the hotel staff was helpful and friendly. English spoken at front desk. the hotel was neat and clean the room comfortable and a very nice breakfast. it was convenient to restaurants and easy for the local cabs to find. I enjoyed walking in the area and the nearby park.
eDreams
eDreamseDreams
Unbelievable for the rating of this hotel . Sleeping staff let us down on our trip with a poorly equipped room .
No safe , fridge didn’t work , tv didn’t work , and even the damn phone didn’t work .
For 160 USD per night I expect a lot more . To be fair the staff fixed all the issues , but for a beautiful and huge suite I am disappointed that we feel like they weren’t expecting guests at all …..
Now on to the restaurant , several items on the menu weren’t available , even drinks were a challenge !
Will we be back ? Nooooo and really disappointed as we we were scouting hotels for our wedding reception … sorry Damas … Fail
I chose this hotel based on the central location and positive reviews on the internet. The property is indeed in the center, however, during the pandemic it's a total disaster. I made a reservation around a week before my arrival (a standard room) - got their price with breakfast confirmed for 2 people.
1. Rooms
I arrived at 9 a.m. and was checked-in a room with no hot water. After a very refreshing ice-cold shower, I was moved to another room.
2. Room service
Please note that the hotel cut their staff, so it is served by only 2 people at reception (they shift). Every evening you have to fill a "form" of what your breakfast will be tomorrow and I have to say the choice is rather poor. One and the same person sits at reception and serves breakfast to your room. Don't expect that you'll be able to order any other food because they don't have room service.
3. Housekeeping
There is only 1 lady in housekeeping and she leaves strictly at 6 p.m. The guys at reception will not tell you that, so just make sure she comes for cleaning before 6 o’clock.
When the second guest arrived there was no toilet paper, no shampoo, no soap. I called the reception to ask about cleaning the room and bringing the missing items but was told that "It's too late already. You should have thought about it before". Great treatment for 4 stars.
4. Taxi
The next day I asked the reception to call an official city taxi that can give a receipt - instead, just a private car came to pick us up. The guy charged us around 6 times more than the ride would normally cost and left us in a wrong place. I guess reception staff does it on purpose with all guests to share the money with «taxi» drivers afterwards.
5. Charges
After 3 days of our stay the lady at reception said that "by the way we have to pay $60 extra for breakfast of the second guest". Here I had two questions: first of all, why did they confirm a different price including breakfast for 2 by email? Secondly, why am I informed about it after 3 days of staying at the place??
6. Management
Since the manager was not at the hotel (which isn't a surprise) we asked the reception to call us back once the manager is back. The manager, an extremely rude guy, called me and started shouting at me. He stated the following:
- It is ridiculous to book a standard room for 2 while they only check-in individuals in that room type (why did they confirm the booking to us then??)
- They follow "international standards" and after their confirmation, I should have checked their website what the additional unexpected fees would be. It doesn't matter that they confirmed to me the final price for 2 pax with breakfast, as "international rules" come first and they're, well, an "international hotel".The fee they mentioned was for the bathroom set for the second person (I guess, the toilet paper and soap that we didn't have).
- They didn't notify me about the "charge" because I arrived in the morning and they "do not disturb guests" with such things at check-in due to their high standards of service (I mean, is it ok that within 3 days they changed my room, took my breakfast order 3 times, called me a taxi and talked to me in person like 100 times? Still, there wasn't any right time to "deliver the news").
- He was about to file a police report to make problems for us at the immigration.
7. Reception
So we came back to the hotel and finally the person who confirmed our booking accepted that he had made a mistake and then they "forgot" to inform me. He all the time kept saying he couldn't understand English and "it's only $60". Like, "why are you so cheap".
8. Checkout
I stayed at that horrible hotel 4 nights and was happy to checkout. However, the hotel staff can't even check you out without a problem. At first, they charged me without the airport transfer fee (only accommodation) and therefore made the second transaction separately. As a result, my bank charged me commission twice (since there were two transactions), moreover, the latter one wasn't confirmed by the pin-code and my bank detected it as a fraud and blocked the card.
You should use cash for your own safety.
Overall, I should say the hotel prices aren't low for Bishkek. I recommend to book a room at this property if you're looking for the worst hotel experience in your life.
I stayed there 2 nights for business, location is good, very close to some sightseeings, you can just go for a walk, the breakfast is ok, the room is spacy and nice, the internet is perfect, very fast check in, nice lobby, friendly staff, there is only one thing that you need to wait a few minutes for hot water, the rest is very good
Nice hotel and nice facilities. Good breakfast, clean rooms decent WiFi and good food. Please do take the opportunity to restock the bar if guests like a particular brand and it sells out. Phone in room did not work and rooms are not cleaned in full every day. The local beer serve here is excellent, by not restocking leaving the international brands only you lost custom. That said no complaints about the roof top views. Staff who speak English would be useful from an international perspective, provision of local maps would be helpful. Explanation of services on arrival would be helpful. Be careful with local currency, I had a note with a very small tear that they refused to accept only accepting pristine notes. Mixture of staff all professional, but not all were as welcoming as other visitors suggest. Hotel located near red light area which has a higher crime rate than other areas of Bishkek, not a city centre hotel about 15-20mins walk from shopping/city centre.
This is a great choice for hotel if staying in Bishkek, where there is not much variety.
Pros:
- Good location. Many restaurants in the area, in case you do not want to eat at the hotel
- Nice rooftop bar and restaurant with great views of the city, decently priced.
- Large spacious rooms, large shower
Cons:
- There was a conference or something taking place at the hotel while we were there and I don’t think the staff could cope at breakfast. By the time we came down, most of the food was finished. And they could not replenish in time.
Recommended: Yes
