Maroon Hotel TomTom

The location was good, and the staff were kind. I feel for them, having to deal with upset guests while the owner or manager, who I think is really responsible, was nowhere to be found. But the rest was a mess. On the top floor, our first room had a strong bathroom smell that got worse after we complained. The water pressure kept changing, then the water was cut off completely on the second day and never returned. They moved us to a room with no windows, where a loud motor ran nonstop and made sleep impossible. Breakfast was poor, with too few tables for the number of guests. There was one elevator, and its doors kept getting stuck. The place felt poorly maintained and not very clean. They even took garbage down in the same elevator guests used, right through the breakfast area. I absolutely wouldn’t recommend staying here if you want to rest and avoid problems. I’m 90% sure most of the positive reviews are fake.

If you want to throw away your money, stay here. There’s a nightclub right across from the room, and the noise goes on all night. There’s no soundproofing, so getting any sleep is impossible. I hope BOOKING or GOOGLE lets me upload the video I recorded, where you can hear the noise. My stay in a nutshell: arrived at 23:00, wanted to leave at 23:05. The Turkish Reggaeton was blasting at full Daddy Yankee style as soon as I walked into the room. I went downstairs to explain the problem, but the receptionist said he couldn’t do anything and that maybe he could help the next day. We asked to cancel, either without a charge or even with one, since the rate was partially refundable. He refused and said he couldn’t process it. As I waited for an answer, he rejected my request in front of me and started ignoring me. That felt completely disrespectful. After more than two hours of discussion, all he could suggest was coming back the next day. I went back the next day, and the ordeal started over with a new employee who didn’t know what to do and kept saying she needed to contact her manager. The manager NEVER answered her calls. We only asked for an email confirming we hadn’t spent the night there, but she refused that too, saying her manager wouldn’t allow it. Honestly, the situation deserves study. The BOOKING rating is completely fake, surely bought with the money they take from customers. I hope you at least use the €150 YOU’VE TAKEN FROM ME to buy your guests new toothbrushes and earplugs.

The water was okay when I started a morning shower, but after six or seven minutes it slowed to a trickle. The temperature kept swinging between very hot and very cold, like taking a zigzag shower. The toilet cover was loose, and the place seemed very poorly maintained. I also felt there was scamming everywhere, especially at restaurants, even when buying a pack of cigarettes. On my first day I was confused about where the entrance was. A girl out front was sweeping water, so I politely asked if that was the entrance. She gave me a disgusting look and didn’t answer. I later found out she was front desk staff. It was so hard for anyone there to smile at a customer. Istanbul, that sucks.

The people at the hotel were awesome, and I had no complaints about the daily room cleaning or towel changes. The room was clean, and the food was okay, enough for a couple of hours. The location is very good. The room itself was small, though, and there wasn’t enough space for two people staying a whole week.