04.25.22

There are rating systems used worldwide for hotel rooms, and they usually rate from 1 (or no) stars to five stars, sometimes six. They use criteria like location, amenities, room quality, views, etc…and that works for “tourists,” but not necessarily for TRAVELERS. We travelers are not in rooms for a day or a week, but sometimes for weeks or months at a time. Our criteria is much different since we don’t need room service, concierge, or valet parking; we need pure, basic usable amenities of LIFE–not luxuries

We recently stayed in a room (a pansiyon they are called in Europe; in America we normally refer to them as a hostel), and they have come a long way from what they used to be. Some who have traveled may remember them as dives (and some still are!), but generally they are nice and you can get private rooms, not just dorms. The Isinda Pansiyon in Kas checked off so many boxes I wanted to do a deep dive between this unit and many/ most others that may miss some marks.

• Great location: that is all relative, of course, but aside from being water or ocean close, great location can also mean quiet streets or access to public transportation. This unit is a 5-minute walk to town and 10 minutes to the marina.
• Good price: again, all relative, but in Turkey, where prices are very low, this one hits the mark. The longer the stay the better you can negotiate, and we stayed for 7 days so got a good deal
• Soft bed with clean sheets: Ah, life’s little luxuries! We run into hard beds often, so a nice soft bed with great linens and sheets is nice.
• Modern shower with good shower head and hot water, also one that does not have odors and has the ability to seal the bathroom sink to wash clothes. Speaking for me, the two things I REALLY need is a good bed and a good shower. That means hot water fairly quickly, good pressure, and enough room to move. The showers in Turkey are overall much larger than in Europe, which is very appealing. We have also run into many that have nasty odors coming from the drain, usually from old pipes, but this one here, no problem. This sink actually has a stopper, so extra points there!
• Bathroom storage, shelf: Sometimes minor details are important! Some bathrooms have no place to put anything and rarely do we find a medicine cabinet, something we take for granted in the US. This unit has a shelf for a bag or supplies…score 1.
• Refrigerator with adequate room and not obtrusive. We have fridges about half the time, and even though we don’t cook, it’s nice to keep things cold. This unit here has a nice size fridge with an enclosure around it which enhances the look of the room. Sweet!
• Good lighting, not just an overhead, either with side tables or indirect lighting. Some rooms have NO personality at all, and many just have a singular light overhead, which we both hate. This room has mood lights behind the bed, a switch to turn them off and on, plus indirect lights on the wall which casts more than enough light.
• Nice balcony: THAT is something we always relish, and this one is large enough for a table and two chairs, PLUS there is a security fence that would keep an intruder away from our slider door. This was well thought out.
• Sliding door with high quality windows/ double pane. Along with that balcony a decent sliding door (with screens) is something we don’t take for granted. This unit has a high quality, heavy door AND screen
• A kitchen or access to a kitchen or restaurant, and or grocery stores. Most of our units don’t have a kitchen, but many have hot water boilers, which is great for making coffee or tea. In lieu of that if there is a decent food place—or coffee place—that makes up for the lack of a kitchen and adds points to the location category above.
• Good internet! NOT to be taken for granted, but always appreciated! Most of our units have satellite internet which has been surprisingly quick! We can both watch Netflix with no buffering, so we’ll use that as a benchmark.
• High quality door. Along with the slider doors, a good FRONT door is nice, along with an easy to use and secure lock. We have both.
• Storage space and/or drawers: We have stayed in rooms with NO extra space at all, and that sucks. This room has racks to hang stuff plus several drawers and cabinets, so we have enough room for everything! Ditto on electrical sockets, which this place has everywhere.
• Hooks for hanging jackets, shirts, etc: A minor detail, but adds to the score for sure.

What kind of room do YOU like? We have been very lucky and have the process down almost to a science. We depend on AirBNB, Bookings.com, and Google Maps and rarely do they let us down.