This is a new apartment complex in the Levant area of Istanbul. As it is a new apartment, the apartment itself is very up to date and clean. I believe this is a full-time AirBnB (no one lives in it usually) and I was the first guest to stay in it, so it was a little troublesome at first, but once the issues were resolved, it was a good stay.
Overall, the lack of communication was my biggest issue with my stay overall. The value was good and issues like mine (no wifi, no minimum essentials) should not be an issue for others as I was the first guest.
Apartment / Listing:
The unit is nice and clean. The building is a little strange. The gym is pretty gross, dark, and in the sixth floor of the basement with little lighting. I would not trust the pool or spa/sauna. The neighborhood is not that nice - it is primarily surrounded by giant office buildings. If you’re visiting for fun, I would recommend staying further south in an area like Taksim or Galata.
Host:
I did not interact much with the owner of the unit, and instead worked primarily with one of his property managers. Both preferred to chat via text off of the Airbnb platform. I don’t think is too unusual, but because there were some issues, I was worried that if I needed to escalate to AirBnB, I would not have proof of communication.
Issues which concerned me:
- The owner did not initially allow me to change the duration of my stay from 13 days to 10 days, with 2+ weeks notice. I had to persuade / insist, and he tried to get me to cancel my entire reservation and instead pay him off of the platform. (Taxi drivers on Uber tried to do this as well so I am not sure if this is common). Eventually he did accept my change but it was worrisome.
- I stayed for 10 days but did not have WiFi for the first 3. Each day I would ask and would be told that the wifi would be activated soon. Poor communication, and the owner never responded to my questions, only the property manager.
-it is a new listing and when I arrived there was very little in the apartment. A sofa and a bed but no utensils, cups, plates, paper towels or toilet paper. All of these were eventually supplied, but I was told they “do not normally provide toilet paper as this is not a hotel or a residence.”