Marma Hotel Istanbul

I stayed for two nights. The hotel was good, the bathroom wonderful, and the cleanliness was good. But the air conditioning didn't work, which was very uncomfortable and annoying. If I'd known, I wouldn't have come. The pool looked good, but swimming wasn't allowed, and nobody told me why. On Google Maps I found people saying they were told it wasn't swimming season, which is strange. Maybe Turks prefer swimming in winter 😐

The only good part was the room, which was big. The food wasn't very nice, and the coffee machine didn't work. When we complained, the staff couldn't speak English and just said, “No English,” which felt disrespectful. They told us by phone that there was a pool, but when we arrived it was closed because they said it wasn't pool season. It's summer! This is trash, and it isn't a five-star hotel. I'd give it two stars at most.

We’d barely arrived when the staff made us feel unwelcome. Even with a reservation, they told us to wait five minutes, and there was nobody available to help take our bags to the room. When I asked whether the restaurant had vegetarian food, I got a casual response to ask the restaurant myself. I wouldn’t recommend this hotel. The service and staff were hopeless.

The room was spacious and had a lovely pool view, and we enjoyed most of our holiday. But at the restaurant, the vegetables served with our lamb tasted strongly of fish. The waiter checked and apologized, saying the chef had cut them with a fish knife. That’s a hygiene problem, and an apology didn’t make it okay. The male receptionist also struggled to understand and resolve the issues we raised, even though I speak Turkish natively. Mutlu was the only person who helped us, and he wasn’t even hotel staff, he was a football trainer. Despite all that, the hotel itself is worth a visit.