Sub Karakoy Hotel

PRO: As many of the other reviews stated the location of this hotel is the only selling point. It's easy to walk to all the major sites in the city and there are several bar/restaurants nearby. CONS: The rooms are very small with limited space to place clothing or baggage. The toilet in our room ran every 30 seconds, the ceiling lights stopped working on our last night, and you WILL WANT TO BRING earplugs. The mosque across the street will announce the call to prayer five times a day starting at 4am and it will wake you up. The hallways are filthy and for the price I shouldn't have expected better. One positive: cleaning staff are very accommodating and visited our room daily. The desk staff on the other hand could care less that you are staying at the hotel. Aside from checking in, they were on their phones or video chatting every time I walked through the lobby (we were there for 6-days). Most the time, they were not even at the desk, but sitting in the now closed restaurant area. Not a single welcome or hello after we checked in on day one. I didn't experience any rudeness, but outright disinterest and lack of customer service for sure. Wouldn't recommend.

Positive side of this hotel 🏨 location. Perfectly placed to explore the town and sit down for a Turkish tea or coffee in one of the hype cafes in the neighborhood.||Negative: situated at a busy street so you hear traffic and obligatory call for a prayer ( speakers are just next to the hotel). It’s a quirky Turkish version of a boutique hotel that looks good at night and you are drunk. In reality is a refurbished old house where carpets have seen better days and a whole place would need a good clean up and a lift up. Elevator floors are dirty and an elevator in itself looks like it might stop any minute. Rooms are clean and have a character but as the rest of the place - they have seen better days.||Breakfast: it’s ok but your coffee ☕️ or morning tea will be served in a paper cup. There’s plenty of staff hanging around and they all look like they’re bored to death and you annoy them. But it’s a general attitude of people in Istanbul.||I asked for an airport pickup and at the end it has turned out to be a long wait with some guy who was hustling and who was feeling offended after I inquired where is my ride. A whole scene was like from a bad movie called - I don’t care and I don’t know but please pay a full price of 45€. At the hotel they were kind offering a listening ear but they have never heard of customer service and they give an impression they couldn’t care less. I opted for a normal yellow taxi 🚕 for a ride back to the airport (arranged by a hotel) and upon arrival a guy turned to me and asked for 1000TL. He never put a taxi meter on and then he was hustling that’s a price for hotel guests. I clearly didn’t get the memo. I negotiated a price of 900TL but at the end my credit card was charged 980TL.||My opinion is you are better off staying in a real hotel because this one is not worth the money they are asking.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ We had an incredible stay at Sub Karakoy in Istanbul. The hotel’s location is absolutely perfect, situated in a vibrant area close to many cultural attractions and great local restaurants. The atmosphere is unique, combining an independent spirit with a rich cultural vibe that truly captures the essence of Istanbul. A special mention goes to Mart at the reception. His warm welcome and helpful attitude made my stay even more enjoyable. He went above and beyond to ensure I had everything I needed and offered fantastic local tips. Highly recommend Sub Karakoy for anyone looking to experience Istanbul at its finest!

The hotel is an excellent location, situated near Galataport, the Modern Art Museum, and the tram station, among other attractions. However, it is worth noting that the neighborhood can be quite noisy at times. Upon arrival, we found our room to be exactly as depicted in the photos—pleasant and comfortable. The breakfast offered a wide variety of options and the staff were polite and accommodating. Although our initial experience was positive, we encountered a minor inconvenience when the TV in our room malfunctioned on the first day. However, the issue was promptly addressed by the hotel staff, who replaced it without delay. Despite these positives, there are some aspects of the rooms that require attention, such as rust on the bed frame and in the bathroom. These maintenance issues detracted slightly from an otherwise enjoyable stay.

Nice hotel. Interesting design and topic. The staff was friendly. We got a good offer with Agora. The Location is also convinient. Even our room was facing the street it was calm in the rooms. The room size was just enough, we would not need bigger. The kettle and coffe machine with coffee capsules we also provided in the room. The mixed breakfast with a good price was also provided in the neighbor restorant. Overall good experience and we loved the city Istanbul. CONS: the pillows were horrible. Really unconfortable. Also the electric socket for the coffee machine and kettle was not working properly. We had to move the coffee machine around the room and look for proper functional socket.

Overall a good experience. Initially the room which was provided had a very strong smell of paint since the room was newly painted. They gave us another room in their other hotel for the night. Then next morning, they gave us a new room which was good. Only issue was that the lighting was okayish..little too dark for my taste! Breakfast was meh for me! May be I was expecting more for turkish hotels due to their rich cuisine as it was similar like we get in Europe...

Affordable price, excellent location! Quite smooth reservation process, very friendly service at the desk, clean & cosy room for two,a very pleasant stay at the heart of Istanbul, in the middle of practically everything.

The hotel is walking distance to Galataport. It's also a street away from the hipster street to the south and beyoglu and istiklal to the north. Tophane T1 station is nearby too. Room is clean and well maintained. Breakfast is wonderful. They have Marshall speakers in the rooms.

Location location location. It's in between visited places like Sultanahmet, Taxim square and Galata but far enough from most of the tourists. Meaning you won't pay an arm and a leg on lodging and food. It's less than 10 mins to the tramway Speaking of food, theres a LOCAL bar, cafe, restaurant area just 1 and 2 alleys down. One of them is umbrella covered. Its pretty bohemian. Also, you don't get the usual guy hassling you to eat at their restaurant. Turkey is a secular country but I feel it's getting more conservative in a religious way. The Art work on the lobby at the Sub Karaköy announces its secularism. The continental breakfast here is quite impressive but it's not fully ready until 8Am I almost took a star off for that. They have a roof top bar and the rooms are neat especially the sound system. Highly recommend.

I got invited to SUB's terrace for a birthday party and it was sure NOT TO dissapoint. Everything from the atomosphere to the wine selection to the decor. I dont know the details of renting out the space, but I am sure glad I was invited. I will certainly go back and try the reasturant downstairs at some point,.

This was our first visit to Istanbul and we found this hotel on one of our favorite travel sites. It has only been open for a year or two, so we were unsure if we made the right choice before arriving, but within minutes we knew we had. The hotel is small, the lobby is the size of a small hip coffee shop, and is decorated as such. But that just adds to the charm. We love boutique hotels and have stayed in many throughout the world. This somewhat reminded us of a mini version of the Standard in NY. The Sub is now on our favorite list. The rooms were small as expected, but decorated cool and comfortable with all the amenities you'd expect. The thing that we enjoyed the most of our four night stay was the customer service. My wife and I traveled with our 3 year old, and from arrival the staff went above and beyond to make us feel at home. (Although we were the only guests we noted with a child, I'd still categorize the hotel as kid friendly because of the accommodating staff. They even offered us a baby crib in the room, which we didn't need or accept). Upon arrival the manager saw us pull up in a cab and ran across the street to help us with our bags. He proceeded to offer us tea when we walked into the lobby and sat down with us for about 20 minutes. He gave us a map, highlighting where we should visit and eating recommendations. That type of service was standard throughout our entire stay. The location was also a nice surprise. The Sub hotel isn't located in the middle of the touristy spots, but in a small neighborhood in the middle of many must-visit destinations. The "tram" was only a two minute walk and that got us everywhere we needed to be. Overall our stay was great and I'd recommend this hotel to anyone.