The First Ottoman Apartments

The staff were attentive and friendly, and the service was very good throughout our stay. We also found the room clean and well maintained. Breakfast had a good variety and was a nice way to start the day. We really enjoyed our time here and highly recommend the hotel!🙏🏻👏🏻🇧🇪

The staff were very friendly and attentive, and the cleaning lady was especially nice and did all she could to make my stay comfortable. My rooftop apartment had a large terrace with a nice view. Since it was winter, I had the terrace to myself, though I imagine it may be shared more in summer, which could get annoying. The apartment had the necessary items, but was simple. The location is very good. You can hear seagulls all the time, and unfortunately the bathroom had a bad smell that remained even after staff tried to address it.

There are lots of nice restaurants nearby at different price points, and the hotel is conveniently close to the Grand Bazaar and Sultan Ahmet. The rooms and hotel were very clean, and the staff and owner were very friendly.

Avoid this place if you can, and cancel if you’ve already booked. We reserved it for four days a few weeks ahead, but less than 24 hours before our stay the booking was cancelled because, they said, the credit card details had been declined. I’d seen that mentioned in earlier reviews too. Booking.com customer support couldn’t get the property to answer their calls. It made us wonder if the place even existed or if they were deliberately ignoring us. After our reservation was cancelled, the property appeared again at more than twice the original price. It felt like a scam and showed no respect for people. I can’t believe this kind of business still exists. If you’re looking for somewhere to stay in Istanbul, consider yourself warned. If you’ve already booked, I hope you don’t go through the same nightmare. And if you’re reading this after it happened to you too, welcome to the club.