Carlton Hotel İstanbul — Hotel in Fatih

TDLR: staff and guests smoke in the rooms despite it being illegal. Staff are friendly, rooms are nice, comfy and modern (but with weird headboards. One vegan breakfast option (toast and salad). ||Stayed here for three nights. On the first two nights someone was chain smoking in the room near us - it seems like there are no working smoke alarms. It stunk and we had to barricade the door with the throw and run air con full time just to make it liveable. This meant my partner had his first asthma attack in four years and even I, who have no breathing problems, had to take his asthma inhaler as I was struggling. The staff did call the room to ask them to stop, after we asked if we could change rooms but couldn’t due to lack of space, but this didn’t help. I’m shocked the person wasn’t asked to leave as smoking in hotels is illegal. To make matters worse, we asked if people could smoke and the staff said yes (laws say otherwise) and the staff themselves were smoking in the spa area! ||We had a Turkish hammam experience at the spa (£50 each if cash paying), this wasn’t bad but my masseuse left half way and was replaced with another. Wasn’t great at communicating what was happening. The staff also smoked outside the massage room (as was evident by the smell and ashtray with cigarettes in), which led to a less pleasant than usual massage. ||They have an eco policy of reusing towels which is great - but no option for bedding. They didn’t provide reusable mugs in the rooms and only give bottled water, shampoos etc came in tiny bottles and they do provide toiletries which are, again, full of plastic. Looking into how to further their green footprint would be great to see. ||Staff did not respond to emails or Facebook messages asking about vegan options. I wouldn’t have booked if I knew all they have for breakfast is salad and toast for vegans. Vegetarians and omnivores would eat well here. ||Overall, I wouldn’t recommend staying here until they sort out their smoke alarms and staff smoking habits. ||Recommendations:||1. Sort out the smoke alarms and enforce not smoking in hotel rooms better.|2. Provide vegan milk and/or yoghurt for breakfast.|3. Swap the plastic cotton buds for bamboo and the tiny bottles for wall mounted or bigger refillable ones - like I’ve seen at other 5* hotels. Offer an option to leave the...

Review of Carlton Hotel

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)

Initial Impressions: The Carlton Hotel is not part of the renowned Carlton group, which was somewhat surprising given its name.

Room Booking Experience: We emailed a week in advance to request a double bed and a cot for our 1-year-old daughter. Unfortunately, upon arrival, we were offered a room with three single beds, posing a risk of our daughter falling off. The staff apologized and assured us they would resolve the issue the next morning. The gentleman at the reception was kind and polite.

Room Change: True to their word, the hotel changed our room the following day. Both rooms were clean, tidy, and spacious, which we appreciated. However, the safe’s number pad in the first room was worn out and non-functional, though the second room’s safe worked fine.

Room Condition:

• Furnishings: The furnishings were clean, modern, and comfortable. • Carpet: The carpet tiles were not securely fitted in some areas, which was a bit concerning. • Complimentary Water: The hotel provided complimentary bottles of water, a thoughtful touch.

Breakfast Experience:

• Timings: Breakfast was served only between 8 AM and 10 AM, a rather limited window. • Breakfast Hall: The hall was clean and had a modern style. • Food: There was a decent selection of items, though the lack of labels on the food was a downside, making it hard to identify some dishes.

Bathroom Facilities: The bathroom was clean and modern, equipped with complimentary soaps and other toiletries.

Shisha Lounge: There is an outdoor shisha lounge that gets very loud and rowdy at night. Fortunately, we were able to sleep despite the noise.

Room Service:

• Menu: The room service menu was quite limited and prices were high. • Night Service: The night-time room service was not well organized, which was a letdown.

Overall Summary: The Carlton Hotel offered a mixed experience. While there were some positives such as the polite staff, clean rooms, and modern amenities, there were also several areas needing improvement. The initial room allocation issue, limited breakfast hours, and the noisy shisha lounge detracted from our overall stay. With some attention to detail, this hotel could significantly enhance the...

My stay in this hotel was one big fraud, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.||The main problem is that the staff speaks very poor English to the point of not understanding basic questions, but instead of admitting it they will simply NOT DO what you asked them for or misinform you or forget. This created a lot of frustration for me.||First, when I asked about the laundry, I was told it's 90TLR per laundry. But they charged 1300TLR at the end, which I can only deduce that it was 90TLR per clothing item.||Second, I asked to wake me up at 4:30am because I needed to go to the airport and payed for the shuttle in advance.||Well, no one called to wake me up and the shuttle didn't come so I relied on my own alarm (which thankfully worked) and had to catch a street taxi which fortunately there are a lot in Istanbul. I ended up showing directions on my phone on google maps to the driver who had no clue where departures terminal was.||The first room I was moved in had a wet trash basket on the table and AC dropping into it, and I found pubic hair on the toilet seat although it was wrapped in a "hygiene guarantee" stripe.||The AC couldn't be fixed so I was moved to a smaller room.||Overall the hotel feels filthy, the lift regularly stunk.||The "hamam" of the hotel is terrible as well. It's basically a poor Thai massage, with a very negligent attitude towards customers. The hamam room is cold and the Thai lady is washing you like a piece of furniture. No water/tea/coffee is offered at any point.||I highly recommend walking 8min to Vezneciler Hamam which is cheaper, much closer to a real Turkish hamam and overall is a pleasant atmosphere.||The only good thing I have to say about this hotel is the location, indeed close to everything you typically want to see in Istanbul. However, the area is full of hotels, and most likely you will have a better shot staying in...