Dear internet,

Please be advised to avoid Bucoleon Palace Hotel, in Istanbul, Turkey, at all costs. There are many other hotels in Istanbul that you can check out.

I stayed here over the summer and had scheduled to stay for 2 nights, but upon the 1st morning I got sick shortly after breakfast. I started throwing up in my room less than an hour later and continued to throw up 6 times over the next 2 hours with the worse stomach pain I have had in at least 5 years.

Was it for sure from their breakfast? Maybe. Could it have been from something I ate at the rat dump excuse for a restaurant (who puts that you can b.y.o.b. on a menu?! Should have been a clue...) next door? Sure perhaps. Did the manager give me any compassion or decent service enough for me to ever want to return? HELL NO!

I checked out late (around 2:30pm) since I had been throwing up since 11:30 am. Yes I was scheduled to stay another night but I only stayed one night and I was sick as a dog. Hotel manager told me that he had to charge me the full amount since I booked "through a travel agency and that I have to take it up with them." Well that was a lie since I called the booking website the next day and they told me it was up to the discretion of the hotel manager if I was to be charged the full amount or not. This made sense because the website did not charge me any fee for reservation, I simply had to input my cc info. and I was not charged until I checked out of the Bucoleon Palace Hotel.

Yes the hotel is new and the rooms are beautiful and the bed was comfortable and the other staff were nice, but the location was a little off the beaten path and could be confusing for someone who does not have a good sense of direction in tangled back streets. Besides this a train continued by regularly and it was extremely noise. The place is small (maybe 8 rooms) which is maybe why the manager was being such a d-bag. Regardless I do not plan on returning to this hotel again.

I got home from my trip and since the booking website could not reach the manager by phone (surprise surprise) they emailed him. I have saved the emails sent in response, which are basically full of lies. First the hotel said to the booking website that I was not charged the full amount! I responded to both the hotel and the website that they did charge me the full amount and that I have the receipt from when my credit card was swiped showing the date, time, and full amount charged.

Secondly the hotel claimed to have recorded me on audio on their security cameras (nice invasion of my privacy there!) speaking on the phone saying that I may have gotten ill from food I ate the night before at another place. I find this a load of BS because the same hotel manager saw me in that dirt hole home-converted-to-a-restaurant the night before when he went in to buy a soda, as I was cashing out, so he knew I had eaten there. But I digress. I emailed the hotel back that if their cameras were so good they should have had me puking 5 or 6 times at least and that they should rewind their tapes and review that part of it.

Besides this point what does it matter if I got sick at their breakfast or the place right next door? The point was I was sick as a dog on my way out and the manager, who had the authority to extend me some consideration, did nothing and basically said his hands were tied. Meanwhile the booking website tells me that it is up the hotel to charge me the full amount or not. Someone is obviously lying. I tend to believe it was the hotel manager lying since I have these emails saying that they did not charge me the full amount, which they certainly did.

I am not inclined to post the emails or my credit card receipt for the entire internet to see. I did advise the hotel that I had stayed in their neighborhood at the end of my trip, but not at their hotel, and that I would rather sleep in the mosque with the homeless people instead of being treated like a liar, especially when I was sick and in such pain and suffering. Sickens me to think my own countrymen would treat a guest in this way. I was also shocked since the reviews online speak so highly of that hotel.

Lesson learned...