Hotel Ilkay Istanbul

Pros: Located about 5 minutes walk from major tourist attractions, but so are many other hotels.
Cons: Unpleasant desk clerk, dirt in corners and behind doors, poorly heated rooms, smoke smell everywhere.

This hotel provided disappointing accommodation in Istanbul. The worst incident was that the reception desk clerk suddenly became extremely unpleasant toward me at checkout when I could not understand what he was trying to say. He began shouting at me and threatening to refuse to allow me to leave the hotel (I had already paid). At one stage he and the porter tried to grab hold of my bag and to block my access to the door. Thus, a mere language confusion rapidly descended into a frightening experience, but apart from that, I found it to be extremely unprofessional and discourteous behavior on the part of the hotel staff.