Mansion by Cheers

The owner spent five minutes, humiliating one of his employees, not realizing that I could hear what he was saying. He was cruel and called her stupid girl and dumb girl, and went on and on, and she looked like she was going to cry. There is no excuse for the way he spoke to her. When he noticed that I was looking at him, he smiled as if nothing was wrong. I was upset and asked him if he spoke to his mother and sisters that way, and he got very angry and got in my face and started yelling “adieu!” as I left. I am so glad I didn’t stay long enough to check in, I found another place close by . Also, if you check different hotel review sites, you’ll see that this place is filthy with stained sheets and countless customers who start their review with the word “scam!”. This owner is threatening and cruel to his employees, I wish him nothing but misfortune.

The Local and Emre the host were beyond fantastic and we could not have been happier with our stay there, excellent location just as excellent locals and local facilities- would happily stay again - in fact unlikely to stay anywhere else

Firstly we booked as it was described as a boutique BnB it’s clearly not. It’s a hostel. The pictures looked great but in reality it really wasn’t. On arrival we entered a very small foyer and were warmly welcomed with apple tea. There were renovation works happening which the owner apologized about, and soon we were sat next to a man who was welding some metal 😂. Going to our room we were warned about the wet paint on the banister however inevitably one of the family managed to get paint on them selves. The room was ok, and it was warm which was good considering the appalling weather outside. There was however a ice cold breeze coming through the window which I had to block with a towel. The room was very basic, no tea/coffee or water. The bath room looked great in re pics but was cold and moldy and if you had a shower in the morning the water was cold. On day one we were asked to stay out of the building until after 5pm as someone was painting the stairs, this was annoying as it was very cold and didn’t stop raining. Breakfast was not served in our building, we had to walk to another, no big deal. The quality of breakfast was very poor, on day 2 we gave it a miss and in day 3 there was no power or heating in the breakfast terrace, so no hot drinks to start off what was a freezing cold day. On the whole it was disappointing due to the nice instagram type pictures, in reality it was a bit poor. On the plus side the staff were friendly and also gave us an extra duvet for the double bed when we informed them we only had a single. Not for me, I like to get some value for my money.

I booked 3 nights in this "bed and breakfast' because from the pictures of the website was very nice and cozy. But once we arrived, OH MY GOD! NIGHTMARE, everything was so old and dirty, disgusting bathroom, dirty floor, literally everything dirty! Very poor breakfast with dirty dishes and cups. Just the location was ok because very close to the city centre. A nightmare to forget. Never again.

I never had a problem with a Hostel in Istanbul before, but this hostel was disappointing to the point we tried to leave half way through our stay, even at the cost of having already paid for all of it. It was the worst part of our experience in Istanbul. We took 2 rooms, the top floor (which because it had a terrace it cost double than the others) and the next one on the steps below. Both had serious drainage issues in their bathrooms, stinking like clogged up drain the 10 days we were there. The bathroom shower sprayed water like steam, and it went from intense heat to intense cold, it was dangerously slippery for my mother and the ceiling was built with styrofoam. I woke up every day in a bad mood because of the bathroom. It was early spring and the top room was freezing, it also didn't help that the door to the terrace was damaged and it opened on its own, letting the cold air in as well as anyone that might be in the next door terrace. They gave us stained towels, there was no trash can in the room, the breakfast was very much below average in relation to other hostels we visited, as was the lounging area. The owner, who was there all day, happened to be occasionally sassy when we asked him something, and reminded us this was a hostel and not a hotel when we brought up these issues. Even with all this mess you could stay there, but not for the price they ask, maybe the value for money was the worst part. We couldn't move out because it was Ramadan season and there were no other places, but in the 4 times I've been to Istanbul I have not stayed in a worse hostel, that's why I was compelled to write this review.

Stayed here for three nights and had a very enjoyable stay. The owner Emre is very warm and welcoming and a mine of great information on what to do. The place itself is a cool little bohemian building and the private room I stayed in was nice and cosy with warm wooden panelling on the walls. Breakfast was delicious too. Overall I would definitely recommend The Local!