Hotel Olympos Garden Hotel

The owner was polite and very helpful, and his brother was ready to lend a hand too. Check-in and checkout were simple and hassle-free. When an outlet stopped working on our second night, the owner sorted out the minor electrical problem quickly. We were a family of four in a spacious attic-style room on the sixth floor, with two bedrooms and a double bed in each. It was quite clean. Mind the sloped ceiling if you're over 180 cm tall. Taksim Square is a five minute walk away, and the neighborhood felt safe. If you're hauling large or heavy bags on foot instead of taking a taxi, come by Dolapdere Taksim Cd rather than Feridiye Cd. The road is much smoother.

I stayed eight nights because I couldn't afford to spend twice as much elsewhere, and booking.com wasn't any help either. I complained to reception that the room didn't match the pictures and that the bathroom had mold everywhere. The man promised a different room after four nights, so I waited. When I checked again the day before, he said he could have given it to me if nobody had booked it, but now someone else was coming. I wouldn't trust those promises. After I left a truthful bad review on Booking, the receptionist guy messaged me personally on WhatsApp and begged me to take it down. The room was much smaller than pictured, and you had to turn sideways in the bathroom. It wasn't properly cleaned and the place needs renovation. Thin walls let through next door's conversations and stomping from upstairs. A nearby mosque played prayers loudly at 5 a.m., which was really annoying as a light sleeper. The shower was covered in mold, and a crack at the edge let water run all over the bathroom floor. They tried fixing it on day four, but it didn't help much.

We paid extra for a balcony, but got the tiniest one I've ever seen, facing a depressing view of a collapsed building. The online photos are very misleading. Furniture quality was poor, the walls were dirty, and the sheets clearly hadn't been cleaned after the previous guest. During my ten days there, the room was cleaned just once, after I specifically asked. The Wi-Fi didn't work at all, and the owner made no effort to fix it. Noise from other rooms was constant too. For what I paid, there are definitely better options.

We had a cozy family suite with large beds, TVs, a kettle, Nescafé, and a private bathroom for each room. The lift worked well, and there was air conditioning, hot water, and Wi-Fi. The staff were so warm, friendly, and welcoming. Thank you Olympos Garden.