GS Hotel — Hotel in Tbilisi

We, a couple aged 30 and 38, stayed at GS Hotel for 4 nights in April 2014. As it was our third visit to Georgia and we are familiar with hotels situation in this country, we give a great rating to GS Hotel. ||One could argue that GS Hotel should be called a guest house rather than a hotel. But in Georgia even very shabby, dirty places to stay call themselves hotels. This, of course, is very deceiving and after booking online you can end up being very disappointed as "a hotel" is at best "a motel". I assume that every place in Georgia where you get a private/non-shared bathroom and toilet calls itself a hotel. So GS Hotel is a small private guest house with 5 rooms and 2 shared kitchens. Every room has its own bathroom. 2 out of 5 rooms are based in the attic.||The hotel is close to Tbilisi Sameba/Holy Trinity Cathedral, 5-8 min walk from Avlabari Underground Station. It is still a shabby developing area of Tbilisi, full of small guest houses/hotels, little food markets, etc. The surroundings are not very beautiful but the good thing is that no matter what impression you get, it is very safe in Tbilisi. Do not worry to walk in the dark in this area. It will take you 10-15 min to walk down to Metheki Bridge so you are not far away from the old town. Taxis are cheap (5 Lari - 3 USD) and underground tickets are incredibly cheap (0.5 Lari - 0.3 USD) in Tbilisi.||Price. Having had stayed in various Georgian hotels from 25 USD to 140 USD per night, we can tell that staying at GS Hotel (for 46 USD per night) is similar if not better than staying at a hotel worth 70 USD per night. This time we had a modest budget for the stay in Tbilisi and we are happy with our choice of hotel. When you are choosing hotels online, have in mind that hotels are generally not that cheap in Georgia. If you hope that those for 100 USD dollars per night are great, not really. If you expect that a hotel for 70 USD per night will be great assuming that things in Georgia are cheap, it can be not true.||We also used hotel's transfer services from/to the airport and paid the same what taxis charge (30 Lari per transfer). But taxi drivers may find it difficult to find the hotel without you guiding them, so by booking a transfer, we saved ourselves from this trouble.||Breakfast at the hotel was served to us in the kitchen at the time agreed with us the earlier day. We informed what food we are not interested in (eg. meat) and agreed on what hot meals we would like next day (eg. oat porridge, fried eggs). Simple, home-style substantial breakfast. ||Noise. Depends on neighbors you will get in other rooms. Some people are noisy and it is not the hotel to blame. Also passing by police cars are noisy but, again, it is not the hotel to blame.||Room. Rooms are clean, simple, newly renovated. We stayed one night in a room in the attic, later moved to a room downstairs. We must say that a bed, its mattress was very good compared to beds in other hotels. In general, good bed standards are low in Georgia so we were happy this time.||Languages. One reception lady spoke only Russian, another one - both Russian and English. When traveling in Georgia for budget travelers we recommend to have an English-Russian pocket conversation book and show to locals what you want. If you expect to manage in this country only with English language skills, you will be limited to using the most expensive hotels, restaurants, etc. then. One of us can speak Russian, so our stay arrangements at GS Hotel were fluent. We do not know how it goes when knowing only in English. But obviously, they have all types of guests - those who only speak English among.||Georgian specifics. People are very friendly and polite at this hotel. Also flexible, feel free to negotiate things (eg. changing the room, check-out time). This makes the stay great. Other Georgian specifics come in the package (eg. it is usual in this country that staff smokes in the reception room, luckily, with an open window in this case) but if you know these things in advance and are realistic about the price you pay, you accept it.||Because one of us can speak Russian, we could enjoy a genuine Georgian hospitality and get into a closer, friendlier contact with hotel staff, hotel owner and his friends. By the way, from the hotel owner you can buy his home-made...

We, a couple aged 30 and 38, stayed at GS Hotel for 4 nights in April 2014. As it was our third visit to Georgia and we are familiar with hotels situation in this country, we give a great rating to GS Hotel. ||One could argue that GS Hotel should be called a guest house rather than a hotel. But in Georgia even very shabby, dirty places to stay call themselves hotels. This, of course, is very deceiving and after booking online you can end up being very disappointed as "a hotel" is at best "a motel". I assume that every place in Georgia where you get a private/non-shared bathroom and toilet calls itself a hotel. So GS Hotel is a small private guest house with 5 rooms and 2 shared kitchens. Every room has its own bathroom. 2 out of 5 rooms are based in the attic.||The hotel is close to Tbilisi Sameba/Holy Trinity Cathedral, 5-8 min walk from Avlabari Underground Station. It is still a shabby developing area of Tbilisi, full of small guest houses/hotels, little food markets, etc. The surroundings are not very beautiful but the good thing is that no matter what impression you get, it is very safe in Tbilisi. Do not worry to walk in the dark in this area. It will take you 10-15 min to walk down to Metheki Bridge so you are not far away from the old town. Taxis are cheap (5 Lari - 3 USD) and underground tickets are incredibly cheap (0.5 Lari - 0.3 USD) in Tbilisi.||Price. Having had stayed in various Georgian hotels from 25 USD to 140 USD per night, we can tell that staying at GS Hotel (for 46 USD per night) is similar if not better than staying at a hotel worth 70 USD per night. This time we had a modest budget for the stay in Tbilisi and we are happy with our choice of hotel. When you are choosing hotels online, have in mind that hotels are generally not that cheap in Georgia. If you hope that those for 100 USD dollars per night are great, not really. If you expect that a hotel for 70 USD per night will be great assuming that things in Georgia are cheap, it can be not true.||We also used hotel's transfer services from/to the airport and paid the same what taxis charge (30 Lari per transfer). But taxi drivers may find it difficult to find the hotel without you guiding them, so by booking a transfer, we saved ourselves from this trouble.||Breakfast at the hotel was served to us in the kitchen at the time agreed with us the earlier day. We informed what food we are not interested in (eg. meat) and agreed on what hot meals we would like next day (eg. oat porridge, fried eggs). Simple, home-style substantial breakfast. ||Noise. Depends on neighbors you will get in other rooms. Some people are noisy and it is not the hotel to blame. Also passing by police cars are noisy but, again, it is not the hotel to blame.||Room. Rooms are clean, simple, newly renovated. We stayed one night in a room in the attic, later moved to a room downstairs. We must say that a bed, its mattress was very good compared to beds in other hotels. In general, good bed standards are low in Georgia so we were happy this time.||Languages. One reception lady spoke only Russian, another one - both Russian and English. When traveling in Georgia for budget travelers we recommend to have an English-Russian pocket conversation book and show to locals what you want. If you expect to manage in this country only with English language skills, you will be limited to using the most expensive hotels, restaurants, etc. then. One of us can speak Russian, so our stay arrangements at GS Hotel were fluent. We do not know how it goes when knowing only in English. But obviously, they have all types of guests - those who only speak English among.||Georgian specifics. People are very friendly and polite at this hotel. Also flexible, feel free to negotiate things (eg. changing the room, check-out time). This makes the stay great. Other Georgian specifics come in the package (eg. it is usual in this country that staff smokes in the reception room, luckily, with an open window in this case) but if you know these things in advance and are realistic about the price you pay, you accept it.||Because one of us can speak Russian, we could enjoy a genuine Georgian hospitality and get into a closer, friendlier contact with hotel staff, hotel owner and his friends. By the way, from the hotel owner you can buy his home-made...

I stayed here a total of 6 - 7 nights at different times during my visit to Georgia. The GS is very friendly, very clean, and very comfortable. The staff are very helpful - although only one speaks English, and she was only there once when I was there. They will help you arrange taxis, and if you work with them, will negotiate reasonable prices. I had a very early morning flight when I finally left Tbilisi, and when I asked the manager what I could do for breakfast at 4 AM, without hesitating, he said no problem, he'd make sure I got my standard breakfast. He made it himself. Another time, I was having a late night snack, and the manager kept supplementing it vegetables and fruit - none of which I even asked for.||||As other travelers have noted, the neighborhood seems to be in transition, and the immediate area feels quite run down. However, I returned to the hotel a number of times late at night and always felt very comfortable and safe. Between the metro (Avlabari - a 10 minute walk) and the hotel, there is a produce market, lots of small groceries, many other produce vendors, and a small supermarket. The streets are very lively, and you have the feeling that you're living in the city. There are not many tourists in this area, and the hotel itself is a converted apartment.||||I was so comfortable here I kept returning each time I...