AnnMarie U.
Yelp
In a nutshell: FANTASTIC service, great location, fab breakfast, but there were some glitches
We really liked this hotel very much and would have gone back in a heartbeat because the service simply could not be better, the kafalta (breakfast) was super yummy, and the location could not be beat. Alas, it also did have certain problems and so we have not attempted to go there again.
Location: You can walk to Hagia Sophia, Topkapi, and of course the Blue Mosque; the kapılıçarşa (covered market) is a short tram ride away.
The breakfast was really superb; most places offer tomatoes, olives, feta, bread, jam, and coffee or tea and fruit; but this place also offered delicious Turkish borek (a savory pastry not unlike the Greek spanikopita), home-made by one of the workers wives! Oh, it was fabulous. I'm still dreaming of those borek!
The very best thing was the service. The management and the workers all bent over backwards to help us, and we sincerely appreciate them for that. Very professional, very nice. They proactively provide maps, advice for getting around, warned us about taxi drivers who might take the long way to the hotel and called taxis for us from the hotel to help ensure that it didn't happen (and indeed, when we hailed a cab from our destination to the hotel it was a lot more).
In the interest of giving a complete and fair review to other travellers, however, I do have to admit that certain things did come up during our stay that might upset the average traveller.
The wireless connection did not work from our room the entire time of our stay. It did work in the lounge area, however, where there is also a computer available for guest use. The hotel management did have calls out to their service provider and were trying to work on this, which we appreciated. It didn't affect us because I wasn't planning to be on the computer, but under different circumstances, the lack of service (when we had counted on it) would have been disastrous.
We stayed in two rooms, one at the beginning of a multi-city trip and one at the end. The "standard" room at the beginning of the trip was a little small. However, we found it so well designed (i.e. with built-in luggage racks that slide out like drawers) and so pretty that we didn't mind the small size. The only real problem is that there was some visible mildew in the shower's tiles.
The biggest problem was with the second room, which was amazingly beautiful but somewhat dysfunctional. The blinds fell down twice, and we were very gentle with them. The real problem was again the bathroom: any time you took a shower, which was in a tub, the bathroom would flood with water. Specifically what would happen is that there is a ledge between the tub and a window, that looks out onto the room (you can close the blinds for privacy) There is no drain on that ledge, so the water hits the ledge and has nowhere to go, and so it ends up on the floor and floods. When I say "flood" I mean: four huge beach-sized towels can't mop it up. There is a slight decline in the flooring so that the water eventually ends up near the toilet, which does have a drain in the floor. But it was uncomfortable and yucky wading through water after every shower, and after reporting the problem to management we were told it was a design flaw and nothing could really be done.
That said, my husband said that that room was his favorite of all the places we stayed on that particular, 5-hotel trip; it certainly was very hip and cool. We found it to be roomy, with a huge walk-in closet that accommodated our (many--too many) pieces of luggage without problem. It was quiet and the bed--built on a slight platform--was comfortable. We first stayed there in 2009 and when we looked into returning a year or two later the price had skyrocketed and it did not appear that the design flaw in the bathroom had been fixed. If you go, I'd stay away from the rooms in the "6" tier.
(note: this review was originally published at another review site whose account I've since closed.)
