Hotel El Blanco

the hotel is filthy with no reception. It was a lost money, fortunately I stayed only one night. Please avoid the mistake I made by estimating the value of the hotel by viewing only the rate and number of views in tripadviser, I advise the travelers to read only the latest views, those views give more accurate information about the value of any hotel.

From the moment we arrived I knew we had made the wrong decision to book this hotel. No one was there to check us in when we arrived. Someone from the adjoining restaurant came over (after we waited a few minutes) to give us our room key, and told us that the attendant will be there in half an hour to check us in (so we will need to come back down). I asked if we could do it in the morning. He snapped and rudely said “what’s the problem, it’s only 20 minutes!!” Shocked, I explained that we were extremely tired (it was after 11pm) and we had been travelling for hours and just wanted to sleep. He said ok. I went up to my room and showered. I had just put my pyjamas on when I got a knock at the door. It was the attendant asking for my passport to check me in saying that the other guy “forgot to scan my passport.” I asked if it could be done in the morning as I was no in my pyjamas. He wouldn’t budge, so I had to go downstairs, in my pyjamas where everyone could see me. They say breakfast starts at 8am. It does not!!!! We got up with the plan to eat breakfast and leave by 8.30 to go wait in line for Hagia Sophia. We got downstairs (and saw the attendant passed out on a couch) and there was no food to be seen. We walked around and found a lady in the kitchen and asked, so pointed us to the man sleeping. Finally she came up and woke him up. He then said breakfast would be out in 20 minutes. This wasn’t enough time for us (it was 8.15 at this time) and so we left. The following day, we got up again, went down stairs and found him sleeping again. But this time there was some food out, but not everything and no tea or juice. The following day breakfast wasn’t out until well after 8.30 again, with food staggering out as we sat. The food is basic as it is. Some bread, spreads (jam, honey etc), French fries, scrambled eggs) and some cookies. No fruit or yogurt! Oh, and let’s not forget the cats roaming everywhere while you are trying to eat!!! Our room was never serviced, except for 2 of the 5 nights where we received a new bath matt. No new towels, just the bath mat. And if you are expecting wifi in your room,don’t! There was no in room wifi available. Only in the lobby. They say there is wifi in the room. But it never worked! I would never ever stay here again. I hoped you don’t make my mistake!

Do not stay here if you like good service, hot showers, your room made up, breakfast served on time or WiFi in your room! Their idea of making up your room is leaving a new bath mat every couple of days. Legit, that’s all they did. We did not once receive new, clean towels or have the bed made or new soap provided... only a new bath mat twice in our 5 night stay. The internet is only available in the lobby (one ripped lounge that the night receptionist sleeps on). It says that there is WiFi upstairs but this never once connected for me. The sign at reception says breakfast starts at 8. So on our first morning we went down stairs around 8:10 am... No food. No lights on.. no one around except for the man on reception duty asleep on the lounge. Eventually he woke and when we asked him about breakfast he looked around.. as he went to say 8:30 we pointed to the sign that said 8:00. He looked around a little more and called out to the cook/cleaner then told us this would be twenty minutes. We went elsewhere. The next day breakfast was ready when we went down at 8:15 (the following day, however, it was closer to 8:30). The breakfast was okay at best... but pretty typical. However, there was no coffee (except for a pouch of instant coffee- but I couldn’t see the hot water) and very burnt tea that not even some milk could save. It would have been nice if there was some fruit or yogurt. The tables were disgustingly dirty... clearly left over food from the previous nights dinner service was stuck on the table cloths and the seats not wiped down(breakfast is served in the adjoining restaurant). There is also cats all over the place where breakfast is served.. the staff don’t make much of an effort to stop them from meowing at your feet as you eat. We arrived to this hotel late (close to 11pm) and when we arrived there was no one at reception. The restaurant is adjoining however no one came to our assistance. After a few minutes one man did and said that the he would give us the key to our room but we will have to come back down in 20 minutes to check in. When we asked if we could check in in the morning he rolled his eyes and said ‘what, is that a problem, it’s only twenty minutes’. He was ruder then a 16 year old at a checkout working their first job as punishment. We explained that we had been up since 5:30 that morning and he rolled his eyes again and let us go upstairs. The room itself was clean. The bathroom has a bit of mold, but that’s to be expected in older hotels, especially when there is no bathroom window or exhaust. The shower door was missing the front screen so this allowed for water to get out... probably why they thought they should replace the bath mat every couple of days. Don’t shower in the morning though. It’s like the water is turned off. There was zero pressure... I get a stronger flow of water off my elbow than out of that shower head. At night though, it seemed to work fine. We booked an extra night as our departing flight was at 2am (so we had to leave around 10:30pm) but we wanted to be able to nap and shower beforehand. I’m glad we did this because I would not have trusted them to keep my luggage safe. I saw luggage being stored there one afternoon just in the lobby (which as mentioned earlier is just one lounge... there’s barely any room for luggage to be there!) but there was no one around and the door open and many people coming in and out of the adjoining restaurant. I’ll end on a high note and say that it is in a good location. Very close to the blue mosque and Hagia Sophia. All in all, I would say find yourself a hostel to stay at..or anywhere other than this ‘hotel’... you’ll get much better service there!