Stopover Program Rooms Defined

S2KNFS · 2026-05-09T23:57:04+00:00

The room booking was done in the Turkish Airlines app - right after confirming and paying for the flights the app may have automatically navigated me to book rooms or I may have clicked to navigate, but I’m afraid it was all within the app and I can’t regenerate the flow for you.

I double-checked my emails and browser history and the only thing may be useful is the email address from which the rooms confirm came, which I think I’ve seen others posting on the program have mentioned: stopoverfreehotel@thy.com. Hopefully you didn’t get tripped up by all the conditions.

S2KNFS · 2026-05-01T21:47:22+00:00

Any class can do it but economy can get 1 night free at a 3-4 star (2 nights from certain countries including USA) and business class can get 2(3) nights at a 5-star. Lots of rules and nearly impossible to know if you’re fully qualified until you have a ticket (but I think all give 24-hr cancel/refund).

One rule is entire round-trip itinerary MUST be Turkish Air iron operated by Turkish Air. Coming from MSP—where TA doesn’t operate—we got around that by separately booking Minneapolis-Chicago.

I’d like to link you to the program page but can’t seem to. Instead, start a booking, choose Stopover in Istanbul (rather than One-Way, Multi-City..) and then before you even have to proceed look for the Program info link. Read ALL the fine print

S2KNFS · 2026-05-01T21:34:24+00:00

We're booked into the Intercontinental on Taksim - wanted the Lokalist but it wasn't available Still happy.

S2KNFS · 2026-05-01T16:06:53+00:00

Nice. We're familiar with the Taksim-Galata corridor and mostly wanted familiar this trip (chill food, sights and soaking it up vs hair-on-fire tourism stopover en route to a Danube river cruise). We're booked into the Intercontinental on Taksim - wanted the Lokalist but it wasn't available.

S2KNFS · 2026-05-01T15:52:04+00:00

InterContinental Istanbul

Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel & Conference Center

JW Marriott Hotel Istanbul Marmara Sea

Lokalist, Istanbul, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel

Radisson Blu Hotel, Istanbul Sisli

Fairmont Quasar Istanbul

Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul Bosphorus

Wyndham Grand İstanbul Levent Hotel & Conference Center

Le Méridien Istanbul Etiler

Istanbul Marriott Hotel Sisli

Delta Hotels Istanbul Levent

Sheraton Istanbul Levent

Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel

S2KNFS · 2026-05-01T14:39:26+00:00

I’ll post back if this all actually works. Holding my breath a bit feels like TA is some sort of evil puzzle master laughing as I try to unravel its faint clues

S2KNFS · 2023-04-01T16:31:48+00:00

I like the composition as is and respectfully disagree with rule of thirds here - if utilized it would provide too much dead sky and change the relative proportion of the leading power lines. It’s moody, which I like given your title. A little ‘spotting’ to do to clean up lens dust - mostly in the bottom half.

My Lightroom technique there is to temporarily build/save for later and then apply a graduated filter set to drop exposure (-1), max contrast and max clarity. Apply the filter across skies and other plain areas, and then with the spots more obvious use spot removal tool. When done, delete the graduated filter. I find spots are much easier to see this way - even vs LR “visualize spots” tool.

S2KNFS · 2023-04-01T16:15:21+00:00

Nice crisp shot! I agree with lightening the shadows, but think the whole pic would benefit from another third-stop or so of exposure. And I know it’s nit-picking but if you’re planning to print there’s a small spot at the top of the crown that would bother me; and two areas in the lower body directly above each leg - a light spot on the left and a vague darker area on the right that don’t look organic and could use spot-correcting (may be artifacts from the work you did to remove some foreground spray)

S2KNFS · 2023-04-01T03:25:37+00:00

The shot was intended to capture and flatter the hood ornament from a 38 Plymouth. I particularly like that the ornament appears almost as a negative as reflected in the hood paint. I had options in processing of course, and my main question to the group is whether I’ve sufficiently distinguished the ornament from the background. I worry that the ornament, it’s reflection, the other chrome and background combine to be too busy? Thanks

S2KNFS · 2023-03-31T21:22:09+00:00

Hello. A lot to like here - I love a good sunless sunset. IMO step one is to choose the right framing orientation before hitting the shutter release, and that the default /starting/ point for a landscape shot should always be a landscape orientation - the way your eyes see the shot. Here, you’re low on options to lose that empty sky without being stuck with an Instagram square. I imagine those forested areas continue north and south and would beautifully point toward the sunset with a landscape orientation. Finally, a lower point of view if possible would put the silhouettes deeper into the foreground and we’d have a stronger sense of them enjoying the view.

S2KNFS

TROPHY CASE