Transportation from Istanbul Airport to Hotel

The answer depends in part on where your hotel is located and what you consider "easy". I took a private shuttle through Welcome Pickups to my hotel in Sultanahmet. It was about 40 euro (flat fee) in 2023 and worth every penny. Taxis take credit cards but you're also on a meter so if you get stuck in traffic (definitely possible) it can be much more than that. There are also buses and the Metro that may be viable options depending on your hotel location.

+1 to the above - a pickup is easiest.

As stated above, it really depends on where your hotel is located and how tired you anticipate being after your flights.

I also did Welcome Pickups on arrival and it worked quite well. Driver contacted me through What's App while I was still in passport control. Smooth ride directly to my hotel. I chose this option since I anticipated being tired.

I could have taken bus 16 which would have stopped directly outside my hotel in Taksim Square.

There are a series of buses going to different areas. You can find several videos on You Tube describing the process for taking buses into the city.

My hotel in Sultanahmet arranged a pickup at the airport for me.

We usually take public transportation into the cities we travel to. That didn't work for Istanbul. The airport is quite a distance from city center and any public transportation didn't even come close to where we were staying. We used Welcome Pickups and it worked very well. The driver tracked our flight and had chilled water for us. We used whatsapp to stay in touch. We paid by credit card.