Sacred House

A fairy tale hotel with a "but"

The hotel is amazing with each room decorated in a way to sweep you off your feet. We stayed in Fairies’ Nest at the top of the hotel with a somehow private sitting corner and it was amazing watching Urgup at night from that corner. We also had a fireplace, which we used with joy and the heating from the floor in the bathroom created a comforting atmosphere. There was problem with hot water though, it never became hot, only warm.

We also saw some of the other rooms and they were all wonderful. Be careful if you have asthma and don’t stay in Byzantium Treasury (my personal choice) and in summer it became unbelievably hot in the King as there’s no A/C in any or the rooms to keep the authenticity. I can’t say anything bad about any of the rooms, they were wonderful and you should experience it yourself.

Apart from these good sides, unfortunately, recently, there have been some changes in the hotel, which I believe is not good. First of all, Yeşim, the wonderful manager is not working there anymore. This is a real loss as she was a fabulous hostess and took care of her customers/guests with top attention. I have a lot of friends who stayed in this hotel in different seasons apart from me, and they all agree that the best part of Sacred House was Yeşim somehow. Now that she’s gone, I noticed things are not the same and little details makes you feel not fully satisfied from the hotel.

When we stayed, we were welcomed by Murat (who I think used to be the night attendant as his tag said as far as I can remember but I suspect him being the new manager or the supply at least). He was very panicked and a little bit uncomfortable I guess, but I thought it’s fine since it had only been 2 days since Yeşim left. There was a bit misunderstanding about the hotel’s kindness as we thought the served tea was free (he literally just said: “you came from a long way, perhaps you’d like some tea?” and this indicates free offering in Turkey at 99% of all times). They also offered us a bottle of wine (thanks to Yeşim actually as she arranged this detail and left) for our anniversary but we told them we don’t use alcohol so Murat said they can change it to something else. They never did. Then we asked for cappuccinos instead of wine and again it was really disappointing to see they charged us to pay. At the end, the money was nothing really, it was only around 40 USD but the management irritated us. This is not common or welcomed in Turkish hotel business or in Turkish hospitality.

I also noticed that the breakfast is not that wonderful now, but maybe it’s because when we visited, the hotel was nearly empty (which wouldn’t be an excuse but anyway). So just for now, don’t expect that spectacular breakfast mentioned in early comments. I’m not sure if it’s related to season or the management change. I honestly ask them to improve themselves and get rid of that panicked environment around to let guests feel welcomed. By the way, we asked for a receipt, and it has been a week and they haven’t sent us via e-mail. Odd.

It was interesting to see all those things occurring since the hotel’s owner is there all the time. I highly recommend Sacred House, though not soon, not in the near future. There’s a construction going on as they build an additional building next to the hotel (it’ll be a part of Sacred House with an underground pool and lots of new rooms) and it’s quite loud especially in the mornings. Moreover, I think the new management should be settled first and start being comfortable before they try to make you.

Unique Quality: The rooms are quite from a fairy tale with each room decorated with a different concept.