Sands Of Time Hotel

The friendly staff and cute decor made this Old City hotel a nice place to stay. When I came back from a vacation, I got upgraded to a bigger room with a balcony and partial sea views. Friends joined me there for wine. It’s worth paying extra if you can get one of the larger rooms. I’d chosen the hotel for its location.

The hotel is in the Old City, so cars need to pay extra manat to get near it. The AC doesn’t work in many rooms. Breakfast is very limited, not good, and the same every day. The woman serving it was very rude to Asian guests and acted as if we were eating and staying for free, while treating white guests differently. I wouldn’t recommend it to Asians.

We booked Sands of Time, but on arrival they said there was a “plumbing problem” with our room and wouldn’t let us stay there. Instead, they sent us to the neighboring Utopia hotel, claiming it was the same level. It wasn’t. The rooms were furnished, the furniture was broken, the bathroom plumbing was faulty, and the door locks didn’t work. This place was nowhere near Sands of Time’s stated level, two stars at most. We had paid for a room at Sands of Time with breakfast and asked for a 4 am wake-up call and some dry food to take to the airport instead. Nobody woke us, no breakfast was prepared, and there was no one at reception. It all feels very much like a scam, selling a completely different hotel under the guise of four stars and attractive photos. We wanted a place with local character and history, not furnished rooms, and would have booked somewhere simpler if that’s what we wanted. Be careful. I don’t recommend this hotel; you could be deceived and get no compensation.

The place is old, so you know what to expect, and the room and bathroom were nice enough. But the bedding was dusty when we arrived. I don’t think it had been washed, and the dust came up in clouds when we hit the bed. My wife had hay fever for days afterward. Staff were friendly, and the place was interesting. We still enjoyed the visit, and it’s very central for getting around the Old Town, but unfortunately it isn’t top class.