The entire day started on the wrong foot.
I had told Ali (because we never met the other guy) that we are 6 adult and 2 kids and each one of us has a suitcase and a double stroller so I had asked for a big minivan to pick us up from airport. He assured me of that but when we got to the airport,we had a minivan that can barely fit half of our luggage. Then somehow,another van appeared and the driver after talking to our driver said we’ll take you. So my husband went with the second driver but there was another passenger sitting in the front seat and when my husband asked who that person is,the driver responded ‘oh just a friend’. We take off and we find out half way through that the passenger wasn’t a friend but an actual passenger that needed to be dropped off at his hotel. And that the van actually belonged to the hotel. So we lost about 1/2 hour in Istanbul Miserable traffic with 2 crying kids in the back. We get to the apt or that’s what we thought. Apparently,we were taken to a different apartment than what we had initially booked. Ali insisted that he sent me the link to that but the link somehow wasn’t working. He should know and Airbnb should be aware that this is actually illegal.
The whole thing was a mess. We told Ali about the second driver and what had happened and that he should ask for his money back (50 euros since he paid the driver in advance). He assured us that what happened was unacceptable and that we shouldn’t worry about it anymore. Before leaving the apt the next day he texts me saying that he talked to the driver and the company and that they agreed that we should pay 40 euros instead of 50. We decided not to pay for the ride which caused a huge disagreement with Ali.
The location of the apt is amazing but the apartment itself was not good at all. Dirty (we found chicken bones on one of the rooms). Full of dust and you can tell the place hasn’t been vacuumed in some time. Smelly bathrooms. AC in the living area wasn’t working and you can imagine the heat in Istanbul in mid June.
Again I had told Ali we were 8 total and he only had 2 covers in the entire house.
I definitely wouldn’t stay here again and wouldn’t recommend this place to anybody