Hotel Sardar — Hotel in Shymkent

Stayed 3 nights at KZT 3,000 per night for single room with fan, air conditioning (didn't use) and TV. Bed was OK although mattress was sunken and has seen better days (but at least not rock hard). You could find a 100 things wrong with this place if you wanted to but for the price it is acceptable for a few nights if you are used to budget. Bathroom not overly inviting but functional. Hot water took a while to come thru but eventually did (although water cut out on 2nd morning but was back that night). No towel provided. The Wifi worked perfectly. Not a lot to see in Shymkent so the location probably isn't overly important but you are close enough to the centre - maybe a 10 minute walk. Supermarket across the road and a number of restaurants / fast food places also in the vicinity. Bring your ear plugs as you will get the noise from the very busy Main Street and there is also a night club close by that blares away till after 4am (very loud on the Wednesday but strangely I didn't seem to hear it on the Thursday and Friday nights). The Istanbul Restaurant a few hundred metres back towards town has reasonable coffee and meals plus good wifi. The hotel was quiet enough (I was on the 3rd floor) apart from the couple clearly having a good time at 2.00am and again at 5.00am on my last night - the walls are kinda thin. The reception guys had very limited English but were very helpful and we managed to communicate effectively. They flagged down a taxi for KZT 500 to take me to the bus to Turkistan (90 minutes to get there) and arranged a taxi back to the airport at 6.00am the last day for KZT 1,500 (I paid KZT from the airport when I arrived). For this price you need to expect a few rough edges but it was clean enough, central...

We stayed at this hotel for 3 nights. We booked through booking.com but the place looks nothing like on the site. |The bathroom had leaking pipes and very poor plumbing. It smells of sewage as time progresses and has no window or fan. You really need to keep the bathroom door shut at all costs.The floor was dirty with dust that accumulated over the three days yet the cleaner who works at the hotel not once came to clean the room. The matresses were of such state that the metal was digging deep into our backs. The hotel is poorly designed and so because the exterior is all made of glass the walls that separate the rooms have a poor finish where they meet the glass. The result of this is that when people smoke next door you inhale it all as if they were in your room. I can tell you it is a dreadful feeling to wake up with fag smoke through your nostrils!| The window does not close properly and it is secured with a piece of string. Good thing we were on the third floor. The entry door to the room is not great either. A) the lock is stiff so you really need to make sure it is locked. B) it opens outwards so if for extra security wanted to put your bag say behind it forget it.|Positives: clean sheets, towels and good A/C. |All in all I am all for a good deal when it comes to hotels but this one is not...

This hotel should be booked only on the condition that you're there for one night only.||My room was $12, had no shower, no working toilet and was very light and noisy.||The mattress was good and the sheets smelled very fresh, that aside there's not a whole lot to recommend this one.||I got the feeling by the high heels clicking up the stairs in the early morning that it's probably charged by the hour when locals stay rather...