Ready for my trip report! This was a sudden booking as I had cancelled my original booking at the Sheraton City Center a few days prior as I was unsure whether I would make it to IST due to Lufthansa cancellations. Well, I made it to IST only 2 hours later than originally scheduled and needed a hotel for the night. As this property was only 10 EUR more than the Sheraton and closer in to the city, I decided to try it out. Grabbing an Uber, which was just a taxi, from the airport worked well as I was able to pay with my Uber account, and the driver was friendly and efficient with getting me right in front of the hotel all for only $23 USD. Overall, I enjoyed the property, but build quality and cleanliness issues hold it back. Here are my pros, cons, and photos:

Pros:

• Upgraded to a Grand Deluxe King upon arrival (looked larger than other rooms on the fire map) - no suites available online when I booked
• The room styling is quite attractive - especially the color of the chairs and stone in the bathroom
• The bed was two mattresses pushed together but was honestly really comfortable - plush mattress, plush covers, soft linens, and plush pillows (two of them, and two were more firm) - I slept quite well
• TV did have Internet TV OS - though, the YouTube app was bizarre - seemed like a weird frontend to a website I had never seen before, but it worked
• Shower pressure was fine - wasn't strong, but not too weak
• Delivered a bowl of fruit about 15 minutes after arrival
• Offered both 1000 points and free breakfast
• Offered 4 PM late checkout
• Service was quite friendly - both associates at check-in were very chatty about travel and Istanbul hotels, escorted to my room, restaurant staff came up several times to check on me
• Breakfast was a nice, but not overly large, buffet
  • Tasty scrambled eggs - really good flavor
  • Lots of nice cheeses - liked the halloumi
  • Pretty good pastries
• EUR-TRY exchange rate used at billing was very fair

Cons:

• Poor housekeeping - lots of hairs - some folded into linens, a few on the exposed parts of the beds (not under the covers), some in the drawers - floors were also kind of dusty based on my feet
• View was pretty poor - it is Istanbul, but still...
• Noise isolation from the hallway was poor - not many guests on a floor, but could hear housekeepers as they parked their cart outside of my room
• Shower smelled quite poor on arrival after I opened the door (similar to the smells I encountered at W Doha and Pantheon Rome), but unlike the others, the smell went away after running the shower once
• Floor paneling would raise from the floor as you often heard glue sounds when walking

Overall, I liked the bed, service, and breakfast, but the housekeeping problems weren't the most appealing. I don't have enough data points to know if I need to lower my standards for Istanbul, but still, some increased focus on this department could really improve the overall guest experience.

Photos: