Side Hotel in Istanbul

Horrible, Dirty, Moldy Room PLUS Creepy Manager -- AVOID!!

This was my third and FINAL stay at Hotel Ida, and things have gone horribly downhill. It is true that it was a simple, "you get what you pay for" place to stay. However, the prior staff were kind and attentive, my room was always clean, though shabby, and I really had NO complaints.

However, the prior staff have all been removed. The new manager Soner is a creepy guy who wasted no opportunity to put his hands on me inappropriately, including inappropriate hugs, attempts to squeeze my breasts, to the point of trying repeatedly to draw my hands to his crotch! He used his own key to enter my room both while I was in there (thank heavens I was dressed) AND to go in at least three times while I was gone from the hotel.

The visit started badly when the airport pickup I'd arranged and had confirmed via email was not at the airport when I arrived. I ended up having to take a taxi at extortion rates (50 euro rather than the 25 euro for the arranged ride), and I finally got to the hotel an hour and a half past when I'd made arrangements to meet friends for dinner.

When I arrived at the hotel, Soner said I didn't have a reservation and pointed out my reservation for the following weekend on his booking screen.

I told him I had reservations for two weekends in a row, and showed him the email thread with BOTH sets of confirmations, where he himself had confirmed both dates and both airport pickups, yet he still kept insisting I'd made some mistake :-/

He said he had a room for Friday night, but the hotel was booked full for Saturday night; however if I was willing to stay my second night in the room with a "technical problem" they'd give me that night for free. By this time it was nearly 9pm, and I had few options to find another place, so I took the deal.

Friday night's room was as expected, shabby, but also less clean than their rooms had been before. The sheets were clean though, so I just discarded the blanket and collapsed.

The next day, he had me move into the other room -- it was dirty, used linens on the bed and in the bathroom, and the bed and floors were covered with ants. The very sweet house cleaning man said he'd do his best with the ants, and would put clean sheets on the bed and leave fresh towels for me. So I left my suitcase in the room and went out to explore Istanbul. I waited until late to return, and was really put off by a deeper exploration of the room :-/

The ceiling was covered with mold. Soner's personal clothing items were in the armoir, his bathing sponge and soap in the shower, etc. The shower was just slimy. The toilet seat was up and ... well... gross. The ants were back.

The story gets worse and more creepy and gross, but really -- just avoid it. I ended up sitting on the edge of the bed all night reading a book, to avoid laying down in the bed with the ants, with one ear cocked to hear if he was coming down the stairs again ... I won't be back.