Boomerang Guest House

It's a nice little place right in the old town of Selçuk (the Byzantine Ephesus after the settlement has been relocated from the original Greek settlement). It is a tranquil location, tables outide, small pittoresque streets around. Car parking right in front of the guesthouse on the opposite side of the street. There is practically no car traffic in the old town on the hill although car access is possible everywhere. My room had a balcony to a backyard with trees, on which I used to sit evenings. Also AC in the room which I didn't have to use, as I kept the balcony door and window closed during the day and open during the night (while I was out durig the days). Regular checkin was between 10 and 12 or at other times by phone appointment, even late in the evening. I found my stay very pleasant and would probably go there again.

Once again I ha e come back to the Boomerang. Now run by the lovely Gamze and Hamdullah, brother of Huseyin and Abdullah, who have run the place in previous years. Affordable, friendly, good food, clean beds and facilities I am in the dorm, with a few friendly strangers. In the past, with my wife, we stayed in their double rooms. I recommend both. An added bonus is the Garden Restaurant where I enjoyed lovely breakfast and evening meals. Close to the bus station, museum and railway to Izmir Airport. I travelled by train from their to Selcuk for 25 tl, £1.20..

I booked a room for 2 people at Boomerang Guest House and paid around our usual price, AUD$45/28 euros a night. Dorm beds were quoted at AUD $19/night. When we arrived at the guesthouse in March 2023,  they said we had booked a dormitory room (mixed dorm) and pointed to some Turkish words on the booking confirmation which,  according to them, said we had booked a dormitory bed for each of us. That was not what was indicated when I went through the booking process, which stated I was booking a room, not a dormitory. The owner stonewalled and said we would have to pay extra to upgrade to a room of our own. That was odd, since the room I booked was the 'last one available' at the time, yet they had at least three spare private rooms. They claim that the problem stems from the fact that they only have a relationship with ******* and something has gone wrong when they (*******) have shared the information with Agoda. At that point I confirmed with him that this same situation had happened before (for months!): he blamed Agoda for using the Turkish words to describe the room.  I said that if this was a situation which had misled people before,  then he needed to be the one to ensure it was fixed. He could easily contact guests beforehand to let them know,  in English,  their reservation was for a dormitory,  until the booking process was fixed. But never did. I contacted him prior to arrival about the check in time but he did not respond (He received the message on WhatsApp via his brother: he made the excuse that the phone number on Agoda is out of date and doesn't go directly to him). Of course, the whole excuse was simply deflection: blame some other third party and avoid accountability. Coincidentally, another person arrived as we were at reception who had experienced the exact same situation. She had booked what she thought was a room for her and her traveling companion but the two young girls were told they were sleeping downstairs in a dormitory with men. Her traveling companion left immediately and the Malaysian girl was left by herself. She booked through Agoda and also felt assured she had booked a private  room.  By then I could see a pattern emerging and thought this could be a scam. Sell a room for a normal price,  then charge more on arrival,  pointing to some Turkish words on the booking which talked about it being a dormitory that we'd unsuspectingly signed up for. When I questioned the owner why the only indication it was a dormitory was written in Turkish,  he said he didn't know and again put the blame on Agoda. I said that given people had been misled even before our arrival,  it was his responsibility to ensure changes to the wording were made. What made it even more suspicious was that when I took him through the process I undertook to make the booking on the Agoda app,  not only did I show him it clearly talked about booking a room, not a bed and no mention of a dormitory,  there were no dorm pictures shown AND even tonight as