The Public Ortakoy

The place is quite new and beautifully decorated. Because it is an apartment rather than just a standard hotel room, it makes for a very nice place to hang out. The kitchen is perfect, and the living room is a comfortable space to spend time. The air conditioner works incredibly well, cooling down the room in just two minutes. The bed is soft and comfortable, though it is a bit small—my feet hung slightly off the edge, and I am not a particularly tall person. The staff at the reception are very nice and responsive. Overall, it is a quiet place. The hotel is well-connected to public transport: it is just a 5-minute walk from a bus stop and a 15-minute walk from the Ortakoy Pier, which offers great ferry connections to major areas in Istanbul.

The bedroom in our apartment did not have a window, and the windows in the living room just faced a wall. The hotel did offer us another apartment downstairs that had a bedroom window, but the view of the wall was even worse in that unit, so we declined the swap. Additionally, the sliding window in the living room was broken and wouldn't lock, though the staff did have it fixed within 2 to 3 days. There was also loud music outside in the evenings, so opening the window for fresh air came at the cost of peace and quiet. The hotel only offers one free bottle of water per day, and there is no option to purchase more on-site. If you need extra water, you have to buy it and bring it back from a local market yourself. The biggest issue with this hotel is that you cannot see the sky or anything else from the windows in most of the apartments. If you don't mind that, it offers good value for your money.

Location

Nothing

The best place to stay in central Istanbul. Always our 1st option. Clean, fresh and cozy rooms.

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Room facilities in general are fine and clean etc.

The sofa "bed" was approximately 1 metre long and totally inappropriate to sleep on. When asked about this we weren't permitted to upgrade even though there was a room free and we could have paid the difference. Staff really pushy afterwards on leaving a review and the location is really quite bad and far removed from anywhere.