Sultans Hotel — Hotel in Fatih

Me and my boyfriend ended up staying here on our motorcycle trip through Europe and it turned out great. First, we had booked a room with another hotel (very close by) and when we got there the lady in at the desk offered to upgrade us to their 'sisterhotel' for no extra charge. She said the hotels belonged to the same group of hotels and they had bigger and nicer rooms. When we got to Sultans Hotel it was indeed a bigger hotel and the reception area looked much nicer. Sultan's hotel did not have parking so we could park outside the hotel we had originally booked (street parking is surprisingly safe and there were several places for bikes to fit into). ||||Room:||Great big room with plenty of space. The mini-fridge has cold water and there was a brand new kettle to make ourselves coffee and tee etc. Bed was large and very comfortable and the balcony was big enough for us to sit and eat. The bathroom was great with plenty of space for everything you need. ||||Location:||Walking distance to most tourist sites in the middle of the city! Istanbul is not a place where you want to travel around alot. The hectic traffic can add hours to any distance travelled within the city and, even though we had a motorcycle, it took is for ever to get around. Staying at a walkable distance is highly recommended. ||||Staff:||All staff members were excellent and spoke good English. There seemed to be a large variety of younger men working the reception and everyone was very professional and polite. ||The housekeeping staff didn't speak English but was very good. Everything was spotless and they managed to clean our room to perfection every day in spite of all our dirty motorbike gear and luggage. ||||Look out for:||There is a taxi hub right next door and a lot of the drivers tried to offer me rides when I walked by myself, never when it was the two of us. ||The restaurant on the corner (and the ones on the main street) thrive on tourists and it is not uncommon for waiters to constantly try to offer things (such as wine or bread with your meal) that later turns out to be more expensive than expected. Be wary of places where a guy is standing outside offering you things just to get you inside.||There are a number of restaurants two-three blocks away that do not do this and they also serve excellent food at often lower prices. ||||Tips:||Found an excellent hamam (turkish bath) about two blocks away from the hotel. It was in the middle of the tourist area so first I thought it would be expensive but it turned out they only charged 100 lira for 1.5h of hamam and massage (which was awesome!). ||||We would definitely stay here again on...

Me and my boyfriend ended up staying here on our motorcycle trip through Europe and it turned out great. First, we had booked a room with another hotel (very close by) and when we got there the lady in at the desk offered to upgrade us to their 'sisterhotel' for no extra charge. She said the hotels belonged to the same group of hotels and they had bigger and nicer rooms. When we got to Sultans Hotel it was indeed a bigger hotel and the reception area looked much nicer. Sultan's hotel did not have parking so we could park outside the hotel we had originally booked (street parking is surprisingly safe and there were several places for bikes to fit into). ||||Room:||Great big room with plenty of space. The mini-fridge has cold water and there was a brand new kettle to make ourselves coffee and tee etc. Bed was large and very comfortable and the balcony was big enough for us to sit and eat. The bathroom was great with plenty of space for everything you need. ||||Location:||Walking distance to most tourist sites in the middle of the city! Istanbul is not a place where you want to travel around alot. The hectic traffic can add hours to any distance travelled within the city and, even though we had a motorcycle, it took is for ever to get around. Staying at a walkable distance is highly recommended. ||||Staff:||All staff members were excellent and spoke good English. There seemed to be a large variety of younger men working the reception and everyone was very professional and polite. ||The housekeeping staff didn't speak English but was very good. Everything was spotless and they managed to clean our room to perfection every day in spite of all our dirty motorbike gear and luggage. ||||Look out for:||There is a taxi hub right next door and a lot of the drivers tried to offer me rides when I walked by myself, never when it was the two of us. ||The restaurant on the corner (and the ones on the main street) thrive on tourists and it is not uncommon for waiters to constantly try to offer things (such as wine or bread with your meal) that later turns out to be more expensive than expected. Be wary of places where a guy is standing outside offering you things just to get you inside.||There are a number of restaurants two-three blocks away that do not do this and they also serve excellent food at often lower prices. ||||Tips:||Found an excellent hamam (turkish bath) about two blocks away from the hotel. It was in the middle of the tourist area so first I thought it would be expensive but it turned out they only charged 100 lira for 1.5h of hamam and massage (which was awesome!). ||||We would definitely stay here again on...

So we booked four nights through booking.com all was well. When we showed up the regular guy working there said he only had the room in the basement available (lie) and for an extra 10 euro a night we could upgrade...he showed us the rooms and we decided to stay in the basement. Room was descent with two twin beds and room to move around. We unpacked our bags and went for dinner. When we returned he said he had made a mistake and took it upon himself to move all our stuff to a tiny room on the first floor. Not even space to put our bags on the floor and he just moved all our stuff! Again giving us the whole we can have a better room for an extra 10 euro a night. He had told us the basement room was booked already and he made a mistake (lie) at this point we are pissed off...I go downstairs and tell him the room is too small where is the room I booked and showed him the image of the big room with lots of space...he said it was a stock photo blah blah and again went into the upgrade for 10 extra euro a night...it is cheap he tells me..now I am angry and ready to tear into him. I tell him an extra forty euro is not cheap as I am canadian and am already paying 192 euro for four nights. Finaly he says ok I will give you a bigger room tomorrow at no extra charge. Which he did and was all good. What he did not expect was for us to meet a guy at breakfast the next morning from slovakia who said he came in at 1am with no reservation and was put in the basement room. The look of horror on the guys face when he saw us with the guy he had given our room to was priceless. Just shady all around. The hotel itself is nice...nice breakfast room and big rooftop patio...furniture not included. Neighborhood is nice and close to attractions if you can manage hills. But the guys that work there are shady like most I think. Lots of other options in the area. In closing when we checked out and got to our next hotel...booking.com sends me a message that they were notified by sultans hotel that I was a no show for my booking? Probably so they did not have to pay the 10% fee to them. Lol....good intro as to what to expect in Turkey. My credit card will probably be frauded next. Would never stay here again. Thanks for trying to rip me off to pocket an extra 40 euro for yourself. Makes for bad reviews and bad...