The First Ottoman Suites

Just like the other reviews above I experienced the horrible cancellation situation with this owner in June of this year. He owns a couple of properties with similar names right next to each other in that Fatih-Kumkapi area. I had booked two rooms thru *********** at the First Ottoman Dream for my family of six. As the reservation time got closer and while I was en route on the flight to Istanbul from USA it appeared that my CC was not going thru for this reservation. I called my bank and they told me that there had been no attempt to charge and that the card was active. I updated the CC on the *********** reservation at least twice during my layover. I even contacted *********** and the property. The next messages I wouldn't see until I landed in Istanbul with my family and kids. Apparently the CC still had not gone thru. I messaged the property that the same CC is working perfectly for my other purchases, I even tried to use another CC but that failed too. I informed the property that I am on the way in the Havalines taxi from the airport and that I will pay at the property. I did not get any response. As I got to the main Kumkapi fountain square where the hotel and all the restaurants are the taxi driver called the property for its exact location while we're all packed up in his taxi van with our luggage, the owner of the property informed us that the reservation had been cancelled due to non payment and he had given our rooms to someone else. He also did not have anything else for us and we should go elsewhere. As I questioned him he got very rude and started yelling on the phone. Imagine, I'm in a new country with my children and luggage, stranded on the main square, nowhere to go. This is a very congested area. I just froze and could not process what had just happened and what to do next. I do not wish such helplessness on anyone. The Havalines driver was a very nice gentleman. He started walking around asking at the other hotels in the neighborhood and we were lucky to find two rooms for four nights at the Golden Sand Hotel after pleading with them. I tried to leave a review on *********** but since my reservation was cancelled, the site won't let me leave a review. I have informed *********** about this fraud property. It seems that this guy has made this a practice. For putting me and my family thru hell I literally curse this owner. For a few bucks he's putting tired and helpless travelers in a very hard and difficult situation in a new country. I loved Turkey and we'll go back. We also went to Cappadocia. But this was the one blemish on the overall great experience.

what I was afraid of happened. Booked this premises 6 months ago because of its down town location and already noticed in some reviews that they cancelled last minute due to credit card issues. So had a local friend calling them to check out if that would be a risk. Hotel staff told her then not to worry as this mostly happend only with Russian tourists. Then one week before going there I received the first credit card decline message so updated again my credit card details (while it worked perfectly on another international trip that week…). Also decided to call the hotel ensuring everything was ok but had to call them multiple time before getting a grumpy guy on the phone whom told me immediately call back later that day. When doing so I could not get hold of anybody and then it happened what I already afraid for…they cancelled the booking 2 days before and could not get hold of anybody anymore…If there would not be any other reviews I would think this hotel was just a scam. Even my local friend whom called said the person was rude (in local language) and was suspicious about this hotel. So had to book a last minute hotel (large hotel chain this time) for a family of 5. Terrible experience and would not recommend this experience to anybody.