Pretty good location; the hotel is fairly near to the ‘town centre’ (about a 5-minute walk) but not so close as to render the place noisy. In fact, it’s mostly quiet and I slept peacefully every night of my stay. Modestly-appointed, airy rooms but homely and functional – love the high ceiling and large windows! Plenty of hangers in the wardrobe is also a feature I highly-appreciate. Comfortable bedding and good-quality towels. My room (Room 309) would’ve had a lovely view of the Lake but for the massive (in fact, seemingly vindictive) construction going up right in front of the hotel. It’s so huge that it entirely blocks the hotel from being seen from the street, so much so that I walked past it my first night there and got quite lost looking for the place!
 
I really love the shampoo and conditioner – living by the Black Sea for going on a year now has frizzed-up my hair considerably and it all went away after a day of using them. The bathroom is of reasonable size and the water pressure is great; the water-heater works wonderfully, too.
 
The air-conditioning/heater functions well and isn’t centralised: awesome!
 
The breakfasts are plentiful and flavourful, but during my stay there were no hot options and nothing particularly noteworthy to recommend. The breakfast room is gorgeously-decorated and doubles up as a charming seating area. There is also a cozy seating area on the same floor as my room with a couple of armchairs, cushioned benches and plenty of throw pillows but the view out the window is wholly-unremarkable.
 
As for the staff, it’d depend on who you talk to. The short, mustachioed fellow (I forgot to ask for his name) was entirely wonderful and patiently-accommodated my halting Turkish. The taller, older gentleman was a bit standoffish but not outright ill-mannered. Overall, the hotel staff speak very limited English (two of whom not at all, if I recall correctly); thankfully my Turkish is passable but if yours isn’t do consider brushing up.
 
The Wi-Fi is a bit maddening and drops often. The signal is very weak - almost nonexistent - near the bed but if you were to stand by the door or the window closest to the dressing table, it’s a lot better.
 
The shower stall’s door couldn’t be closed properly so the bathroom floor does get fairly wet after each use. No ventilation fan so the floors remain wet for quite a while (even after a whole day of gallivanting around).
 
Lastly, you might want to consider arranging for your own transport. They informed me it’d cost TRY500 for a small taxi (I was travelling solo) from the hotel to ISE Airport but when I went to the Otogar to book one myself the price quoted to me was TRY200 (which is still a tad pricey; a one-hour taxi ride from a downtown Istanbul hotel to the new airport usually costs me around TRY170).
 

Beautiful and authentic. Next to lake so it is easy to take a walk by the lake. Great rooms and breakfast. Managers are friendly and well educated. pet friendly so you can take your little friends with you. I would definitely stay next time and highly recommend it.