Holiday Inn Almaty — Hotel in Almaty

After a 10 min wait for check-in (no designated check-in for Priority Club), my room rate was not correctly recognized. It was a weekend package but receptionists did not even know such packages are sold through IHG website.

I was upgraded to executive room that does not offer much more over standard anyway. So do not pay for it as hotel is already overpriced as counting mainly on business travelers.

On the third day, I left the room after breakfast, came back around lunch time and the room was not clean yet ("executive" floor).

Breakfast buffet is overpriced: do not expect eggs made to order; instead if you are lucky enough maybe you will get something from the buffet. Traditionally in this part of the world you will find a choice of hot dishes that no one is eating and do not look appetizing at all. Limited choice of cold snacks of bad quality. Smoked salmon is tasteless, and cut in 1mm slices, so the whole plate is gone in 2 mins. I found salads from the buffet on day before. On any single day I was unable to get a table with a proper set of cuttlery. Coffee is terrible, machines broke often; avoid cheap juices. Good that there was some yoghurt and ok bread/pastries. Staff not attentive at all.

Dinner made to order is probably the best of food offered in this hotel, again: overpriced. Check other much better places in the city. Buffet dinner - if you want something cheaper and do not mind quality, go for it - but there are many better options in this city for such budget.

I had bookings made for some of my friends (2 extra rooms for 2 nights) - even if booked through Holiday Inn website, in their system appeared like just 1 extra room.

Gym room - pretty small; few cardio machines plus 2 benches with some barbells. Wi-fi connection now finally is free of charge, speed varies, apart from weekends it is really slow. Beautiful mountains can be seen between the buildings on the upper/back floors only. Still it will be between the buildings.

On the last morning I have got a pro forma invoice that was showing the wrong amounts. I have left it at the reception to check and correct while having the breakfast. After around 20 mins it was not corrected and I spent another 20 mins at the reception to argue about my package once again.

Conclusion: This was a one week stay so I had a chance to try much more than an average guest. If you just need a bed for a night it is definitely fine place to stay if you do not mind the price tag, but even if you are a loyal client, get a better hotel: I found some good alternative. Upgrade to Executive Floor was probably the best out of everything...

Bad experience was due to misalignment of hotel staff of the same level and the staff with their management, not listening to repeated requests (e.g., in conversation reception employees could ask the same question more than twice or ask a question to which I already provided an answer without being asked). However that could be bearable if other specific situations would not happened during my stay - listed from least important...

1. Weird letter communications past 9PM - sliding letters under my door instead of emailing/calling/telling in person: a) An invitation to register in KZ, which I have already done and paid at the reception -- inattention to info keeping b) A summary of my check-out bill (?!?!?!) in the middle of my stay without any request for it -- not listening to client’s requests 2)very poor knowledge of what to recommend for dining out/sightseeing
2. Problems with takeaway services: no plastic cutlery and a sincere surprise why would I need any for my take away salad… and in the entire hotel they didn’t find any plastic bag and it seemed that someone from the staff gave me a used bag of theirs
3. below average food - weird choice for breakfast and badly cooked or over-cooked and what's more important - over-salted - meals a la cart for dinners. To my numerous requests not to add salt at all as I can eat the meal first two times I was answered that this is how they cook... only after my complain to the manager I received a normally-salted meal on day 3
4. No clean water for 2 days, so I used some antibacterial gels, wipes and all the bottled water I had in my room to wash my hands (obviously, billed by the hotel at the check-out). Photos attached! There was no apology email or any sort of apology from the hotel (general one to the guests) nor anything to compensate the struggles of trying to stay clean in summer for 2 days! According to the management, the whole area/half of the city suffered from the prblem, but I've checked a beaty saloon and Intercontinental on the other side of the road had no water problems.

6)Over a phone, I was offered a complimentary night which I didn't accept, yet the manager communicated that it will be deducted from my account anyway, yet it didn't happen...

So personally I’m giving this place a 4 star but it could be 3, lemme explain. We didn’t really get to “explore” the hotel all that much however the amount that we did get to explore gave us a pretty interesting experience. The experiences that were that bad ones and really bump the score down were the food, or I should say the wait time on the food. The first day that we got to the hotel we went to the “restaurant” part and ordered food, it took an hour and a bit to get ready, and that’s a lot, considering how we kept ourselves busy to not think about the food but it was just taking way too long, moreover, we also went to the same place on the last day (where are taxi was gonna arrive in like an hour) and again, the food took like 50 minutes to get ready (the taste IN MY EXPERIENCE was good, so at least it was “worth the wait,” but everyone around me said the food wasn’t really good). Lastly, I get that this was a hotel, so obviously the prices were going to be fairly high, but Jesus Christ were they higher than a tumbleweed in a sandstorm, super high, like what the hell. So those are the “bad points,” in terms of positives, the bed, oh my God the beds were super comfortable, the wifi was very fast, and the rooms (even the small ones) were really good, like they weren’t giving a person a claustrophobic feeling, and they were decently sized. In terms of service, again super happy, when we got to the hotel and when we were going out they did their job really professionally, were very kind and in that sense K was really satisfied. Also, during breakfast, not that it was bad but the breakfast selection was a bit…empty, there weren’t a lot of things to choose from for my liking but still really good. So overall that’s it for my experience, I’m pretty satisfied, I would say that it’s definitely worth going to, the location was also very good if one wants to go sightseeing or just go shopping, there’s a mall next door, and the hotel itself is in a really good location, so if anyone wants to visit Kazakhstan, more specifically Almaty, this is a really good...