Nomad Hostel Karaköy — Hotel in Beyoğlu

No common room but common room advertised. This was the biggest let down. I chose to stay in a hostel for the social aspect and there was none of that here. Only 1 female toilet and 2 female showers for the entire hostel and only on the 1st floor so you need to go up and down a spiral staircase to access toilet. Despite only the singular toilet for all the women, the staff at the pasta shop next door also use this toilet. Not only is this frustrating because one toilet isn't enough for all the women guests but it's a security concern that people that don't work in the building are entering through what should be a secure door and going upstairs to the next floor. I also saw men from the pasta shop next door coming out of the main hostel door so I assume the men's bathroom is also being used by non-guests. There are cameras in entrance and stairwell so I'd assume that this is known to the owner/manager. The shower flooded, must be a blocked drain. No bedside light only the one main room light. Only received check in instructions on day of arrival, lucky I had my sim card set up to receive these instructions as no staff on site and I wouldn't know where they would work from anyway as no office or open plan area. I suspect someone did not get this check in message cause there was a lot of banging at 0330 and it sounded like someone was trying to get in. Back of the fridge was very hot to the touch, the sheer curtain was draped over this area. When I was moving the fridge back away from the curtain, there was rubbish behind it. A packet of tomato sauce, a plastic container and a lot of dirt and crumbs and the like. Dirty under the bed. Tucked my bag under the bed so it was out of the way- my bag came bag very dirty and dusty. Very dusty windowsills. The plug at the bedside was broken (missing a piece) but then I couldn't use the remaining plug because the fridge was plugged in there and none of my 3 adaptors fit past the fridge plug. I had to unplug the fridge to be able to charge my phone. I woke up later to find the fridge had leaked water all over the floor, fortunately the room hadn't been cleaned properly because there was a dirty towel under my bed, I was able to mop up the floor with that. Advertised as being soundproof. It is absolutely not. Can hear everything from the street, the banging of the entrance door and people walking up the stairs. A lot of noise in the evening, banging on the entrance at 0330. Nowhere to sit down and eat. Unless on your dorm bed or the one seat outside at the entrance door. There was a male guest in my female dorm when I checked in. He said he has accidentally booked a female dorm, he was the only person in the room at the time. He contacted the manager and got reallocated. The pin code to get into room was not changed after this. How frequently do these pin codes get changed? Hostel stairwell and women's toilet stunk of tobacco smoke the second night. Shower did not have hot or even warm water the second night. Not sure what was going on. Did have hot water the first night. Beds have awkward metal bar making it uncomfortable to sit on the edge of bed. Top bunks don't have a barrier to stop you rolling off. The room was very small, not as advertised in pictures. So small that two people couldn't be moving in dorm room at the same time. Cleaner came into room and swept the floor between the beds and took away some crumpled receipts on the fridge but did not empty the rubbish bin or dust or mop. The morning I left there was less than half a toilet roll in women's bathroom. I left early in the morning so I'd be concerned there wouldn't be enough toilet paper later in the morning. Light shining outside my window all night until 0530. The curtains are sheer, and don't block out light. Stains or other marks on my bedding...

I don’t normally write reviews for accommodations, but this one felt necessary.

The hostel is absolutely gorgeous. It’s built in a very nice style, modern, cool, clean. All the details are beautiful. Truly enjoyable. It’s located in an amaaaazing part of the city - very hip and trendy. Super fun, exciting, vibrant, safe.

However, the hostel is unfortunately located inbetween two bars/clubs that play music really loudly all night. And when i say all night, I mean until 5:30 in the morning. At a thousand decibels. The earplugs I brought from home certainly weren’t enough to cut it.

Side note: this noise may only be the case during the weekends. I stayed here Friday-Monday, so I don’t know whether it’s always noisy.

Another ‘minus’ is that there is only one bathroom (with one toilet for each gender) shared by many bedrooms. So if the hostel is fully booked, there may be fights over the toilets. A solution could be to hang some mirrors in the bedrooms, since the women’s toilet was often crowded with girls...

Location is great, owner is friendly. Yet I have to say the room is very small, pretty much just the bed and four closet and no space is left. The surrounding neighborhood creates noises at day and night. The upper bed has no guardrail, the wooden shelf above my head is already loose and could fall at any moment, which I believe will cause safety issue so I run away from this hostel immediately. The owner refused to refund because I have already pass the deadline to make a refund, but how could I put myself in such a danger environment. I feel really disappointed and the check in progress doesn’t need passport, which can also cause certain level of safety issue. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone who visit Istanbul and try to have a beautiful trip. I booked another hostel, which is cheaper and much spacious and make me feel more confident...