Swissotel Wellness Resort Alatau Almaty — Hotel in Almaty

We arrived around 6++pm Saturday 19th.July. A receptionist recklessly put us into room 347 which was not the correct category room that we booked and worse it has no view, no balcony and it was noisy from screaming kids next door. What we booked was Deluxe Twin Room with Panoramic Mointain View. When we rejected the room, the receptionist lied to us and insisting that room 347 is the same category of room that we booked which made us very angry. The same receptionist promised to arrange another room within one hour. When we came back she said give her another 30 minutes, and then she went missing. Not until 10.30pm my wife went to the reception asking another receptionist if she has the contact for the General Manager. The receptionist made a call and then Karina the front office manager came out to see my wife. Karina pretended she didn't know our case eventhough the missing receptionist had consulted her on our case. We were left to wait until 11.00++pm before we get another room after Karina made arrangement. It seems the receptionist who checked us in convenienly forgot to arrange the room despite she promised to arrange within one hour. We were tired and exhausted with 4 hours wasted at the restaurant and lobby. It seems Karina seriously working on our case after we asking for General Manager contact. Worst, after we got the room 644 a Classic King room the missing receptionist also forgot to add the extra bed as promised which added up to further wait. To add to the injury, the additional bed provided was of poor quality not fit for a 5 star hotel. The mattress was of no use as my body was touching the metal frame of the foldable bed. The house keeping staff were so rude they just dump the bed in the room without properly preparing it, despising our special needs. Karina helped my wife to prepare the bed. Even though my wife gets to sleep in the King bed, she was worrying about me sleeping on the poor quality foldable bed. She ends up not sleeping well. If we both sleep together on the king bed, we both will not have quality sleep as we will be disturbed by each other movement. I got stiff and sore back due to my body touching the metal frame of the bed. Room 644 also has defective toilet bowl which leaks. On Sunday 20th.July Karina moved us to room 430 a Deluxe Twin Mountain View room but was not Panoramic as it was on low floor. During shower in the evening we shockingly found the shower water overflow and wet the bathroom. The air-conditioning system was not cool. When we called house keeping for extra hard pillow they angrily disputed my wife stating our room was 430. They argue my wife was not calling from room 430 but room 444 as shown in the staff monitor. This lead to unpleasant argument. After I told Karina will made formal complaint to Accor group and hotel General Manager, Karina informed Ferid (Front Office Manager). Shortly later, maintenance came and sorted the defects. Maintenance showed me the air-cond filter was fully blocked, look like not clean for long time and that caused air-cond not cooling. He cleaned it and it works fine. On Tuesday 22nd.July, Ferid arranged the correct room 730 which was what we booked, Deluxe Twin Panoramic Mountain View on the highest 7th floor. With inferior room offered on the first 3 nights, we at last got the room that we rightly reserved and paid. However, on 23rd. Wednesday night, while we were enjoying room service dinner, suddenly the occupants of connected room 729 tried very hard to open the connecting door to our room which caused us uneasiness and made us worry for our safety. I shout out loud, the attempt stop but shortly later resume again. Dissappointingly I called the reception and told them what happen. They said will call the room immediately to ask them to stop. But shortly later the occupants in room 729 seems not happy that we complaint and again try to open our door with some banging. I then called reception again and asked to speak to Aivaz the Duty Manager. I told Aivaz if this doesn't stop, I will have to call the Police for help. Eivaz said he will come up and speak to the room occupant. Later Eivaz knock my door and inform me that there were two kids that did that and they were told not to do that anymore. I said to Eivaz since it was the kids so there was no security threat. But I said I will call him again if it continue. It seems the father of the kids was angry, we heard banging and throwing sounds from the room a short while later. I looked at my wife eye to eye amd looked at the unfinished dinner and I said we got no good luck in Swissotel Wellness Resort because nothing is going well for us here. For our room shortcomings, Karina had told us that she will arranged complimentary airport transfer for us with the hotel Limo. Also she said we can have late checkout until 3.20pm on Thurdays 24th.July. However, shockingly at 11.30am on Thursday, the reception called us to vacate the room by 12.00 noon. As Karina only start work at 3pm, I messaged Ferid which he confirmed we can stay until 3.30pm, and he said sorry. Ferid had apologised from his heart on Monday during the meeting with him especially on the issue of the receptionist telling us or lying to us that room 347 was the same category as room 730. Karina also refunded half of the room rate on Saturday 19th. July. This gesture at least relieved them of any legal liability. The apology, discount and complimentary airport transfer does ease the pain a bit on the bad things we experienced at the hotel, also their failure to honour our reserved room from day one. But they does not improve on the bad experience we had at Swissotel especially this was our first time visiting Almaty. It is a dark stain of otherwise great service and great experience we enjoyed from other service provider in Almaty. Putting aside our bad experience and pain, our suggestion is constructive. Swissôtel Wellness Resort can easily address these issues—such as poor room maintenance, an unhealthy work culture, miscommunication between team members, and failure to honour reserved rooms. What’s needed is better-qualified senior management capable of properly training their team on the best practices in the hotel industry. Otherwise, the resort risks driving away distinguished clients or mistreating valuable customers due to sheer incompetence of...

We recently had a stay at this Swissotel. Given the reputation of the brand, our expectations were naturally set high. However, the reality of our experience fell significantly short of those anticipations.

Check-in Procedure: Even with online check-in we were subjected to a 30-minute wait. One of our pre-booked rooms was not ready at the time of arrival.

Room's Condition: A glaring lapse in cleanliness was evident with the state of the bathroom floor near its entrance (photo attached). The bathroom door's sliding mechanism was faulty and highly inconvenient. The overall condition of the bathroom indicated it's due for an overhaul and repairs (photos attached). The discovery of a used ear swab under the table raised significant concerns about the room's preparation and cleanliness (photo attached). A faulty power outlet in the bathroom added to the growing list of maintenance concerns (photo attached). The discovery of a dead insect in the drapes clearly points to a continuous lack of attention to detail with the cleaning staff (photo attached).

Birthday Cake: Our agreement for a pre-arranged complimentary birthday cake was not only overlooked but was also delivered a day later than promised, despite having multiple conversations and providing evidence of our prior agreement (via the official hotel WhatsApp).

Water Bottle Replenishment: The consistent oversight in providing an essential like water, despite multiple request channels, was surprising. The water had to be fetched from the cleaning staff, we had to chase them and ask. None of the other channels, like the official app or the reception, fulfilled our request for the water delivery.

Dining: Our anticipation of an à la carte menu was countered by a buffet offering. Being told this was due to hotel occupancy levels feeling unsatisfactory. This went on for both evenings spent at the hotel. Portions of the a la carte menu were available only for room service.

Buffet Food Quality: The limited options, particularly for main courses (3), left much to be desired. Our experience with the freshly prepared pasta was particularly disappointing. It was watery, bland, disgusting. You could get better pasta at an office canteen. We have travelled quite a big part of the world and this buffet was easily the worst we have ever had. Both taste and variety were not worth the price. And we were forced into it by being denied the a la carte option. The hotel is above capacity - great, but we paid for the same service as if it weren't, right? Not OUR problem.

Breakfast Experience: The overall offering was lackluster. The variety was uninspiring, especially when compared to even basic 3-star hotels. Stale pastry (croissant from the day before) at a 5* hotel is inexcusable - these are absolute basics. Staff appeared overwhelmed, often forgetting to replenish food and drinks (had to be reminded many times) and struggling to manage guest numbers. Only 2 juice options for breakfast are as inexcusable as the stale croissant. As mentioned, the majority of 2* - 3* hotels we had breakfast at served better quality food in a broader variety.

Service and Attitude Issues: The attitude of certain staff members, especially when met with a simple request, was unheard of - ignoring simple requests (like mentioned - bringing more water) or the whole check-in fiasco.

We paid a lot for this stay, and we were met with a series of disappointments. We find it bitterly embarrassing for the Accor Group to offer such a service level at a "5-star luxury" hotel resort.

Don't let yourself to be fooled - there is nothing luxury or 5-start about this hotel...

I am very disappointed. I dont know where to start. When I was checking-in at 1 pm with small 2 kids , i knew i would probably not get my room as check-in time is at 3 pm. However, i thought at least I can use the facility like swimming at the pool and having lunch at the restaurant. However, front desk agent told me that SPA has their own RULES and we cant swim in the pool today especially because they are busy. When we walked to the spa, SPA MANAGER MARIAM (I think), told us that they can let us in only when we check-in to the room or we have to pay 25000 tenge ($50 ) per person for 2 hours. I LITERALLY PAID $400 for one night ! ARE YOU SERIOUS? After our kids were crying and screaming, she let us in to the pool and the staff didnt want to give the towel ...JUST WOW! Regarding the pool, we had fun and it is a beautiful place, however they need to do smth with the floor as it was very slippery! My kids felt down and got hurt! IT IS NOT SAFE TO WALK THERE! After I got to my room, the room is clean but the shower, WHO BUILT THIS SHOWER LIKE THAT? The glass is not wide enough as the water was coming our to the bathroom and guess what? LITERALLY I FELT DOWN in the shower, My kids felt down even though I put 3 towels on the floor. I wanted to post my bruises and my kids but decided it would be too much content in the internet. Another part what I faced which is crazy, there was no milk in the room , hotel provide as amenity instant coffee lol and kettle old style. I asked to bring me milk 3 times and nobody did. When I stopped by front desk to ask for one more bottle of water in the room, they left it on the floor in the corridor 6 bottles in the plastic like a bazaar style xD . I mean I appreciate to give me so much water but it looked like: Here we go and shut up. I spoke regarding all of those issues so many times to the front desk and they said: " OOOW ok but there is nothing we can do" My reaction was like : WHAT ? I asked for the manager, they said here is not there. I booked through my bank, they tried to call to talk to the manager and they said he is not there and someone will reach out to me. NOBODY DID!

However, after all of that craziness and stress I went through, My son got sick and i had to go urgently to the pharmacy at 4.30 am. I really appreacite night shift ( front desk lady, bell man gentelman and Night Manager), they really went above and beyond to get me a taxi as I dont have KZ sim card....