We booked through Expedia, and had a nice stay at Hotel Barin. The facilities was nice, but a bit worn here and there. The room was a bit small, but cosy and very clean. Beds were nice and firm, but the pillows were uncomfortable. AC and TV worked perfectly, with both turkish, english and german channels. The breakfast buffe had a good variety of both turkish and continental foods. The staff was very helpful and friendly. Everybody spoke perfect english and was more than happy to offer some useful advices on nice areas and restaurants in the city.
The surrounding area is mostly commercial with many cheap fashion stores and restaurants. Felt very safe, but a bit noisy at night from traffic. About 10-15 minutes walk to the Grand Baazar and Süleymanihye mosque, and 10 minutes with taxi to Sultanahmet, the Hagia Sofia and Blue mosque. Taxi fares was very cheap, but make sure the drives uses his taxameter.
We would stay again. Our only real issue was the uncomfortable pillows and noise from traffic late at night. But at this price it was no biggie. The hotel is perfect if you are on a budget and want a nice, clean hotel and don´t expect to spend too much time there exept for sleeping.