(Review 1 of 2): My family (wife, 3 year old son and 1.5 year old son) stayed here in late December 2020, during our New Years trip to Istanbul.
It was a last minute booking and I’m grateful David accepted our reservation request. However, I was disappointed in the lack of communication during the check-in process. On the day of check-in, I messaged David on the Airbnb app to let him know that we had arrived at the Istanbul airport and would arrive by taxi in 40-45 minutes. I was surprised when we arrived and no on was there to greet us. I tried messaging David on the Airbnb app but received an error message. I then tried calling the phone number provided in the listing but received no response. I then called the number on WhatsApp that David had messaged me from the day prior to obtain my passport information. Luckily, David answered and informed me that Ugur and Suleyman should be there to let me in. This caught me by surprise since he didn’t mention this before. Luckily, Suleyman lived in the building next door and arrived a few minutes later to let us in and help us carry our luggage upstairs. I provided this feedback to David so this review should come as no surprise. I only mention this so the process improves and that future guests have a more seamless check-in.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay at the Orient Pearl. The apartment is very spacious and had everything we needed. It’s located off of Istiklal Avenue, which is the main shopping area and about half way between Taksim Square and Galata Tower - so the location was great.
For the next part of our trip, our family would travel to Cappadocia for 5 days but decided to return to Istanbul. Although I gave David 4-stars for this review, we decided to stay here again and to give David another opportunity.