Originally Posted by hfly

Petter, a bit of what you say is valid, the rest quite frankly ridiculous. There are about THIRTY Hilton properties in Istanbul, you stayed in 2.

Regarding public transportation, while the situation is far better than a decade ago, Istanbul's public transportation is not all that great and integrated yet, so quite frankly other than one or two well trodden routes, there is not really any great public transport that is really ideal for a tourist such as yourself, and one can have challenges looking for the wonderful integrated public transportation that you are looking for at any hotel. Being an Istanbullite myself, I can tell you that even pre-Covid, I for example onto take one form/route of public transportation, and even that infrequently and only when it is agreeable to where I am going. Most people of a certain means who live here, or just travel here just take taxis, and the "Uber" you ordered is just simply a taxi, as traditional uber has been withdrawn from the Turkish market for some time now, even if you were on top of a metro station or by a bus stop it would have done you little good. In any case a taxi driver ripping you off has nothing to with the hotel you are staying in, does it? Lastly, you stay in an extremely touristy area in Turkey, and hang out in a touristy area in Turkey, you are bound to get restaurant workers and the like to try and get your business. like it or not, that is how it is, irrespective of which hotel you choose to stay in in such areas. FYI, all the renovated/restored hotels and boutiquey hotels in the area you stayed in have the same issues regarding insulation and noise.

Taksim and Sishane are fine for people who want to stay in those areas, SH is great, not so big on the PP. However I normally suggest that people stay somewhere on the Bosphorus.