The Elysium Taksim

We Stayed 7 Days In This Hotel. All the stuffs were nice. We got Duplex Superior Suite With City View and the view was Great Both in day and night . Our Suite With Tall windows Was very Relaxing and lovely. The Breakfast Was Not as Good As a Luxury Hotel and did not have a good variety and quality. The Cleanliness of The Rooms was excellent and there was a nice smell in all areas of hotel. Also the location was great, just a few minutes walk to Taksim square.

This hotel is very good cause it's located near taksim
Rooms in anex building are so small and not well decorated as a 5star hotel
But the Rooms in the main building are perfect and looks 5star
Really a big thank to Suzan &Seher&Yakup
They were so friendly to us every morning in breakfast!
At the end the breakfast buffet is so simple and no variety of foods
At all!

A whole lot of show for very little go.

The good:
- hotel is beautiful
- rooms are very large for what you pay
- rooms are well equipped
- staff knows English and is helpful

The bad:
- despite of requests, the minibar was empty for all of the three days which we were there for
- breakfast is lackluster. Boring.
- for dinner avoid the restaurant. It is my belief they keep it open just to check the fact they do operate a restaurant. It is double expensive compared to rest of Istanbul, quality isn’t bad but still unbelievable pricing.
- the amenities aren’t of the quality which you’d expect or at least consider normal. The door lock to our room didn’t work 70% of the time, had to wait 2-3-4 minutes in front of the room just for it to open.

The ugly:
- the beautiful two story room was freshly repainted and smelled as such. Couldn’t open the window because we stayed at the 8th floor.

Overall I could sum it up as such. The devil is ALWAYS in the details. And this hotel fails to check the details which can make or break an experience.

I have added a few details that are not in the Google review because of a misleading reply from the hotel.

My family stayed at The Elysium Taksim from 2 Oct to 8 Oct and had seen some mixed reviews and decided to see only because we arrived in Istanbul at almost 830pm local and had been traveling from the US for close to 20 hours.

We arrived on the shuttle we booked around 915 and unloaded our luggage and walked in dragging it up stairs with staff watching, we only found out about a ramp when the bellman wheeled our luggage down a ramp that exited behind the valet stand.

Check in was disjointed as several staff would start something and then walk away and then another took over. It took longer than it should have close to 20 minutes as we were the only people checking in. I will mention that Elvinia Shapoalova was there, I could read the name tag but she did not help, or introduce herself as the guest relations manager.

Down the ramp across a cobblestone street to another building that our rooms were in, supposed to be "deluxe balcony" and when the side facing the main hotel is all windows guessed they were on the other side. There were small balconies that looked over a construction site, never anyone there during our stay.

King room, my wife and I went in as my son went to the single that was next door with the bellman, we noticed cigarette burns on the benches at the foot of the bed and some paint that needed some work. The bathroom also needs some renovation, there were multiple paint bubbles with visible mold and mildew.

My son said there were similar in his room. He also told us that he had to call 3 times to get the air conditioning working as well as several more times during the stay. No ability to adjust the temp and very low airflow and there had to be an internal timer because it was off by the time we woke up and the room was stuffy.

My son also called because the door to his balcony was off the hinges on day when we came back to the room. The hotel sent someone and told him that it had to go to an outside contractor for repair and did not know how long that would take. One thing in common that we both mentioned was the "mini bar" refrigerator was not very cold. While my son drank one beer that was all they charged us for. We could not keep anything personal drinks and snacks cold as it only cooled it a bit below room temperature.

The day we were checking out was a bit of an adventure, we were notified that the shuttle to the airport was delayed and would be an hour later than originally scheduled. I called the front desk and asked if we, and told them both rooms have a late checkout of 1pm and it was granted. The thing is this they deactivated my sons key card off, and found out when he came to get a towel from our room and in a towel with shampoo in his hair could not go back in. Called the desk who did send a replacement key over.

Take our stuff to the "outbuilding" lobby and went to check out, tried to speak to the front desk who pointed to the concierge desk and told me to speak to the lady. I tried to explain the issues and all she wanted to know is why did you wait until now to say anything, I tried to explain that my son did call several times. I just gave up and went back to the check in desk and stood there waiting for them to send housekeeping to inventory the mini bars.

The breakfast was a buffet style with a distinct main meal feeling, I am sure some of the it is because it is not an american breakfast. There was no check in just find a seat and head to the food. I only went 2 times because I preferred to sleep a bit later before going to spend the day visiting various places in the city. There was one cook to order station and it always had a number of people waiting. Drinks wire limited and only small glasses and if you took several glasses the bus staff looked at you sideways.

I did not go to the spa/fitness/pool area but did walk in the service corridor that went past and it had a weird smell and my wife reported the same when she went to the pool and had to leave because of it. I understand that pool maintenance is difficult and more than likely a heavier then normal chemical load to keep it going but when it make it uncomfortable they need to back off.

Would I say this hotel is not 5 stars and pushing it to 2 stars is a gift. The responses from the reviews on Google and Trip advisor all say thanks for letting us know how we did not meet their service standard, but it seems they have not done anything on their side to recover and meet the standard of a 5 star hotel. The website makes no mention of over half the rooms are in another building, not the ones shown in the pictures as they are all in the main building.

If there is a high service standard then I have to ask why the guest relations manager at the desk when I checked in did not say anything about the staff shuffling or step in to assist so it was quicker and efficient, not even a greeting to a guest checking in who looked worn out from travel. Asked where to get something to eat and one desk clerk told us to come back after dropping our luggage to get some recommendations, we were told go to Taksim Square and nothing more.

Would I stay there again or recommend it, a resounding NO! Go elsewhere.

The hotel was very nice and comfy and ladies ( seher and suzan ) at the kitchen were very very nice and friendly .
Very close to everywhere

The best thing: guest relations, Elvina was superb. We booked a full day tour with her and also the hamam - both excellent.

Hotel front desk was a hit & miss. Some just didn’t seem interested in helping beyond the basics.

The accommodation was spacious - we were offered an upgrade in the main building but that was to a king bed & we needed 2 separate beds as friends sharing a room.

The room we had was v spacious though bedding & pillows were not the most comfortable. The hotel is split over 2 buildings (one on each side of the road), main building has some of the duplex rooms. The other has twin bedrooms and there is an underground tunnel and stairs/lift linking the two buildings.

Hotel location is not far from Taksim square- though it is v hilly. The hotel restaurant is pretty good. Breakfast options are fair.

The spa/pool doesn’t open till 10am so if you want an early morning swim then this is not going to happen.

We spent a week here and had a great experience. The staff went out of their way to help us. We both got poorly while we were there (bad colds) and the waiters (Ali was one’s name but we didn’t get the other) made us hot lemon, honey and ginger to drink to soothe our throats. So kind. They just couldn’t do enough nice things for us. The food was lovely with lots of choice on the breakfast buffet as well as other meal times. Elvina helped us fill an afternoon with a guided tour that was really good! Such wonderful, caring staff that helped us enjoy Istanbul so much!

Stayed here for four nights with friends and had a good experience. The hotel is very well located — just a short walk from Taksim Square and the rooms are spacious ( the split level ones), and comfortable.

Guest relations were really great. Selma was super , she went out of her way to make our stay enjoyable, recommending great local spots like Oligarch, Restaruants, sightseeing’s etc and helping us utlise our time well in Istanbul. Selina was equally brilliant and made sure everything ran smoothly during our stay.

The team even accommodated us with a late checkout, which was much appreciated. Overall, very professional, friendly, and helpful staff across the board.

I rarely write reviews, but this hotel experience was so disappointing that I feel I have to warn others. I have no idea how other people in reviews could like it. We booked this so-called 5-star hotel for a family trip and paid over €1,400 for 5 nights (including a €450 room upgrade). For that price, I expected at least decent quality and service. Unfortunately, this was one of the worst hotel stays I’ve ever had.

The room was dirty — floors covered in dust and generally poorly maintained. Almost everything was broken: the safe, the bathroom door, blinds, and even the bed. The room had a small kitchen, but it was completely useless: only two cups, no cutlery, no hob (even though there’s clearly a wire for one). It looked like no one cared to make the place functional or welcoming.

The service was absolutely terrible. The staff seemed careless and disorganised. Our safe didn’t work for three days, and every time we called reception, it took 30–40 minutes for someone to show up. The issue turned out to be dead batteries, which they only replaced on the third day after us telling them to do so — and even then, they just taped it with scotch tape.
When we asked for an extra bathrobe, we had to wait over 30 minutes. Upon arrival late at night, I waited 20 minutes at reception for anyone to show up, even though the security guard had called multiple times. Housekeeping was minimal — it seemed like they only changed towels and made the bed. No real cleaning was done throughout the stay.

Honestly, one of the worst “hotel breakfasts” I’ve seen in a 5-star property. There were only two fruits (melon and dry orange), a bit of yogurt and cereals, some eggs and a few random vegetables. That’s it. The only coffee included was filter coffee, which was terrible. How anyone could praise this breakfast in other reviews is beyond me. Definitely not a 5-star breakfast by any standard.

The gym was decent and well-equipped — probably the only good thing here. But the pool was awful: smelly, dirty, mouldy, and looked abandoned. There was a “vitamin bar” next to it that clearly hadn’t worked in years. The sauna was okay, but the hammam was either closed or required an extra charge (staff couldn’t even give a clear answer). There’s a Starbucks on-site, which honestly served better coffee than the hotel’s breakfast. The only truly positive aspect of the stay was the location — about a 10-minute walk to Istiklal Street.

Broken facilities, careless staff, dirty rooms, and a horrible breakfast. Definitely not a 5-star hotel, and not even close to a 3-star experience. For the amount of money paid, this was an absolute disappointment and a complete waste of money. I travel often and have stayed at many hotels, but this one stands out for all the wrong reasons. Avoid it if you value cleanliness, service, or basic comfort.

Service was so bad , A/C voice very loud then suddenly stopped we asked them to fix it they said ok and no body was responding , the key card was bad with all sections ( you need to try many times to work ) the receptionists are young people with no experience.

We found the Elysium an excellent base for the exploration of Istanbul, the staff were very friendly especially the breakfast staff. Ali and Suzan Chef were very good and helpful.
Thank you Norman and Wendy.

Highlights were the wonderful, friendly and helpful staff . Breakfast had the most fresh options I’ve seen and if you want something else I could just ask and they did their best to make it on the spot. Location central and safe . Relaxed vibe. Great gym n pool too.

My experience at Elisium Hotel Taksim was excellent. The services are of very high quality, the staff is friendly and attentive, and the hotel conditions pleasantly surprised me. The cleanliness and comfort of the rooms truly deserve the highest rating.

For me, the location was also just right – close to Taksim, which makes getting around the city very easy. It’s a convenient starting point for exploring Istanbul, yet quiet enough to rest well.

I confidently recommend Elisium Hotel Taksim to anyone looking for an excellent balance between quality and location.

A hotel that decided to ghost and block my reviews once I told them I was going public. Well, I was extremely mislead and mistreated by the hotel who asked for an overly expensive amount of 75 Euros to book me an airport transfer at Sabiha Gokcen which would take an hour and I accepted. To my surprise, their driver took my to Istanbul airport instead and it was hard to communicate with him as he did not speak English. After google translating my sentence he finally understood and decided to stop outside the petrol station and requested another driver to come which was another 20 mins wait. The driver swindled me for 30 Euro pounds cash to drive me there as he could see by desperation, I again folded and said yes. I tried to contact the hotel but I heard no response or calls back.

After arriving at the airport I was told to pay a late fee of 100 Euro and after informing the hotel of my situation, they have offered me no support, assistance and any form of compensation for their mistake which closely resonates with the work environment at Elysium Taksim.

The staff has stopped responding and their guest relations department has refused to help me or offer an apology.

A

The best: The hotel is perfect, especially for families. It really deserves each and every penny paid in it. The duplex idea is great, very near from each place, very clean, and useful amenities, You can stay all day in the room and you will enjoy it. there is no need to hang out. The reservation manager Salma is kind and cooperative, and Suzan and her team in the Restaurant is cooperative as well.

The worst: The RECEIPTION staff are awful, and mainly USELESS unless you find their manager. After my checkout, the lady refused to give me a bottle of water and asked me to buy from Starbucks. I can never imagine this treatment after paying €1.5k for one week!! No one also helped me with my 4 bags, like after checkout, we don't care!!! Also, when you request something from one of them, the other speak with him in Turkish to say sorry its not available. My recommendation to hire a good staff member as they are the main representatives of the Hotel

Zero cleanliness. You had to call every day to get soap and napkins . The sheets were all dirty and stained. They cleaned everything from the bathroom to the table with one towel. It was on par with a three-star hotel. But the rooms in the main building were large and bright. There were tiny mosquitoes on the food in the breakfast room. There was also a steep uphill walk from the hotel to the main street, which made access very difficult for the elderly or those with mobility issues, but not a problem for young people and normal people.

Room was filthy, mini fridge didn’t work, toilets didn’t work, lights didn’t work, staff was very unhelpful and very frustrating to communicate with.

Amazing hotel

Amazing great 2 floor room
Ultra spacious.
Staff is nice and service was good. Would stay again