Novotel Bishkek City Center — Hotel in Bishkek City

I had an incredibly disappointing experience at the Novotel in Bishkek. Upon arrival, all vehicles are required to go through a security inspection by the hotel’s security staff. After this, guests are given the option to park either outside or in the underground parking. In my case, I was driving a rented 4x4 vehicle with a rooftop tent. Before heading to the underground parking, I expressed concerns about the height of my vehicle and specifically asked if I could park outside, knowing the car might be too tall. However, the security staff insisted I park in the underground parking, dismissing my concerns and informing me that parking outside was not an option. Since it was a member of the security team telling me what to do, I decided to trust his instructions, assuming he had been trained to provide accurate guidance. Unfortunately, that trust was misplaced.

Once inside, the rooftop tent became stuck on a part of the ceiling, causing damage to both the tent and the roof of the vehicle. No staff were present to assist or guide us during this process, which could have helped prevent the damage. To make matters worse, when I brought up the issue with the hotel management, the General Manager claimed their staff had provided proper instructions—something that was entirely untrue.

I was assured the matter would be investigated, and I would receive an update. However, I never heard back after the initial promise to look into the issue. It has now been over three months, and I am still waiting for any response or resolution from the hotel.

I’m not even expecting a reimbursement or compensation, but the bare minimum would have been to receive a response, especially when one was promised. A simple acknowledgment and reassurance that the staff would be properly trained to avoid similar incidents in the future would have gone a long way.

This experience highlights a severe lack of training, communication, and accountability among the staff, particularly the security personnel. Guests should not have to suffer due to staff negligence and mismanagement. If you stay here, do not trust the staff’s instructions—especially regarding parking.

While the hotel itself is nice and the room was pleasant, this experience has left me hesitant to recommend...

As it is named, the hotel is located in a very convenient and safe area…close to restaurants, supermarkets, and of course sightseeing places. Do walk around after dark and you will appreciate the environment a lot more when the lights are on.||Front desk staff is very friendly and informative and so are the staff in the lobby restaurant which is a good location to enjoy breakfast when the sun shines. Breakfast is served with a variety of local interesting food. We especially like the energy boosting ginger shot (non alcoholic) to start the day with. The chicken soup is also very heart warming. Not to mention the various local snacks, both sweet and savoury. We also had late lunch there and their salads are amazing and fresh.||The most amazing was that on our last day, we had to go to the airport real early and our tour manager had arranged with the front desk manager for us to start our breakfast earlier than the normal opening hours…..to our nice surprise everything was ready and neatly prepared half an hour early (as compared to our other hotels in this tour ……in which some were very unorganised and chaotic elsewhere .)||Dinner: we had a few dinners there…fish was good, chicken was juicy….desserts were delicious.||If you have enough time don’t miss the spa. Although the indoor pool is not big, the sauna and Turkish bath are just what one needs to relax after a whole day out. We also appreciate their long opening hours 7am to 11 pm which really cater for tourists who spend the day out sightseeing.||It would be most wonderful if the young cleaning lady on the 10/F could give more enthusiasm to her job. And it could have been perfect if the USB ports in the room would function but unfortunately none of them worked (although there were at least 5 of them which was a lot more in most hotels. ) Our friends in other rooms also said so. ||Overall this Novotel is a lot better than most of the other Novotels we had stayed in before in...

Good rooms - not huge but clean enough. Only one bottle of water and generally, absolutely terrible service.

A total lack of interest in guests experience seems to pervade every level.

First, I had a call in my room and asked if I could delay a massage I had booked. I couldn’t since I had an engagement after. Still, when I got to the spa five minutes before my appointment, I was told I had to wait because the guest before me was late for his. Was it because I was a woman that they asked me to accommodate his lateness and have a shorter massage?

Then, when the masseur finally was ready, she said she was SO tired since s I was the sixth in a row she had to do. Why on earth did those spa front desk ladies do this to her?!!

So faced with a shortened massage and a too tired masseur, it seemed hopeless to carry on. However, even then the pain did not stop. Little was I to know how long getting a refund would be. It took ages and required a new person to arrive to get done.

Trying to feed this back to the managers was another discovery process on how little anyone here cared. It required multiple calls before a front desk manager deigned to hear the feedback. Turns out one of the reasons was the general manager couldn’t be bothered to return call to his staff as he had gone home for the day. With such a tone from the top, it is no wonder service quality goes no further than the purely superficial.

I wish I had been able to do more with my one afternoon in Bishkek than getting messed around by the 5 star...