Hotel Ani — Hotel in Jermuk

Our driver dumped us off at this roadside hotel late at night. I am not sure I have ever received as rude a welcome as I received at the Hotel Ani. Their ad on Booking.com says they speak English. No one we encountered who worked at the hotel spoke English. Not really that big of a deal as friendliness goes a long way even when there is a language barrier, but the man working the desk was neither friendly or in any way inclined to be nice and helpful. I got the suspicion he could sense we had no other options that late at night and were trapped there so could treat us anyway he pleased. The hotel is new so there was no reasonable explanation why the beds sagged in the middle so visibly that the mattresses appeared to be still in use from the 1970's. They felt worse to sleep on than they looked, trust me. The next morning we checked out with a different male desk clerk who made the guy the first night seem absolutely charming. Their ad on Booking.com says they accept credit cards. They refused to let me pay with a credit card. There is a restaurant next door but that is all there is near the hotel as it is outside of town along the highway leaving Jermuk. We were charged $20 more than the rate on Booking.com which again leads me to believe they new we were trapped and had no other options. How sweet of them to take advantage of our situation. Rude service, false advertising, horrible beds, in the middle of nowhere... I am not sure why anyone would stay...

I say this, because we experienced worse. Of course the people there are not friendly, they are a bit sketchy and not very communicative even though we are Armenian! Thank God we had our driver, who was with us during the whole trip, to do mediate things for us. You just can't go to such place without a 24/7 guide or driver who is your friend and is dedicated to showing you a good time. ||||If you're not a local, it's hard. Anyway, our corner room was not bad, it was rather cozy. Of course in many of those hotels we used our extra sheets and blankets... because i have a feeling theirs are not in good shape. However, considering it was april and Jermuk is a bit dead at that time, the experience was interesting. Eerie, but interesting i must say. ||||There's nothing to do at that time except go to a Sanitorium orrrrr Get Arsen to take you on his 4 by 4 up to the mountain where you swim inside a tiny hot spring. ||||The food was actually very hearty and good. However, we did get ripped off, this was the most expensive dinner we had between all the villages we visited (gyumri, Sevan, Alaverdi were the others) and i'm sure it was the wine he brought to our table. it probably cost more than the...

We stayed in hotel Ani two nights, in early february 2020. The room was freezing cold when we arrived and the heating could barely manage to get it warm. Luckily we have brought our sleeping bags. However the truly bad experience we made was when I discovered - after we had left - that my wallet was empty. All money had been taken out. As I have left it in the hotel and we always locked the door I have no other explanation as that somebody from the hotel took the money. I contacted the hotel about it, but never got an answer. It was the only bad experience we have made in our 3-week travel through wonderful Armenia. So my recommendation: avoid hotel...