Novotel Hotels in Almaty

It’s not new but generally speaking it’s good. After my nightmare stay in Astana and aktau with those international groups’ properties I am more certain about it.

It is an old property with Soviet Union Style. Room layout is a bit weird to me, we booked a queen-sized bed room for 2 adults and they gave us something like a room with connect room of 1 single bed. Bathroom is small and old, dont expect much. The only good things is the breakfast spread with wide variety of dishes both local and international. Great selection for cheese & cold cut. Staff are friendly & helpful but I have an impression that they are understaff as both check-in & check-out need to wait for quite a while. Staff can speak English but not fluent.

On a holiday in Kazakhstan for 15 days, my wife and I stayed at this hotel on 3 different occasions and have returned with mixed reactions - 1) 2 Nights on the first leg of our trip - Though the hotel and room looked a little rundown requiring refurbishment, it was a comfortable stay and service though, very stiff and formal, was acceptable. Breakfast - Very good; Communication - Poor due to most staff members being unable to communicate in English. 2) 1 Night on the second leg - Room very good. Service - Stiff but again acceptable. Breakfast again very good and communication poor. BUT the worst part was that the integrity of house keeping and reception staff was suspicious. While checking out after our first stay, my wife had left behind a set of clothes in the wardrobe. This came to realization, after reaching our next destination and I immediately called up the hotel and informed them. The lady assured that she would check and ring back, which she never did. When we checked-in around 5 days later, I was told that house-keeping had reported that nothing was left behind. My wife was firm and we asked to speak to a senior manager or the GM. It was then that we were asked to please wait for a recheck once again. One hour later, I received a call in my room, requesting me to collect the dress from the reception, without the courtesy of having it sent up to our room. 3) 1 Night on the last leg, before taking our flight back home. Room - Small and in very poor condition with walls having peeling wall paper and stains, Shower room, very small restricting mobility for me at 184cms height. I requested if the room could be changed but was answered with a curt - SORRY. OVERALL - This hotel definitely needs to upgrade it's service which is the FIRST ESSENTIAL in the hospitality business. A mechanical smile and words of welcome are not enough to convince a traveller to come back. If my bookings were not pre-confirmed, I would certainly not re-visit after our experience on the second time.

The Rixos hotel located in the center of Almaty has the best lobby. The moment you enter the lobby it gives you a feel of grandeur. With its comfortable sofa seating for more than 100 people it is by far the best I have seen in the whole of Almaty. You can relax, have meals and literally just spend the whole day there. The standard rooms are comfortable with a choice of pillows and a good mattress. However, the room service and house keeping are quite slow. The housekeeping has to be told time and again for towels, water, etc in the room. The Buffet breakfast was quite disappointing as there were no vegetarian items on the menu. The eggs, omelettes, pancakes were really bad and had no taste. For a full hotel there was a small toaster for more than 200 guests which took forever to toast a slice of bread. It's a shame that such a good hotel has a really sad service which definitely should be spruced up to keep up to the five star tag !!!!

Dinner in the hotel is problematic. The menu needs to be downloaded to the phone. It is not readable there. There is no alternative. Or from the phone or not. Frozen waiter will not help you. As a result, dinner was in a restaurant opposite the hotel. The hotel was filled with interest on thirty, but behind the wall we were settled by drunken people who arranged a debosh at four in the morning. Resepschn did not solve the problem, said ”we spoke to the guests,” but the noise continued. Only after the promise in the morning to complain to the leadership, we were offered to move to another room for the night. And be ready, that in the morning, at breakfast, you will be treated with pro-Ukrainian propaganda on two TVs. At the request of changing the channel, the answer was that ”we are obliged to show the world news.” Well, the yelling maids in the hallway are fully voiced It is clear that all the forces of the leadership have gone to build a building of the corresponding level of a five-star hotel, and the building has really succeeded, and the service of the forces is no longer enough. Usually I don't write reviews, but these guys tried very hard to spoil the rest. Good boys, it turned out

Oh my God from where I start! This hotel deserves to be # 1 in Almaty. The moment we checked in it was pure luxury all through our stay. We booked two superior rooms and the rooms on the Privilege floor (11th floor) were just perfect for our 4 night stay...every small detail was taken care of by a fabulous team, jacuzzi on the same floor was so relaxing, the service was exceptional, breakfast spread had so many choices (their pâtissière dishes have to be given a special mention). What stands out is the location of the hotel, so close to Promenade and popular sights. Finding a Yandex will never be a problem, no matter what time of the day it is. Would love to stay again at Mercure Almaty City Center!!

Receptionist is good and the check in is quite fast. The room is not bad but the shower is very ugly… isn’t for a five stars but for a 2 stars. Good frigo bar and the tv is simple but isn’t bad. The SPA service is not good because the Turkish bathroom hasn’t foots bath refresh and above all the hydro massage is not an hydro massage but a little swimming pool; that’s horrible! Good instead the normal swimming pool and sauna. The bar on 3rd floor “cigara bar” is not bad but I asked a bottle beer (Heineken or others brand ) and it hasn’t nothing brand bootle beers cold , is not permissible in 5 stars. This hotel has many many problems and I don’ understand how it can have 5 stars

First time here, and good first impressions. Beds were comfy enough in a spacious room. Work desk was wide enough for serious office work. Decor was modern, with nice paintings as well. Bathroom has a number of amenities as well. Fitness room was VERY WELL equipped - puts a lot of Doubletrees (and even Hiltons) in the US to shame. Many treadmills, ellipticals and cycles, with lots of free weights and machines. AND, spacious as well. Top notch !! Breakfast was decent....with a number of local delicacies. Standard fare was even adequate for dinner. Hope to explore more next time.

The breakfast was good, but not fantastic. The room was good and clean, there were some supplies in the toilette. Parks and places around the hotel are nice, and you can have a good walk around, if you wish. There were always noise (I'd assume cleaners did some work) quite early in the morning. Another issue is that the breakfast time in the morning is until 10am sharp, which is not convenient for people travelling from Europe for leisure. As I understood, there're no alternatives available. We asked a bottle of water and an additional blanked to the room, and it was challenging to get them. Particularly, with the bottle of water, as they refused to put the cost of it on the hotel room, but requested a cash payment. It was a surprise for us.