My husband and I are both cat lovers. And it’s a good thing, because this apartment building and unit are literally overrun with street cats. They are in the building hallway & come in through the enclosed porch window, and hang out in the porch attached to the master bedroom. If you make the mistake of leaving the interior windows or the balcony doors open, they will also come into the unit. In theory, this is adorable, we are from NYC which is overrun with rats, so part of Istanbul’s unique charm is the abundance of street cats in lieu of rats. In practice though, the male cats pee and spray all over everything and the stench is unbearable. Özge gave us no warning whatsoever that we the cats would try to come in, even though this had apparently been an issue for previous air bnb'ers. The entire building WREAKS of cat urine, immediately upon entry however.
Only after we complained, did she tell us the previous tenants had let the cats roam freely & sleep inside the unit and they had scented everything in the place. All of the furniture and fabric had stench, however, no deep cleaning had taken place prior to our arrival that we could see. One of the pillows, left on our bed, had fresh cat pee on it which we only discovered by sleeping on it the first night. To compound this problem, the apartment itself is cluttered with junk, there is unnecessary clutter in nearly every corner - at least 10 dead plants, and a glass window pane on the porch is smashed out. The shower head attachment was broken, the television had no remote control & could not be turned on, despite it being listed as an amenity. When we asked about these things, the shower was repaired, but the tv remote never manifested and the "cat problem" was never effectively solved. What would have been appropriate here is a full or partial refund, or at the very least an actual deep clean done by professionals. Õzge is a nice person though, and she is clearly brand new at being a hostess, so we did not want to be overly difficult. Although we did have an amazing bond with some of the kitties, overall, this unit is not suitable for renting in its current condition.
The neighborhood is adorable though and the apartment is very large. Perhaps if Özge invested in hiring a professional fabric deep cleaning company, and a decorator who could help rid her of some of the unnecessary junk, she could get the unit to a suitable condition for guests. All that aside, we do wish Özge and the backyard cat colony the best.