Carlton Hotel Old City

Lighting in the hotel was very dim. Would be better if it was brighter.

Where do I begin, to express the amount of troubles I had with Carlton Hotel Istanbul. At the check in, receptionist made mistake, charging my account twice for the stay. After I notice that, I went down to show him that mistake have been made on my account and there was a duplicate charge for my stay.He was keep repeating that he done nothing, I asked two other receptionists if they could correct the mistake, but they were kinda getting angry, I asked for manager but he/she was never seem to be there. Long story short, manager promised refund by email,but I never received it. Have to do chargeback trough bank to get my money back. Only good thing I find about this hotel is location. Generally, it's very dark everywhere, hallways, entrance, breakfast room. My room was not properly cleaned.AC not maintained, very loud, TV was working first 2 days, after that was gone.There were holes in curtains, I presume from cigarettes, as on the windowsill there was a lot of ash. Carpets were desperate looking, furniture as well. Cleaning staff was nice, they left fresh towels every day and toiletries, but cleaning was not up to standard for 4 star hotel. Bathroom is small, sewage smell from toilet, shower was leaking, bathroom was full of water after every shower. Breakfast room was very dark, you can barely see what you are eating. Food had strange taste, juices tasteless, some of them very sugary.Coffee was fine. There is a tipping box in breakfast room, but it is self service, so I don't quite understand the concept of that. I really cannot understand ,how is this hotel classiffied 4 star. I stayed in 2 Carlton hotels before in different countries, and they were spotless. I should have trusted reviews of this hotel, and not made booking ,solely relying on the name of it. Do yourself favour and book better place to stay.Istanbul is a beautiful city!

Terrible - we were scammed by the reception staff as we left the hotel. We asked them to order a taxi and upon leaving were told to pay the reception staff for it, who would then pay the driver the fee (receptionist was older with chin length hair). We got in the taxi and he started driving away only to confirm it was x amount. We told him we had paid the reception staff, as instructed, he then pulled over and ran inside angrily. Thankfully he managed to get the money back, however the reception staff conned us out of £10 worth (in Turkish money) as they gave him less than they’d told us it would cost. As soon as we arrived back in the uk we called our travel agent, who then raised it as a complaint with the hotel, who classically denied any knowledge of this. Nothing was resolved. Also had a terrible experience with staff and guests chain smoking in the hotel despite it being illegal (staff confirmed it was) which led to my partner having an asthma attack and me (who has no breathing problems) struggling. Don’t stay here.