fine, but reception said it would be open late. It would’ve been helpful if they had just said the last entry time instead of the "closing time." Luckily, the terrace bar was open late, so I had a burger for dinner, but the terrace was super smoky and didn’t have much fresh air. Throughout the week, I couldn’t tell if the restaurant was open or not. One day, I came down for lunch, sat down, and saw the chefs cooking, but there were no staff around. After a few minutes, another group came in, asked the chefs something, and left. I waited a bit and then left for an outside restaurant, which I ended up visiting at least three times during my stay. I’m guessing they mostly focus on room service, since the menu in the restaurant and room service was the same. As for the food, the main dishes were pricey and not very flavourful for what you got. The snack meals, like burgers and pizza, were average but better than the main dishes. There was one local restaurant I really liked more for the food, vibe, and experience. I also tried the spa, but that was a bit awkward. I was thinking of booking a treatment for the evening, but the lady didn’t speak English, and it was hard to understand what she was saying. She was friendly enough, but the conversation was uncomfortable. I ended up downloading Google Translate afterward, but I didn’t end up booking anything. I didn’t use the gym either since it looked pretty dull. Another thing to note was the sound. Even though I had a corner room, the noise bounced around everywhere, almost like the room was surrounded. I could hear noises from the windows and hallway, which I later realized was probably from the room above or next door, maybe sound travelling through the air ducts by windows.