Staff, rooms, food, location

Nil

Great staff , Breakfast - not impressed, Location is great

No elevator, lots of bugs in the room, bathroom needs maintenance .

Location is perfect. Right in the old city center. The room was great, big enough, clean, well-designed. Super comfy bed and pillows. I am really greatful for a very supportive staff, namely to a lady at the reception desk, who kindly arranged early check-in and later did her best for my comfortable stay. Did not asked her name, but very grateful to her. I would definately reccommend this cozy hotel to stay in.

Location

Elevator not working Water shower blocked… water all over Breakfast very poor Coffee machine didn’t work…

Location and its proximity to famous places

Elevator is not working

Friendly staff willing to help

Old broken plumbing, the bathroom is very small and does not match the photo. The noise of cars is very audible with the windows closed, it is not possible to sleep!

I was given a free mobile number with 1GB data to have access to a mobile’s internet. For some reason, purchasing a SIM card is hard in Kazakhstan. Reason for that is because mobile operators require a registration, but you have to be a resident of the country to do that. The Wi-Fi’s coverage is good, the connection is stable, and the speed is acceptable. There is enormous amount of different restaurants/cafes, grocery stores and pharmacies around the hotel. In addition, you have a big variety of different cuisines, and at different price points. The neighborhood is quite and safe. Streets don't have a lot of people or cars going around.

When I arrived at the hotel, I was told about some kind of “tax”, which is collected not by the hotel, but by the government. Booking.com doesn’t have any mention about any kind of additional payment/tax whatsoever. The receptionist told me that they asked Booking.com several times to include this "tax" on the hotel's page before, but they do not add it in the price. Since I was on a business trip with my colleagues, I asked them if their hotels asked them to pay this so-called tax. Everyone said that they were not asked about this magical “tax” at all. All doors in the building have a massive gap underneath. The room, which I stayed in, had a door, which connects my room with the neighbor one. I clearly heard every squeak and every whisper, which was coming from that room. Because of that, all noises from my side were leaking to the other room too. Even though I added in a “special requests” section to clean the room before I check in, I still got a somewhat dirty room. The right side of the bed sheets were in tiny black/gray stains, which had similarities for when the bed has/had bedbugs before. The bathtub had tiny black spots on its bottom. Seemed like it was from either a black paint or some kind of bacteria. The toilet bowl had a gray/black color in the water area, but it seemed like it was from the old age rather than from the dirt. The bathroom’s window had ridiculous blinds, which were self-detaching by themselves by the end of my stay.

Loved the hotel and the neighbourhood. The room was pretty big and clean but the bathroom didn't have hot shower. The best part about the hotel is of course its staff Mr Masud. He helped me with a guide who showed me around Almaty. This was of great help as Almaty's taxi drivers are worse--they would charge an uninitiated traveler exorbitant fees. Overall nice hotel.

No hot shower in bathroom.