Lord Sophia Hotel

We arrived around 18:00 on the first day, exhausted and hoping to rest, but they wouldn’t take a card and insisted on cash. We had booked two rooms, yet were told only one was available, so the four of us, including two children, had to share it. They also charged us 8800 TL more than the original price. The room was very dirty. We asked repeatedly for it to be cleaned, but they wouldn’t do it. The bathroom smelled of sewers, which affected one of our children, who has asthma. The towels were dirty, there were ants on the bed and pillows, and humidity had damaged the dirty walls. We have photos to confirm this. Nothing matched the reservation, and the staff’s treatment made this one of our worst vacations for accommodation.

We stayed on level -1, and the room was okay rather than great. It could sleep six and had a tiny fridge and a private bathroom, but it wasn’t very clean. The shower area was on the same floor as the rest of the bathroom, so everything got dirty easily with hair and things that were already there before us. It also got humid and hot, and I wonder if a room on another level with windows would have been better. The prices are very affordable, the staff were suuuuper nice, and the area is great for easy access to popular places. I’d come back 😊. You have to pay in cash, though, which can be tricky because of withdrawal fees.

I’ve been to Istanbul many times, and this was my worst hotel experience. When we arrived, they said my card had been declined and they’d already given our rooms to someone else. My card was completely fine. It seemed the property declined it and gave the rooms to someone who would probably stay longer than us. They put us in two rooms at another hotel, but didn’t explain anything and disappeared as soon as they’d shown us the way to that awful place. A really bad experience.

The room we’d confirmed through booking.com and by phone was apparently given to someone else, and they told us our booking had been cancelled. Getting a room took an hour of arguing and phone calls with the manager. When we finally got one, the pillows were yellow-stained, the sheets were burnt and ripped, and there were no duvets. The hotel didn’t have an iron either, and nobody was helpful. The receptionist was asleep by the door when we arrived and wouldn’t wake up. Awful service and an awful stay. I won’t return.