If you happen to see a 7 foot long bed in your room at the Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel, blame it on FIBA – that’s a French acronym for the International Basketball Federation.

Renaissance Polat Istanbul

That’s because hotels in Turkey are being forced to replace their beds to accommodate hundreds of basketball players.

Apparently, 6 ft 6 in is the average height of the 288 players from 24 nations who landed up in Istanbul yesterday for the competition’s opening.

The Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel is the official FIBA hotel for the 2010 World Basketball Championship, so they have more than their fair share of basketball players.

In addition to the 100 new extra-long beds that the hotel has ordered, they’re also adding bed extensions to existing beds.

The 27-story Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel offers 414 rooms overlooking the Marmara Sea, and is located 5 minutes from Ataturk International Airport and 20 minutes from the city center.

It also has 6 restaurants and bars, a health club with indoor and outdoor pools, a salon, ATM, florist and a convinience store. They also do daily housekeeping and evening turndown.

Team USA, however, is not slumming it with the rest of the Group B teams (Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia & Iran) at the Renaissance Polat Istanbul. Instead, the USA basbetball team is enjoying the luxury of the Four Seasons. Their accommodation costs for the competition work out to around 1 million Euros.

Team USA FIBA 2010

Inspite of all the hoop-la and expense, Team USA has not struck gold at FIBA since 1994. Here’s hoping they’ll be able to break the jinx this year, starting with the first match on Saturday against Croatia, and work their way up to the finals on Sept 12, 2010. If they don’t, I’m sure we can find them a nice comfy motel for the next FIBA Championship in Barcelona in 2014.

Photos: Team USA – RMTip21; Renaissance Polat courtesy hotel

Info: Sahilyolu Cad. No:2 Yesilyurt  Istanbul 34149 Turkey; Tel: 90 212 4141800; website

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