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This hotel is a huge rip off. First there description of the property is a joke - the picture posted has either side blurred - for a good reason: it is in an Istanbul ghetto of refugees and the surrounding buildings are trashed out properties. First of all - it is described on travel sites as a 4 star hotel with fine dining, concierge service and bell captain - WHOA - this is NOT a 4 star hotel by any stretch of the imagination. There is no restaurant, no bell captain nor any concierge service. As you enter from the street, there is a very small reception with a desk and one person occasionally seated there - only one of whom speaks English. After being blown away by the first impression of the area when you are dropped off by your shuttle driver, you are shown to your room. I must say however, the rooms were clean and the beds very comfortable. However, the view from the room (we had two rooms) is more than depressing. You basically are looking into slum properties kitchen or delapidated roof tops. In the back rooms you are overlooking a "court yard" strewn with garbage and sundry items which have been thrown out of the windows of the slum apartments directly across the windows. There is NO restaurant but the top floor does have a prep area and four tables where you receive breakfast. The kitchen consists of a hotel plate sitting on a folding table - no refrigerator. There is a small balcony but sitting there just affords you a better view of the slums across the street. Nothing appetizing about that scenario in the least. I was also disappointed when we went to check out and the "shuttle service" was added to our bill which was double what either a taxi or arranging for a shuttle independently from the airport would have cost. The final insult to the entire experience was while waiting for our shuttle to return us to the airport, I had laid my coat on the only chair in the reception, however, when the shuttle arrived, in the haste to load our luggage, I forgot my coat. Upon arrival at the airport 20 minutes later, I discovered I had left my coat. I immediately called the hotel who claimed that it wasn't there. I followed up with several emails inquiring about the coat - none of which were answered - and finally had a local friend call to inquire. They claimed that the coat was not there and I must have left it somewhere else. Bear in mind, at any time, there were only 2 employees on the property. Therefore I can only deduce that one of these employees decided that they needed my coat and helped themselves. This is not a property that has traffic and the reception room is so small that no one could have stolen the coat without the person sitting at the desk seeing. Terrible, disappointing experience. Making the experience even more aggravating was another guest with whom we ate breakfast the first morning decided that she was not going to remain at the hotel and left for another hotel. She ended up in a beautiful little boutique hotel in a very nice neighborhood right by all the tourist spots - for less money!!!! Very bad experience and when I contacted the travel site about the deceptive advertising - the answer was that they only accept the descriptions that the hotels provide them and are unwilling to change it. It's very sad that travellers are victimized like this.

We stayed in the Amber Suites for 5 days and were pleasantly surprised by it's cleanliness and level of service, as well as it's location. Whoever described the area as a ghetto has probably offended half of Istanbul!The hotel is located in a vibrant area full of backstreets with restaurants, other hotels and small corner shops. Just up the hill is the 'shoe district' with every shop selling shoes of all styles.There's a number of good fish restaurants across the road and you can visit the fish market with a 5 minute walk.Even if you're staying in a central hotel, the area is well worth a visit to walk around and soak up a bit of atmosphere without the crowds or queues. It feels very safe and everyone is willing to help and give directions, etc.Walking into the central tourist area is an interesting 10 minute walk or 15 minute taxi drive (it's the traffic).The hotel itself was clean, tidy and looks like it's been refurbished in the last year or so. The staff were very friendly and helpful and available at all times.As has been mentioned, there is a small clothing factory next door but we found that they only worked from 9 - 5 and didn't intrude into our evenings. We were more interested to see what they were making.The beds were very comfortable and the shower and toilet worked well.The breakfast/sun lounge on the top floor gave lovely views over the sea. Breakfast included a good variety in the continental style and tea/coffee and water always seemed to be available.All in all, we had a great stay here and would return to carry on our exploring again.

We booked a deal and didn't pay an awful lot for it so we were not expecting the Ritz! Admittedly the hotel was in the middle of ghetto land and the view from the bedroom window was less than salubrious, but the hotel had been recently re-furnbished and was clean and comfortable. I certainly didn't go to Istanbul to sit and look out of a bedroom window so it was of no consequence to me what was there!!!! Yes, there was a factory next door and one night I had to go downstairs and ask the night receptionist to get them to stop, but as soon as the phone call was made the banging and clattering ended! Let's face it, you only have to ask, the guy was very apologetic and did as I politely asked!Breakfast was adequate and the view from the breakfast room at the top of the hotel was superb! There was free coffee and drinking water available all day and night.The main attractions were about a kilometre walk away and most of it was uphill to get there, but you had the pleasure of going downhill on the way back!I'd probably stay at the Amber Suites again if I ever went back to Istanbul. The staff were very friendly and welcoming, which means more to me than surroundings and aethestics.

We booked this hotel for 5 nights for our stay in Istanbul. We were quite dissapointed since we had expected the 4 stars hotel not that 2 stars hotel. Otherwise I would not pay that much for this kind of hotel. To reach this hotel from airport by tram is not hard but I would not recommend this hotel if u have a big luggage since u have to walk down the hill and the way back ... of course ... up the hill! If u have only small backpack then it's no problem. Actually the room looked nice, cleaned like the advertising photos and the toilet was also cleaned. We also got some fruits and one red wine on our arrival. Unfortunately it's pretty noisy all the time!!! That has bothered us a lot because we could never expect any single night without noise.!!! They didn't change new towels for us during that 5 days and we got soap, shampoo and conditioner only one time on arrival. Breakfast is on the terrace with the beautiful view of Marmara Sea. But again there were only 4 tables that was not enough for all the guests so u might have to stand if u want to have breakfast there. Not only tables and chairs that were limited in number but also the breakfast itself. There were always small amount of bread and may be 3 pieces of sausages or empty dish of something. Even we were there for 5 days, we had to asked everyday for bread or sausage or egg and I felt that it's kind of uncomfortable to repeat it everyday. First we've asked for sausage the they will go to the shop next door to buy one pack of sausage and come back to cook it. So all the process took such a lot of time. Even we tried once to be there since the start of breakfast, the food there would be enough for only 4 small portions. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The location is good, not far from Blue Mosque and also close to Grand Bazaar, but keep in mind ... everytime u have to walk up the hill!!! Hope this help :)

Next door to a factory, continious and repetitive bang bang thump thump thump till 20 past 10 at night. If you want a quiet holiday find somewhere else.Despite making a reservation we were obviously not expected.Breakfast very average.