Favorite New Hotel Amenity

One of the hardest parts of traveling is navigating.  Today, we take our smartphones for granted.  At home, we can make a dinner reservation, get directions, call an Uber, or Instagram all while trying not to get hit by a car crossing the street.

Internationally that's a bit more challenging,  Yes, there are carriers (T-Mobile) that offer pretty good international cell phone plans but do those phones work as well at home?

I generally add 100MB of data and 100 minutes of voice calling to my Verizon plan each trip.  $40 isn't cheap but it's an insurance policy against needing to call home, work, or use some data while out and about.

St. Regis Istanbul complimentary smartphone

The St. Regis Istanbul offers a free smartphone for the duration of your stay.  The Samsung phone (first tab using a Samsung and I much prefer my iPhone 6S) was pretty easy to setup although I found the navigation a bit challenging.  Regardless, we used the phone for maps, lunch recommendations, and weather.

I know more hotels are offering this as an amenity.  Given the (at least locally) cost of cellular data has come down so much, this can't cost the hotel very much and was really a huge benefit for us.  Kudos to the St. Regis Istanbul for offering a great amenity to guests!