I had very high expectations and unfortunately they got betrayed.
I’m a smoker and strangely the listing doesn’t say one word about it. So far I could smoke all over Turkey , even in four stars hotels!
When I arrived, I was given a very tiny room and on a wall a big sign says “no smoking”. I found that strange since I know that Airbnb gives the opportunity to specify if a place allows guests to smoke or not. With some regrets, after a long day walking, I closed myself in the ultra tiny bathroom, put ventilation on and smoked a cigarette (even in no smoking hotels the bathroom is, for understandable reasons, the tolerated area!). Not even 5 minutes later the man at the reception called me asking if I was smoking in the bathroom because people staying in the upstairs room could smell cigarette smoke coming from their ventilation. I replied that the hotel has a very poor ventilation system, and that surely doesn’t respect the standard codes since as they can smell smoke they can smell everything else!
My point is: after almost two years of restrictions the last thing I want to do is having a vacation with limitations! I respect all choices but these should be listed and never hidden because if I had known it in advance I had definitely booked a different place.
True, I could smoke on the terrace, actually on the tiny upper terrace!
BTW, the woman serving breakfast there was kind of rude and I will spare you the details as I informed the man at the reception (first time that I didn’t tip in a hotel in Turkey).
However, as for the breakfast, it is not the one displayed in the listing and, more importantly, doesn’t include coffee…. Just chai or Nescafé. The bread consists of 3 slices of white western bread - first time in Turkey I couldn’t enjoy the fabulous Turkish bread. The breakfast has some egg redundancy versus lack of yogurt or fresh juice. Not to mention that in Turkey the first thing you always get is a bottle of water. At Marmara’s there is a water dispenser where you can fill up a glass… I was filling my empty battle.
Few more things to notice is that the listing mentions a refrigerator in the room ( in my room there was not), an iron (I found none). My bathroom had water leaking from both under shower and toilet.
Unfortunately, the handheld shower head fell down from a non-dedicated holder. When I switched the valve from tab to shower, under the pressure of water it fell down and got broken. I informed the man at the reception.
As per the location, it is alright if you intend to spend one night just to visit the surrounding area otherwise it is too far from other beautiful areas and you would be better off at the wonderful neighborhood of Cihangir in the Beyoğlu district, which is where I started my trip.
Next time in Istanbul I will definitely experience the soft and calm Asian side.