Diva's Hotel

Going to Turkey, my husband and I knew that we didn't want to make any reservations until we got to Istanbul---the last thing we wanted is to get stuck staying somewhere that looked just like home or that we couldn't get a feel for first. We stayed at one hotel, but were pretty disappointed with it. When we found Diva's Hotel, however, we knew we had found a gem! It was reasonably priced (especially compared to other hotels in the area which were far more expensive than we expected), had great service and is ideally located near all the major historic attrractions in Sultanahmet square. Plenty of places to eat, walk, and enjoy nearby. The room was very comfortable, clean, and elegant, with all the little extras (shampoo, soap, etc.) that we expect in the US but which weren't at the first hotel we stayed at. The bed was comfortable, the view was great, and there is a great breakfast served in the morning. The staff was very friendly, gave good restaurant recommendations, and were helpful in any way they could be. We thought we would only stay for one nigh, but we ended up staying for four!

My friend and I spent three nights at Hotel Diva's. This hotel was the absolute worst hotel we've ever stayed at. In fact, it was worst than any 10 dollar hostel we've ever been to. The bathroom was absolutely filthy and covered in gray and black mildew. The covers on the bed had the stench of dead bodies, and I am not usually given to hyperbole. The air conditioning emitted warm air, forcing us to leave our windows open. We got no sleep each of the three nights due to street noise, club music, and the cry of the imam at 5 o'clock every morning. The management was unfriendly and inhospitable. My friend was convinced the owner was scheming to steal our passports. Stay far, far away from flea infested roach motel.

Diva's Hotel, like the many other hotels in the Sultanahmet area, is short walking distance to many of Istanbul's most visited tourist sites such as the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Hippodrome and the Basilica Cisterns. The Diva's Hotel is also less than 5 minutes walk from the nearest tram station, which is convenient both for the main airport and to head up north to the Taksim area. Strangely and worryingly, as other Tripadvisor guests have noted, upon check in, they insisted on keeping our passports for 'registration' and kept them for the duration of our stay. As far as I know, nothing went wrong with them holding the passports, but it seemed like an odd practice. They claimed it was better for them to hold onto the passports than us losing them while travelling. The staff were friendly enough and helped with our bags. Diva's Hotel was probably once a very nice three star hotel, which is evident in the lobby and room fittings, however time and lack of renovation has taken its toll. While the reception and lobby area is still nice, the rooms are tired and damaged and what little renovation has been done has obviously been done on a budget. While the room was clean upon initial inspection, there was significant dust in the less obvious areas, such as under the bed. The room was comfortable enough with an extremely useful mini-fridge, but the air conditioning was loud but ineffective. Fortunately, open windows brought in a sufficiently cool breeze at the cost of street noise. Another quirk of this place was that the corridor lights were sensor activated, but the sensor was near the end of the corridor where you entered but our room was at the far end, so one had to walk for a few metres in darkness when one left one's room before the lights turned on. Spooky. Breakfast, as long as you were fine eating Turkish food, was good – tomatoes, cucumber, boiled eggs, coffee, tea of various interesting types (the sage tea was particularly tasty), bread, cheese (cheddar and a smooth feta like cheese), juice-like drinks, cereal, cherries, watermelon, sultanas, dried apricots, plain yoghurt, two types of olives and more. I can imagine this would not go down well for guests looking for a hot American or English breakfast. We didn't dine at the hotel restaurant nor did we drink at the (overpriced!) bar. Internet was available on an old PC in the lobby or via temperamental but free wireless. Overall the stay was fine, especially as we were in Istanbul to see the sights, not sit in our hotel, but next time we would probably look for something nicer. We didn't spend much time selecting this hotel as we booked pretty late and had other things on our plate. Not bad, not great.

Previous reviews mentioned the lack of airconditioning and problems with the hotel changing the price. Every day the air conditioning was being fixed, but never was. Rooms were very small and the price changed between check in and check out. I moved to a hotel across the street WITH airconditioning, larger and nicer rooms for $15 less per night. My friend was told that since the reservation was in her name, she could not leave--and the higher price was charged, after being told she could stay in a double room for the single price. Overall, there are better cheaper hotels nearby.

I stayed there for a week on a romantic trip with my boyfriend. Throughout the stay my boyfriend made the mistake of putting all his loose change on the dressing table and on the 5th day it was stolen by the cleaners, must have been around 30 lira, also my hair towel was stolen!

The place only seemed to have people staying their bumped from other hotels - only reason why we were there. The room had a view of the Blue Mosque but that was the only redeeming factor.... TV reception sucked... snowed more than the North Pole and the Air Conditioning was vitually non-existent. Would never recommend.

very good location in Sultanhamet. Top floor room has wonderful views, classed as "suite" We were changed for the last night to standard double, much smaller and would not have suited. Prices listed certainly not worth while for what we would regard as two star accommodation but if part of overall package may be OK. Fairly clean; helpful staff and 3mins walk from blue mosque

I stayed at Diva's Hotel for 2 nights in February 2007 with a group of American women currently living near Adana, Turkey. I don't know the cost of the hotel since it was part of the package, but it couldn't have been much since our total package was $280 and included our guide, air, hotel, airport shuttles, 1 lunch, and tickets to Hodgia Sofia and Topkapi. The location of the hotel was wonderful, on a quiet side street a short walk form Divan Yolu (behind the Arcadia Hotel). It was an easy walk to the Grand Baazar, Tram station, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, Cisterns, and Hogia Sofia. The breakfast was adequate and plentiful, but no great view like some hotel buffets. It included the usual Turkish cheeses, breads, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, and boiled eggs, in addition to some cake and sweet rolls. There was plenty of coffee, orange juice, and pomegranate juice. It was kept well stocked for the full hotel. My twin room was very small but like other upper rooms on the back side, it had a nice view of the Blue Mosque through the dirty glass. We had individual heat control. The pillows were very small, and when my pregnant friend tried to get another pillow, she was told there were none available. One of the rooms had a non-working toilet and they had to use their friend's toilet across the hall for the first day. The bathrooms were small but clean enough and had enough towels for two people. The toilet paper ran low, but didn't run out before the end of our visit. There were a few toiletries. We also had a small fridge that was stocked and there was a price list. The TV worked OK. It was hit and miss on finding programs in English, but there were a couple of stations that showed some movies in English with sub-titles in Turkish. The storage was very limited due to the small room size, but there was one small cabinet for hanging clothes and a nightstand bewteen the twin beds. It was a little difficult locating light switches for the bathroom and the lamps over the beds, but between the two of us we managed to locate them. The hotel had a very small lift that held two people with suitcases, or three without. We were given 1 key for 2 people, but the keys are on a heavy key chain that is not intended to be taken out of the hotel. The last person out of the room dropped the key off at the hotel desk. The noises in the hotel, such as locks in the doors and doors closing seemed to be amplified and echo. I could also hear my floor-mates very easily in the hall. But after walking around the sites all day, I was too tired to let the noises keep me awake for long. The staff was helpful enough. They gave us all cards with the name and map of the hotel to carry with us in case we got lost. Their English was OK. They tried to be helpful with directions but sometimes they were difficult to understand. I used the hotel safe (no safes in the rooms) several times without any problems, entrusting the staff with jewelry I had purchased and my passport. When I left items in the safe, they went into a back room and they came out with a key they gave me, so it took some trust on my part. They also took a while to return passports and residency permits after we checked in, which made for some discomfort, but it also got us into our rooms and on to our site-seeing and shopping all the faster. If you are in Istanbul and not planning on staying in the hotel much, this is a good option if you can get it for about $60 a night. I wouldn't pay too much. The best part is the location with a short walk in one direction to the Hippodrome area, and in the other direction to the Grand Bazaar. I also enjoyed the bakery and Starbucks near the tram stop! When you live in Turkey and don't have a Starbucks, it's a big deal.

I stayed few days ago and we had a nice room on the top floor with marmara sea view. Everything was ok at first. Room is decent and we have tv minibar a chair in the room. They said 80 euro for the room then I got the room from 100 lira. The lift makes so much noise in the middle of the night and ı told them to do sth about that. All in all, we didnt get much sleep.I wont stay there one more time.

The accommodation itself is fine. We were quoted 30 euro per night by the lady on the desk but charged 50. It was partly our fault for not getting it in writing. Make sure you get quotes in writing. We were going to stay four nights but moved hotels after two/ We found another hotel with good facilities for 35euro with very little effort.