Dear Dogan, 

I am writing to thank you for an absolutely wonderful stay at your hotel on 9th-13th March.  I am sorry I have not been able to contact you before now but I have been extremely busy at work!

Myself and my mother had a very enjoyable time in your city of Istanbul and we were exceptionally impressed with your hotel and all of the staff who worked very hard to ensure that we were happy and had everything we required and also to thank your good self for being so very hospitable and friendly! 

All of you made us feel very welcome and as if we were old friends visiting you. The room was fantastic, we could not believe the view!! Your attention to detail was excellent, the flowers I received at the airport were lovely, the wine and fruit in the room was very thoughtful and the effort which you made to provide me with information for my presentation was very much appreciated and the Turkish delight was very tasty and also very fattening!!

Your hotel is beautiful.  I much prefer traditional style hotels which have a history and a character, and the room we stayed in had just that!!

The terrace was unbelievable!! What a view!!  It was an excellent breakfast and what a good way to start the day staring at the blue mosque with as much halva, cheese, fruit and olives as we could possibly eat!!

Istanbul is superb city with such amazing culture, history and fascinating people.

Our time in your city and at your welcoming hotel is and shall remain very memorable!!

I will have no hesitation in recommending Hotel Spectra to my friends and clients who travel to Istanbul and should I visit Istanbul in the future I will definitely contact you!!

Please thank all of your staff for a making our holiday a very happy one!!!

Yours sincerely,

Miss Dawn-Marie Beresford

Dear Dr. Sumengen:

My husband and I very much enjoyed staying at the Spectra Hotel. The accommodations were excellent. The rooms were extremely comfortable, and the breakfast provided free by the hotel was ample and delicious.

The Internet facilities (e-mail access) available at no charge in your lobby enabled us to easily stay in touch with our family and business.

The view from the roof garden of the hotel which we enjoyed each morning as we had breakfast was incomparable and the best to be had in Istanbul. It was also a great place to enjoy a glass of wine in the late afternoon or evening. The location of the hotel is ideal. It is walking distance to the major historical and tourist attractions of Exotic Istanbul.

The gracious help of you and your staff assisted us to enjoy Istanbul to the fullest. The hotel provides free valet service to and from the hotel!!

I highly recommend the Best Western Hotel Spectra Istanbul to my clients and friends.

Yours truly,

Judith Lerner Global Travel International
Los Angeles, California
Melvin Lerner, M.D.

Cher Docteur Sumengen,

Comme Istanbul est le trait d'union entre l'Europe et l'Asie, vous et votre Hôtel êtes le trait d'union entre nos attentes et la merveilleuse realite turque. Merci pour votre accueil si chaleureux et si sympathique. La Mosquee Bleue toute illuminee entrait directement dans notre chambre -- souvenir inoubliable ! -- et quoi de plus asiatico-europeen que de boire une bouteille de Doluca a la sante du Dr Sumengen en ecoutant la douce musique du "ud" qui parvient a nos oreilles en même temps que l'appel a la priere du muezzin (qu'Allah me pardonne !). Merci mille fois, Dr Sumengen, pour votre accueil si humain et si personnalise. Mon epouse Monique et moi ne vous oublierons jamais !
-------------------------------------------------
After a two-week tour of Turkey (Pergama, Ephesus, Antalya, Konya, Cappadocia, Ankara, etc.), we came back HOME to SPECTRA Hotel. What a wonderful place, with Dr SUMENGEN, to make our own synthesis of Turkey and let all our memories cristallize around the idea that Istanbul (and Turkey itself)is a bridge between Asia and Europe and a summarization of peace and hospitality. Many many thanks, Dr Sumengen. With our everlasting friendship.

Dr Michel PLOURDE, Universite de Montreal, CANADA

Hotel Spectra Management and Staff:

I would like to express my appreciation for you splendid hospitality during my visit in Istanbul May 27 through 31, 1999.

The location of your hotel made it very easy to get around the main features of Istanbul, Turkish Bath, The Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar. I will plan another visit during the month of August or September and I will be sure to stay at the Hotel Spectra.

And most of all thanks for the use of your internet service.

Peace and continued blessings,

Deatrice S. Patterson %USDA-Foreign Agricultural Service AmEmbassy Moscow PSC 77 AGR APO AE 09721 011.7095.258.2449
skeewee4 AT hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Sumengen,

This is to convey both my husbands and my, heartfelt thanks for your wonderful hospitality!
We have been treated as honored and welcome members of family rather than guests.
Your hotel is a home, clean comfortable and a secure refuge,.. a true haven of peace for the weary traveler.

We will always cherish the sweetest memories of our stay with you, and hope we may return soon to enjoy your company again.

affectionately,

Johanna & Al Copley

Dear Professor Sumengen,

My son Fred and I had a safe journey home with a very pleasant two-day
stopover in Amsterdam. I am writing to say how very much we enjoyed our
sojourn at the Hotel Spectra for six nights and days last week. The
service and accommodations were impeccable! We loved our view of the
Hippodrome from the room and the wonderful vistas of Istanbul from the
restaurant. We feel that we made friends with all the staff members.
Please extend my best regards to them.
Sincerely yours,

Henrietta Croom

We started our adventure in Turkey here at Hotel Spectra and knew from the first moment that we were in good hands. Dr. Sumengen had saved a letter for us indicating the personal and friendly touch given to guests here in the heart of the Old City. The view from the sunny terrace on top with excellent panorama of the great historical monuments is a treat of a lifetime. The innovative use of the internet for guests is enthusiastically welcome by these Americans. We will definitely return to Hotel Spectra and call it our HOME in Istanbul. Of the fifty hotels visited on this ten week trip, none compares with Hotel Spectra in old world charm, superb location and value. Thank you for your great hospitality.

Richard and Margaret Soulen from Virginia. U.S.A

Not until my arrival, I realized how lucky I was in choosing Hotel Spectra, after visiting several home-pages of hotels in Istanbul. I appreciated also very much the speedy confirmation of my reservation. Hotel Spectra's extraordinary good location with many historical buildings and monuments next door or within walking distance is a great advantage. Spectra's cozy atmosphere, good service and the very friendly and helpful staff made my stay most pleasant and enjoyable and I will certainly return to Istanbul and my new friends at Spectra, later on this year. Wishing you every success with your internet café, I remain, yours sincerely,

Bernt Karlsson, fmr.Consul for Sweden, Liberia

We are very happy with the welcome we have received here, with the situation of the hotel and with the proprietor and staff.

We shall recommend this hotel to our friends.

Edward & Jan Garling

We are back to stay at the Hotel Spectra after touring western Turkey for the past 4 weeks. It was as though we had returned to a group of friends! We are quite overwhelmed with the hospitality of the Turkish people. The Hotel Spectra is becoming very popular with western visitors because of its ideal location and friendly staff.

BAStevenson AT hotmail.com

I found the hotel on the Internet and came to visit from California. When I arrived I was shocked to see the hotel's location. It is superb! It is a stone's throw from the first Obelisk on the main square where The Blue Mosque is! I was additionally pleasantly surprised to visit the upstairs breakfast room which is all glass and offers an impressive view of the Blue Mosque, the main square and Sta. Sofia PLUS the Marmara Sea and the Bosphorus. The service is great, rooms are comfortable and the convenience of having an internet cafe right in the building made it very easy to travel alone. I couldn't have lost my hotel if I would have wanted to... When you visit Istanbul you'll be glad you stayed at the Spectra. Their special price was an added incentive.

Sandra Bean-Burke (Oceanside International Real Estate, San Luis Obispo, California, USA)

We would like to thank you and your staff for making our short stay in Istanbul so enjoyable. Your hotel is in the perfect location - opening the curtains of our room in the morning to see the sun rising over the Blue Mosque is a sight we'll remember for a long time. That, and our breakfasts on the roof terrace with the wonderful panoramic view down the Hippodrome !

We wish you success with the Internet cafe and we hope to return one day to beautiful Istanbul and to your hotel.

Karel and Sue Hladky (khladky AT khdesign.demon.co.uk)

Hello traveler. We are two middle aged Canadians presently traveling in Turkey. It is a wonderful time to come as tourism is definitely down, making it much more pleasant to see the wonderful sights! We are staying at this hotel at a very good rate and from our hotel bed we can watch the sun rise over the dome of the Blue Mosque--beautiful! The staff here are very helpful and answer our many questions. We are particularly enjoying the evening atmosphere in the lobby as the guests gather to discuss their day. There is a lot of security around all the tourist areas in Istanbul so it is very safe.

K&B from Calgary

HELLO!!! THIS IS LAURA & GARY SNOECK WE STAYED AT YOUR HOTEL ON MARCH 5, 6, 7, & 8, 1999. I AM THE ONE THAT USED THE CANE TO HELP ME WALK. HOPEFULLY ADAM IS ON DUTY TONIGHT, IF NOT COULD YOU PLEASE SEE THAT HE READS THIS. WE REALLY ENJOYED OUR STAY AT YOUR HOTEL. WHEN WE ARRIVED IN ATHENS, GREECE WE STAYED AT ANOTHER BEST WESTERN CALLED THE ATHENS GATE HOTEL. IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!! THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE FRONT DESK WERE LAZY, ALL THEY DID WAS SMOKE AND WATCH TELEVISION. THE ROOMS WERE NOT TAKEN CARE OF, NO BEDSPREADS ON THE BEDS, AND THE MATTRESSES WERE SO OLD THE SPRINGS WERE STABBING YOU ALL NIGHT. AND THEIR BREAKFAST WAS NOT AS NICELY SET OUT OR AS GOOD AS THE HOTEL SPECTRA'S WAS. IF YOU HAVE THE TIME YOU CAN E-MAIL ME BACK. PLEASE TELL ADAM THAT I MISS HIS MASSAGES, AND I WILL KEEP HIM IN MY PRAYERS AS HE GOES INTO YOUR ARMY.

LAURA & GARY SNOECK

The value of good staff training in tourism is the most important thing in which a hotel owner can invest. I'm currently visiting The Hotel Spectra in Istanbul and have found both the English training and knowledge of the staff concerning the city to extremely helpful.

In marketing we consider "Word of Mouth" advertising to be one of the most important influences in how people select products and services. I learned of the Hotel Spectra from a physician who told me that the staff could help me find the most important sites and tourist attractions in Istanbul since I only had three days available for my visit. Because I in turn have been extremely pleased with this hotel, I'll be telling others. If this information had not been available my visit would have been much less enjoyable.

Professor Lindsay Meredith
Faculty of Business
Simon Fraser University
Canada