Hotel Arcadia Blue Istanbul

We had a very bad experience with this hotel. When we arrived, the man on reception took full payment immediately for four nights on my Monzo card, then suddenly declared that payment had not gone through and Monzo does not work in Turkey - this is nonsense as I used Monzo for my entire trip, from restaurants to shops to taxis. His behaviour became hysterical and I showed him the transaction on my banking app but he asked for payment again on my other bank card. When I said I could surely not be expected to pay again, he started to yell and cancelled our booking, leaving four women to find alternative accommodation close to midnight in a foreign country. In other words, he threw us out as I refused to pay twice. Many hotels do not even charge until guests are about to check out, but this man fully charged us, did not allow us to even sit down after travelling across the world and then tried to charge again. His behaviour was that of an irrational beast and he made us feel very unsafe. Luckily, we found rooms next door in the Hotel Lady Diana and were treated well (otherwise what kind of impression of Turkey would this give us?) This was down to me being able to afford to pay for an additional hotel. Many people would not be able to do this and be left on the street in a very dangerous situation. A few hours later, the man from Arcadia Blue refunded my payment, proving that it had gone through and he had created this nasty and dangerous situation for no reason at all. It is disgusting that a hotel like this is able to operate and that there are men in the world who treat others like this, especially a group of women alone at night. He did not even allow me to use his phone to try to contact my bank. Shame on this hotel.

On June 22, 2026 I emailed their Reservation Department explaining that, due to health reasons, we were unable to keep our reservation in August. I asked if they would please allow us to change our reservation to March of 2027 and apply the payment we had already made to the new reservation. I heard nothing back, so on July 10th I re-sent the email, in case they never received it. To date I haven't received any response. I am VERY disappointed with the customer service at this hotel. Even if they were unable to accommodate my request, ignoring a guest is unprofessional and disrespectful.

We had an amazing time in Istanbul. The location of the hotel could not be better. We were lucky to have beautiful view of Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia from our hotel room. Short walking distance to most of the main attractions in the old town. Above all hotel offered superb hospitality. The hotel staff are super friendly, yet extremely professional. Special thanks to Batu. He made our stay fantastic.