Hotel Otağ

For this kind of money in a location like this, check the prices and what you can expect before looking for luxury or everything to work perfectly. The location is perfect, and the guys are friendly and great. They try to fix the defects and malfunctions. Breakfast is decent, the Wi-Fi is excellent, and the place is clean and tidy. All praise for the price. All the best.

We booked four rooms at Hotel Otag for almost 12 days as a group. The location was useful for visiting historic places such as Sulaimaniah, Sultan Ahmet, and Al Fatih. The area itself, though, was dirty, with narrow side roads and an unpleasant smell. The food shops and restaurants seemed overpriced and poor on hygiene. Hotel Otag was among the least clean hotels we’ve ever stayed in. The gap between my bed and the wall was full of rubbish, the bathrooms smelled awful, and after flushing, the water could keep running for around 30 minutes or more. Even freshly cleaned sheets and towels didn’t have the expected smell. I also noticed a broken part of a column in one room, and don’t know if maintenance checked it. Several amenities didn’t work: TVs in three of the four rooms, air conditioning in two rooms for two days in July’s terrible humidity, and the lift for the first two days. Reception staff were generally friendly, but sometimes promised things would be provided or fixed the next day and then didn’t follow through. The buffet was poor and inconsistent. Some days there were no eggs, other days no butter, and there weren’t even cereal for the kids or milk for tea. The buffet manager seemed to have no hospitality skills. She was always angry with residents, staff, or someone else. Once, we saw her tell a child she wouldn’t give him another plate because he’d already had a couple. After breakfast, staff made a huge racket dragging chairs and clattering dishes, almost like a circus. It was a negative experience, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend Hotel Otag.

The price seemed very reasonable for this part of Istanbul, especially with free breakfast, drinking water, and internet included. The hotel is central and close to everything, and the reception staff were wonderful. Everything about the place was great.

The rooms were filthy even after we waited three hours because they said they were cleaning. Mold covered the shower, the showerhead was broken, and the room’s emergency door wouldn’t shut, so anyone from the street could walk in. Reception staff acted like they were coming to help, then disappeared. We called several times, but nothing got fixed. The surrounding area was dirty and felt like a ghetto, and the inside was just as disappointing. The place needs heavy renovation, with chipped wall lining falling apart everywhere. Wash the mattresses! This was the worst place I’ve ever stayed, disgusting and dirty.