Romantic Hotel Istanbul — Hotel in Fatih

I would not recommend this hotel. This was my second trip to Istanbul and stayed in the same historic area before. My previous hotel was already booked. ||Make sure you look at current pictures, not their 2017 or ones made by management. I will upload mine later. I just returned (September 2024) and 1) got moved to a hotel across the street upon arrival; 2) never got twin beds with a Bosphorous review as my reservation indicated; 3) finally got a room with a Bosphorous view with a queen size bed but you CAN NOT go out on the balcony, etc. You can open the door to the outside and then climb up the stairs (dangerous) to go up a floor where some other room has that view. The bedding is lumpy and the sheets are not fitted, so constantly come out. Breakfast food is sufficient but is served in the basement breakfast room. Locks to the room questionable as our card opened our neighbor's room - this was done by our host showing us our room! We had to jiggle the door to make sure it was locked. "Lobby" also in the basement. || While our room was clean and the towels refreshed daily, they could use more staff 24/7 to keep it tidy. Staff may work hard but standards lacking. Dust balls under the bed, etc. It is an old area so hard to maneuver supplies, etc. I get it but it not correct to make someone switch rooms and not get the right room. We were told later that our twin bed rooms did NOT overlook the Bosphorous anyway. It is not sufficient for Americans to hear "no problem" endlessly. ||If you book 4 nights you get a 'free' ride to OR from the airport (just one way). We were met at the exit but it turns out that it's just a service that shuffles you around and we waited about 30-45 minutes to get loaded into our van. We were the only ones but with the wait and the cost of Uber (US$35-40) it's not a great deal. ||The pictures of the rooms look nice but it fairly gaudy. I will say that their bathrooms while being SUPER SMALL have great hot water and work. ||I also felt that the online rate is NOT the best rate so screws over those of us who book online versus calling in or...

1. the "breakfast terrace" with panoramic views of the sea and the blue mosque had been replaced by breakfast in basement next to reception with breakfast staff and reception staff talking loudly on the phone most of the time.

2. we switched rooms during our stay to get the suite. We were asked to check out early and come back and check back in later. We were asked to pack our bags and leave them in the room and they would be carried up to the suit. We arrrived 1 hour after check in time, our bags stood unguarded and unsupervised in the hallway. When we opened the door t8 our suite they just started cleaning it. So we had to go back into the basement for another 25 minutes before accessing our room.

3. they said that they were sorry and that the roof terrace would be back in a few weeks. But we went upstairs and they are re-building the roof terrace into a 2nd suite. Yet they still promote the breakfast terrace on their website, Facebook and booking sites

4. the hotel was being refurbished. The carpets in the stairs were torn off. There were signs everywhere not to touch walls, railings, doors etc. Our room smelt like a can of paint two days out of three.

5. the basement breakfast was staffed by one person. And they didnt have dishes and cutlery for all guests. We had to request spoons, bowls, glasses etc from the poor lady who had to work all by herself, which she then had to clean by hand as we waited. The yogurt was frozen. So much for lovely turkish yogurt.

6. we were lied to by staff and the manager, and offered a crumbled up 50 dollar bill in compensation. We spent approximately 9 hours over 4 days waiting for, asking for, or talking to staff and management during our 4 nights stay.

7. rooms and hotel had been refurbished so didn't look like in the pictures.

lots of more issues. This was sadly not a pleasent stay but the attitude and treatment from management and staff was probably the worst.

It's clear that they are trying to change the hotel to earn more money. But doing this without informing the guests prior to booking is...

Two of us stayed there the last four days of September 2024. Terribly disappointed. First night our room was not available, because supposedly previous guests had created plumbing problems. Then we were moved to a room without two beds but were told this room was quieter and had a view of the Bosphorous. I had initially booked a room with two beds, a balcony and a view of the Bosphorous. But alas it appears that none of that is available with one room. The room with two beds faces the noisy street. There is not sitting on the balcony as the balcony we had was more or less a fire escape. The "lobby" is entered by doing down stairs to the basement level, which also houses the breakfast room and kitchen. While the food was decent it was never ready by 8am and the view (none) clearly stank. One could eat outside on the street where management placed some tables and chairs. The bedding does not have fitted sheets so the sheets slide up all night. Don't look under the bed! Little to no closet space, little to no table area, etc. There was a hot pot, small fridge (not plugged in). I will say that the water in the shower was great and the bathroom was remodeled albeit TINY, but given the age of the building it is understandable. If you can't navigate steep stairs this is NOT the place for you. I thought I did my homework but I also felt there was false advertising with this place. If I heard "no problem" one more time, I was going to lose it. No problem means NO PROBLEM for them. Location is good but there's lots of choices in the area so...