Acra Hotel- Istanbul private airport transfer

Yes, that sounds about right. We didn't have any more instructions than you have. You exit the baggage claim area from Gate 9, and then you step outside. There is a gaggle of numbers -- I think ours was 52, or something like that. Somehow, someone connected us with our driver. I don't understand how it worked, but it did.

Instead of having all the drivers holding up individual signs, I think there are intermediaries who sort you into small groups that then connect you to your driver. As I said, though, it's a mystery how it actually works.

Yes, when you come out of Baggage Claim you walk past many big sliding glass doors leading outside, and every door has a number above it: 1, 2, 3, etc. You keep walking and looking carefully at every single door (I think numbers were skipped, ha!) till you see "9". Then you go outside the door and there are crowds of guys holding up crudely scribbled signs - some with names of people, most with mysterious codes like "CEO 34" lol. Once you find your guy, you tell your name and they bring up a list of what looks like dozens of names on their phone and there is your name, clear as day! They make you stand for a few minutes off to the side while they collect a few more people from the list (the ones going to the same general area as you), then they take you to a nearby location where all the taxis or vans come by and they put you in the right one that takes you to the doorstep of your hotel. at the hotel, you go direct inside to the front desk and pay them in cash or card. They take care of paying the taxi/van guy.

The directions on finding the shuttle are noted. It is a bit confusing, but once you see your name on their phone list they will get you to your driver. We followed the guy along with 5 other groups down an elevator and 3 minutes later our shuttle appeared and the guy with your name on his phone helps you load into the shuttle.

We used the shuttle on our arrival,

but when we returned from Izmir:
We used the option of UBER in Turkiye. To get from the airport to the Hyatt hotel. We found a pilot (they all speak English) he said go to arrivals, top floor and order your Uber, since you enter the destination, you dont have a language issue. Worked out great. Cost 50% of the shuttle, The car that picked us up was also a Yellow cab

I also noticed the hotel shuttle rates were seriously inflated and next time I visit Turkiye, I'm going to order an Uber / taxi direct at the airport too!

We checked rates online (I think they are current, but who knows?) and it seemed going to the Acra Hotel via taxi from the airport was the most economical choice. The rate online said $8 to $11. Does anyone know if that is in the ballpark, or should be consider another mode of transport?

We were in Istanbul in September and took taxis between the IST airport and downtown 3 times. Depending on our location in Istanbul and traffic delays the prices ranged from 280 to 320 Lira which is between $15 and $18 US. In each case we left a nice tip because the drivers were great and the prices were about 1/3 of what the hotel shuttles cost. The yellow (or orange) taxis we took are the cheapest, the black are apparently more luxurious but double the price. I suggest having Google Translate on your phone because the taxi drivers knew about as much English as I know Turkish, which is not very much. Overall, however, taxis were great.

If you are on the Rick Steves tour, the tour kit information includes the instructions in Turkish that you can provide to the taxi driver for details on how to get from IST to the Acra hotel. The driving instructions even print out on a separate page so you can just hand the entire sheet to the driver and don't have to worry about getting the sheet back from the driver..

I just returned from the 13 day Turkey tour with the best group in the world to travel with, felt so lucky! Re: transportation to the hotel, I scheduled through the Acra and it worked out perfectly, however, it was expensive, $50. At the end of the tour, I flew from Izmir to IST and took a taxi to my hotel and it was less than half the cost of the scheduled transport. It cost about 300 TL (it was actually like 264 TL) which is way less than $20; I had such an excellent driver so paid him a $20 and told him to keep the change. Yes, you can pay in dollars, however, know how much you are paying when doing so! I recommend a taxi instead of a scheduled transport! Have fun, enjoy, and beware of COVID. Came home and tested positive for it.