Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet

Four Seasons Tenure

• First hired 2008; now since 2022
• First Four Seasons Assignment: Spa Receptionist, Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora

Employment History

• Hotel Fairmont Quasar Istanbul; Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus; Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul; College Albert Camus, Neuville Les Dieppes, France

Birthplace

• Normandy, France

Languages spoken

• Turkish, French, English

“What I like most is that our interactions with guests are not at all mechanical,” says Derya Koçak of the services she provides and leads as Head Concierge of Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet. “The idea is for us to have a human in the heart of the action. There is an open sea of what guests request and talk with us about, and our responses are part of the luxury experience at the heart of the Hotel.”

A self-confessed “people person,” Koçak enjoys herself most when she is in the thick of that action. She has met people from all over, many of them knowledgeable, worldly, ready to share their personal experiences. That is key, she adds, “because for a Concierge, learning never stops, especially in such a dynamic city. I find they bring as much as we give. If you like to listen to people like I do, you’ll never be bored as a Concierge.”

Catering to 65 rooms surrounded by the desirable sights and scenes of Old Town, Koçak and her team of two cover all Concierge services for the boutique property. They are always busy, she says, albeit at a gentle pace, covering everything from securing impossible reservations at top restaurants, to tracking down hard-to-find haute couture suits for last-minute occasions, and arranging perfect days of shopping, yacht tours, gallery-hopping, and more to experience culture of the city.

“A lot of guests study Istanbul before they arrive, so our attention to detail makes them feel welcome,” she says. “When we talk about something, we have to feel it so that they can feel it. With the attention we give, we end up closer to the guests.”

Hailing from Normandy in northern France where her Turkish parents resided while her father was engaged in a construction project, Koçak did a little of this and a little of that before finding her way into luxury hospitality with Four Seasons in Bora Bora. “I was in French Polynesia working at an art gallery and watching for two years as the Resort was being built. When they started recruiting I decided to see what it would be like.”

She landed as a Spa Receptionist on the Resort’s opening team in 2008 and, liking the work as well as the company’s philosophy of guest service, made it her goal to get in a management-training program and become a Spa Supervisor. Heading to Istanbul in 2009, she spent two years at the Spa at Four Seasons along the Bosphorus Strait when a “rare position” opened up at the Concierge Desk. “I’d been mingling with clientele at the Spa, but I realized I wanted more contact,” she remembers. “I said to myself, ‘I really need to go where I can talk to the guests,’ and that’s how it started.”

Koçak stayed on until 2019 when she departed to lead concierge services at another luxury address in Istanbul. When she returned to Four Seasons at the Sultanahmet Hotel in 2022, she was a member of Les Clef d’Or – “Golden Keys” – the international professional organisation of hotel concierges. Her membership provided contacts with concierges throughout Istanbul as well as a network spanning 60 countries.

Active in the Turkish chapter, which has around 80 members, Koçak is excited to play host to Les Clef d’Or’s annual international congress set to be held in Istanbul for the first time in 2023. As a member of the planning committee, she is “especially proud to make Four Seasons part of the journey,” she says.

Meanwhile, Koçak’s journey as a Concierge is ongoing, as she and her colleagues look for new ways for guests to enjoy their stays at the Hotel. That includes a lot of outreach to local businesses, as well as personally experiencing things. “We are very fortunate on that account,” she says, adding with a smile, “everyone in Istanbul wants to do business with Four Seasons.”