Elijah Otel

At first, things seemed okay. It wasn’t a great hotel, but nothing immediately stood out as a serious problem. The free breakfast had plenty of choices, and our room had a TV, heater, and balcony. The main issue came when my brother, who has a medical condition, got blood on the sheets. The manager asked us for 900 Turkish lira (£18) to replace them. We were told they were high quality, but it’s hard to understand why they couldn’t be washed. One worker said guests are usually charged when they stain the bedding. If that happens often, it should be in the room rules or explained to guests. We also felt the replacement charge was too high. We could have warned them beforehand, but blood should still be possible to clean from sheets. The shower pressure was very weak, and the temperature seemed to jump between very hot and very cold. I had to turn the knob slowly to find a setting that wouldn’t burn my skin. Our bathroom door lock was broken too. Some furniture came apart with almost no effort: the bedside tables pulled away easily, and the towel hooks broke on the second day. I suspect we’d have been charged for those as well if we’d asked for repairs. The balcony setup felt unsafe. A bridge connects it to the neighboring balcony, so someone could cross into your room if the door wasn’t shut properly. The manager didn’t tell us that the lock only works when the door is fully closed and the handle points down. The hotel advertised a pool outside and in its listings, but it stayed empty for our entire visit. There are things to do nearby, like hiking in the mountains or going to the beach, but the hotel itself offers little beyond somewhere to sleep. One of the rules also says you can’t eat in your room. After raising the bedding charge, the manager responded that we should have told them about the blood and said we were trying to extort the hotel. That didn’t address the other problems: the poor shower, things falling apart, the balcony bridge, or the pool being unusable. My impression was that the hotel uses different ways to get money from guests, while advertising a pool that was never available.