Tribute Portfolio Hotels in Istanbul

Great location in Galata right below the tower and beautiful winding narrow streets. Very close to the river as well. At check-in the told us they ”upgraded” us with some weird explanation about how uncomfortable one of the two beds was in the room we paid for. They gave us a suite, but there was only one bed and i was travelling with a friend. We didn't want to sleep together. They had a metal wire cot (very small and uncomfortable) sitting next to the real bed. My friend and I decided that even though the suite was bigger, we would both like to have the room we paid for - the Deluxe Twin Room with two real beds. When i told them we would prefer our room with two beds, it came to be, that they had oversold the hotel and there actually was not an option for us to have the room we paid for. They offered us free breakfast for one of the nights. My friend could not sleep on the cot, so she used the couch and said she didn't sleep the entire night. The room is also very dark both in decoration and the amount of light. Also, they scheduled a private boat tour for us which all of the locals said should be around $200 Euro. They showed us a brochure of a beautiful large boat that did sunset tours for small groups for only $50 per person. Included food, tour guides and drinks. But, they told us for private it would be $350. I told her that was much more that what we had been told the cost was. She said we would have wine but we could only choose white or red (not both). Seemed a bit weird since all of the tours seemed to come with so much. The boat we got was much smaller than the photo. There were people on the boat but no one spoke a word to us and we didn't have a guide - no one spoke a word of English. The front desk told me the sun set at 7:45 and we were 7-9 so would get the sunset tour. But, when we got there at 7:00 the sun was already completely down. So, they had the time wrong. The captain didn't say a single word to us, not even hello. And the hotel provided the wine (not the boat). I asked if they had any snacks and he brought out some very wet and soggy nuts. We felt we got ripped off for the boat tour and again were sort of told one thing and got another. The pluses of the hotel are the location and the rooftop dining. It is BEAUTIFUL up there. The food is very good. The staff is generally very nice but they seemed to be in a bit of a situation trying to cover up for the mistakes and not really willing to take credit for the problems. I complained along the way, as I did when i left. And the front desk guy said ”well i hope we can do better next time”. Probably won't be a next time for me. I would definitely stay somewhere else as there are beautiful hotels everywhere and maybe just go there for breakfast or dinner.

The location is very good, right on Independence Avenue. I was given a free upgrade to a room with a view. The service is very good. The room is clean. The coffee machine is not very convenient. The night view is super beautiful. The breakfast is average. Everything else is very good.