Orient Occident Hotel Istanbul: A Review

Sometimes, when you go to a hotel, you get the feeling that the staff really loves being there. It’s rare, but when you experience it, it’s a wonderful feeling as a guest. At the brand-new Orient Occident Hotel in Istanbul, this is the case and it’s on display everywhere you look. More on that later.

This is in addition to having that new hotel sparkle, comfortable and well-appointed rooms, a splendid Turkish breakfast offering and being centrally located just steps from some of Sultanahmet’s most popular attractions. On a very quiet street (which is closed to traffic from 10 AM-7 PM), it’s also steps from some of the best sweet shops in Istanbul and a stone’s throw from plenty of kebap joints. Also, it’s close enough to the bridge that you can easily walk to the Beyoglu neighborhood. If you are in the city for a short stay and want to soak up as much of Sultanahmet as you can, there is no better place to stay.

The booking process at the Orient Occident

I had a 35,000-point Marriott free night award which I wanted to use for one night in Istanbul. There are plenty of cheap points hotels in the city and with the 35,000 point award, I could have also stayed at other locations including the Westin, the Sheraton and the JW Marriott as well as a handful of other boutique-style hotels. But, wanting to try something new, I booked us at the Orient Occident, which would have cost 31,000 points if I didn’t have the award, or $333 if I had wanted to pay the cash rate. The booking was for a standard double with a king bed, but a few days before, we were upgraded to a grand deluxe room with a king bed and a city view.  

A couple of days before we arrived, the hotel sent a WhatsApp message informing me that the hotel’s street was closed to traffic from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and gave me an option to book a transfer with the hotel for 55 Euro. I politely declined and just got in the cab line at the new Istanbul airport and gave the driver the address of a nearby sweet shop which the hotel was kind enough to provide as an alternative. Then we walked the remainder of the way down the street to the hotel which was just about 200 meters or so.

The rooms at the Orient Occident Istanbul

The room we were in (grand deluxe king) is the largest room in the property and is only 377 square feet. It actually feels even smaller than that, perhaps because the shower, toilet, and vanity are right in the middle of the room.

However, the bed was comfortable, the shower had fantastic pressure and lovely smelling amenities (including a bar of soap in a cute cloth bag sealed with a wax stamp) and most importantly, individually controlled air conditioning which functioned properly. So many hotels in Europe these days turn off the air conditioning during the cooler months of the year which simply doesn’t make sense. It might be cool outside but with two bodies in a small room under a blanket with the heat going in other areas of the hotel, it ends up being as warm as summer in the room. Anyway, the one aspect where I would dock the hotel in just one tiny area which was that the air conditioning was too loud.

The service at the Orient Occident Hotel

While in the cab from the airport, I came to the unpleasant realization that I had forgotten to pack any contacts for my nine-day trip to Turkey. While I had my pair of glasses which I wear only at night, they aren’t particularly comfortable and the prescription is out of date. I presumed that in Turkey, I wouldn’t need a prescription to get a new box or two of contacts, which was a good place to start and I used the Marriott app to send the hotel a message asking if they could recommend a nearby optical shop to get a few new boxes. After a couple of messages back and forth, sending a picture of my contact boxes for the prescription, and them calling around, they told me they would have two boxes waiting for me at check-in! I collected them when I arrived, thanked them profusely, and paid less for them than I would have at home even if they had tacked on some sort of convenience fee which I don’t think they did.

Outside of this near-magical experience, the employees at the Orient Occident were happy to provide recommendations, quick to check if we needed anything at breakfast and would welcome us back from our outings with a huge smile and a personalized hello. As opposed to some hotels these days, where you feel like you’re putting the staff out with the simplest request, the folks at the Orient Occident are a breath of fresh air.

While I didn’t have time to use it, the front desk was more than happy to show me the workout room, sauna, steam room and hammam which are all downstairs. The hammam was being renovated as well, but they assured me it would be open again soon.

Breakfast at the Orient Occident Hotel

A Turkish breakfast is one of the great culinary gifts to the world. As a titanium elite we were offered free breakfast (as well as a welcome gift or 1,000 points at check-in) and the next morning, we enjoyed quite the spread in the lobby. While the rooftop is still under renovation (a term the staff used as it looked to me like they still hadn’t opened it) breakfast is served in the lobby. There is a buffet area as well as a menu to order hot foods such as eggs, waffles, or pancakes. We kept it simple, though, and chose from all of the fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and nuts at our disposal.

The Bottom Line

I’ve stayed in plenty of luxury hotels around the world and have never had a service experience as over the top as I did at the Orient Occident Istanbul. It’s almost something you would expect at a high-end Japanese hotel, though rules and regulations often stop such hotels from being as helpful as this. It was a perfect stay to settle into our trip to Istanbul and I would not hesitate to recommend this centrally located, helpful and comfortable property to others. It’s a great addition to the Marriott portfolio in Istanbul.