Summary: Perfect location for sightseeing & very responsive and kind host. We would stay again.
We were looking for a place where we can visit major places (blue mosque, hagia sophia, etc) by foot during our 4-day layover at Istanbul. It’s about a 7 minute walk to blue mosque with maybe 30m of uphill walking. Very convenient for a short exploration of Istanbul historic area. Also we needed an early check-in. I checked with the host and he had no problem with that, which was one of the reasons we booked this place. We had a lot of luggage and were with three kids (two of them are infant twins!). By the time we were taking the airport bus(Havaist) at Istanbul airport, Beyazıt bus station was not available (I think the Beyazit bus station stops the service at 930am and restarts at 9pm) so we ended up going to Aksaray station instead (52TL per person). It's about a 30 minute walk from the Aksaray station to the hotel, but I recommend taking a cab or tram especially if you have a lot of luggage as the road is bumpy and involves uphill. But it's a fun walk to see local vendors and shopping areas if you like walking and have a light backpack. Once we got there, the host gave us the lowest floor and helped us move bags. The place had a balcony where we could dry the laundry. We ate at local restaurants - I highly recommend a place called İmren Lokantasi Kadirga around the corner. This place was filled with locals and was the best among various restaurants we tried during our stay. They rotate the menu and the breakfast soup was my favorite.
On the way out, we needed help to get a cab to the bus stop. The host was worried that the cab wouldn't be willing to take us there as we had a lot of luggage with 3 kids and he offered a ride to the bus stop - very kind of him!! It saved us a lot of time and energy. There was a lot going on with three kids in the morning, and I forgot to return the key which I discovered at the bus stop right after the host dropped us off. I was going to take a tram to return the key but the host turned around and came back to pick up the key. Thank you again =) Traveling with three kids is hard but we saw many cool places and ate delicious food in Istanbul. And the kind host made our trip more enjoyable - we'd like to come back!