Saratoga Hotel Sultanahmet

The staff, its location, breakfast

Nothing

Everything about the hotel was amazing. The room was very cozy and had an amazing view of blue mosque and partial sea view. The price was also good value for money. Although small, the hotel has everything you need for your stay. The staff kept the rooms clean always and always went above and beyond. The staff at check in were exceptional, especially Enes who was helpful and kind and very informative about areas to visit in Istanbul as well as general advice. Couldn't recommend enough and would definitely come back.

No negatives! very minor improvement would be having a phone in the reception but the whatsapp message service to the reception was extremely responsive nevertheless.

Great value for money, location in heart of old area and meters away form sultan ahmad mosque, nice premises and very supporting staff with great breakfast and service .

Like most of the small properties there the noise form the street is staying till late night but it is not major, no cupboard for cloth just hangers and rest is all great

Location was good, had a sea view from the balcony, breakfast good and you could get a coffee anytime from reception. Room was good size.

They demanded i pay cash at the desk, so I had Turkish Lira ready, arrived and the guy at reception starts tapping away at his calculator, in which I asked what he is doing, he refers me to a screen showing very poor exchange rates. Basically they are running a bureau de chanfe type fiddle at the desk so they can charge you more. Mystifying and really annoying. Still don't know what currency they was exchanging from to TL. I was quoted on Booking £86 but actually paid closer to £93. That's around 9% on top which I think is out of order. By the way, when I booked a sea view room I received a greeting message from them and I replied confirming the sea view. 'Depends on availability' they said. I had to demand they honour what I'd booked. Suggest you take a screenshot of what you select before you confirm it AND verify you will get the room you booked. I don't like this tricky behaviour. I book in good faith but from thereon they just tried to get the better of me. I am going back to Istanbul in May but won't stay there again despite its good points. On another note, withdrawing cash in Istanbul is mega expensive, so do your homework on that too.