Grand Hotel (***)

There was no housekeeping during our stay, and the place looked almost empty. We were the only guests, and it’s clear why: people seemed to leave soon after checking in. The price is outrageous for this quality. I wouldn’t pay even $10 a night. Calling it a "3-star hotel" is misleading; I wouldn’t give it one star. It badly needs a full renovation, and I strongly advise against staying here. The reception staff seemed to expect guests to leave once they saw their rooms. The rooms were tiny, filthy, full of insects, and clearly hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. Floors were dirty, windows broken, and the TV smaller than a laptop screen. There was barely space to walk between the beds, and the mattresses looked over 20 years old and were extremely uncomfortable. The bathrooms were so small that if you weigh over 80 kg, you might not fit inside. There was no hot water, and signs on the walls begged guests to use as little water as possible because of the cost. Other problems included fire alarms going off at random in the middle of the night, a filthy elevator that looked never to have been cleaned, no refrigerator in the room, and motorcycles parked in the hotel lobby.

I wouldn’t stay here. The place was filthy from the lobby through to the rooms, and there were insects all over, especially beneath the beds. Our room was extremely cramped, had no hot water, and didn’t even have a refrigerator. I’d also be wary of the glowing reviews: the reviewer profiles look like they may have been set up by travel agents promoting this awful hotel.

The food was good, and it’s a fairly cheap, cheerful place. The parking situation put me off bringing a car, though. The valets kept shifting ours around, roughly seven times a day over three days, and I didn’t feel it was safe. They’d shown my friend a sea-view room, then put us in a box looking onto the neighboring room.

The best part of our stay was how kind and professional the staff were. After my wife thought she might have left her jewelry bag behind, she called the hotel. Osman spent hours reviewing camera footage to check that nobody had gone into our room. She eventually found the bag elsewhere, so we felt bad that he’d gone to all that trouble, but we really appreciated his help. The reception staff were welcoming from check-in, and the hotel itself was lovely, with a great location and breakfast. Thank you so much, Osman, and sorry for the bother!