Pros:
1. Amazing view on a bridge and Bosphorus
2. Handy location
3. Spacious apartment - comfortable enough for 4 adults.
Major cons:
1. I was staying in the apartment with my parents and they should have arrived earlier than me (the booking was on my name). I asked the host to provide me with a phone number should my parents have some problems with checking in. The host refused to provide me with a phone number but assured me that the keys will be left at the market down the street and everything will be fine. The keys were not left at the market as promised by the host, and my parents spent 2 hours outside waiting until I land and have internet access to text the host via airbnb app. In fact the keys were located in a key box, but nobody had shared the key box code until we explicitly requested that. It was messy, but got resolved eventually.
2. One day we completely ran out of water in the apartment. When we contacted the host and said that there is no water, the host said that it is a common problem in the area now and he doesn’t have an ETA for a fix. After 24 hours of suffering without water, I asked the host again (no response) and then decided to check with the neighbours about that. Turned out that all of apartments have water supply as normal. I investigated the issue myself and managed to open a water tap in the common area (that was apparently closed by someone for unknown reason, probably unpaid water supply bills). The host didn’t seem willing to come and help us with that problem at all and just said that he’s glad that the problem got resolved.
Minor cons:
1. A provided password for WiFi Network did not work. We managed to find the right password on the router
2. Second (smaller) bedroom does not have air vents or A/C. No fresh air at all when the window blind is closed.
3. The window in a smaller bedroom is not a whole glass pane, but a row of thin glass panes with 1cm gam between then, hence you can perfectly hear people’s speech in the living room, whilst in a bedroom.
4. A dishwasher doesn’t work and leaks to the floor. It wasn’t too important for us, however our help request to the host was ignored.
5. Second (smaller) bedroom - no available storage closets for personal belongings. The only one is occupied with vacuum cleaner, cleaning stuff, etc.
6. The Sofas and decorative pillows are dirty
7. There are only 3 kitchen chairs, although the apartment is for four people.
8. No wine glasses or fairly big water cups. Only 4 Turkish tea cups and 4 small cups (presumably <200 ml)
9. Window blinds in the second bedroom are partially broken
10. Sockets and and some light switches worn out
11. The apartment is in worse condition than shown on pictures.
12. The host didn’t respond to queries as promptly as other hosts usually do. Some queries were ignored. Very simple requests/questions were handled in a fast manner though.