Best Western Hotel Ikibin-2000, Ankara

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Best Western International is the world's largest hotel brand with over 4,200 hotels in 80 countries. They are known for good standard hotels and service. In my short travels this is my second experience of a Best Western Hotel - the first was in Istanbul which I prefered.

Getting there;
I was travelling with 2 other people and we had come by coach from Istanbul - a long but wonderful trip due to scenery ...
...we were willing to take a bus to the hotel but with our limited Turkish and being tired out from the journey we opted for a taxi instead. It took about 20 minutes to arrive at the hotel.

Arrival;
The hotel is a modern building in a modern area. We were helped with our luggage and checking in was very easy. At the desk our attendant spoke perfect English which is always helpful. We were informed about breakfast times, given our ... more

I visited Ankara last summer (August) for 2 nights and stayed in this hotel. It was booked through Expedia and they state it is a four star hotel; well I haven't stayed in many hotels but surely in a four star hotel light switches should be properly attached to walls?!

Anyway…

Best Western International is the world's largest hotel brand with over 4,200 hotels in 80 countries. They are known for good standard hotels and service. In my short travels this is my second experience of a Best Western Hotel - the first was in Istanbul which I prefered.

Getting there;
I was travelling with 2 other people and we had come by coach from Istanbul - a long but wonderful trip due to scenery and service on the coach. Arriving at the coach station we were willing to take a bus to the hotel but with our limited Turkish and being tired out from the journey we opted for a taxi instead. It took about 20 minutes to arrive at the hotel.

Arrival;
The hotel is a modern building in a modern area. We were helped with our luggage and checking in was very easy. At the desk our attendant spoke perfect English which is always helpful. We were informed about breakfast times, given our door card and shown to our room. At this point we weren't shown how to use the door card, so when we first left the room we had to get someone to help us get back in!

The room;
Being a group of 3 we opted for a triple room, which consisted of a king size bed and one folding bed. The folding bed made the space between the beds a bit cramped, but the room was of a good size so there was enough space to put our luggage and have a table and chair in the corner. The bathroom was also of a good size with a corner bath tub with a shower head and a hairdryer.
There was a cupboard in the room with hangers and also a safe box inside with instructions, but we didn't use this. We had a fridge and also facilities to make tea and coffee. The room had a fairly large TV set with cable and with pretty good reception.
One thing I did like about the room was they had information booklets on the table giving you ideas of what to see and do.
The bed was quite comfortable and the décor was simple. So all-in-all the room was okay but as I recall the main light switch was not screwed in properly, some wall paper was peeling from the wall and when I tried to close the curtain it came of easily (they fixed it the next day without a word!).
The room was air conditioned.

Breakfast;
Breakfast is served in the hotels restaurant. It was a buffet style breakfast and nothing exciting but good quality and good variation. Choice included; corn flakes, muesli, fresh bread, fresh fruit, cheese, meats, egg, tea, coffee, juice, olives, jams… enough to fill anyone up.

Service;
The staff at the hotel were friendly, polite and helpful - no complaints here.

Location;
The hotel is located in the business district of Ankara; quite an affluent area close to parliament and Embassies. It is also very close to a popular shopping street (can't remember the name) with shops such as Nine West, Marks and Spencer and Benetton. It was nice to see this posh and modern side of Turkey.
Getting around Ankara is not too bad from the hotel - you don't have to keep getting into taxis as the main road with bus links is a 5 minute walk away.

Price;
We paid about £60 per night for the triple room which wasn't too bad for 3 people. This was in August and rates are different depending on time of year.

Family friendly;
There is a lift in the hotel so easy access for all. Being in the business district I think a lot of there clients are business people, but the hotel is definately family friendly - a standard room sleeps upto four people.

Overall;
If I visit Ankara again I probably wouldn't stay here. The hotel was comfortable but I was disappointed that we paid for a 4 star hotel but it wasn't maintained as I would have expected. Would I recommend it to others? I've said no because when I was there I remember being less than impressed really.

Thanks for reading.
 

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