Gudauri Loft Apartment 416

The location and ski setup are hard to beat. The hotel sits right by the slope, with an excellent ski depot, lockers, and immediate slope access. The rooms are comfortable and tastefully decorated, with a separate couch area. There’s a hot sauna with a great view and a heated rooftop pool with a view, too. Breakfast is superb, with lots of choices and eggs cooked to order. Lunch and supper are pricey, but the decor is beautiful. I’ve stayed in lots of places in Gudauri, and this is hard to top.

After nine days here, I can’t recommend this hotel. The restaurant is the worst in Gudauri. Price isn’t even the main issue, it’s the food quality. Twice I was served spoiled soup, apparently masked with vinegar. They apologized after I complained, but that doesn’t change that spoiled food was served. I tried many dishes, and it honestly seemed like they’d been made by a waiter rather than a professional chef. There are much better, tastier restaurants nearby. Housekeeping was terrible. They didn’t replace used tea bags, and used cotton swabs were in the bathroom when we arrived. Nobody removed them before we checked in or during our entire nine-day stay. The receptionist, an English-speaking woman who was slightly overweight, was completely incompetent. I explained clearly that the door lock wasn’t working, that this had happened before, and that changing the key cards wouldn’t fix it. She issued new cards anyway. The door still wouldn’t open, so I had to return to reception and wait another 30 minutes just to get into the room.

We came only for the hotel wellness area, but I can hardly call it wellness. For 150 GEL, a very high price compared with the much better places I’ve visited in Italy and Austria for 20€, all we got was an outdoor pool that wasn’t heated enough. The Finnish sauna was okay, but don’t expect sauna clothing or much sauna culture here; people go in swimwear. There’s also a steam sauna that smells strongly of mold and disinfectant, plus a cold bucket. That’s it. It was extremely crowded, with six very small kids constantly running in and out of the sauna and playing with the bucket. I had no chance to cold plunge, and their screaming, along with their parents being loud, made it impossible to rest. Staff didn’t care. When I tried speaking to them, they replied in Russian, which I don’t understand. People in winter clothes were also walking around the wellness area. Staff told my husband to take off his flip-flops before entering the sauna, but did nothing about the noisy group. The cake we had smelled like a fridge. I’m so disappointed and regret spending so much money here. I wouldn’t recommend this place.

Everyone was cooperative, and the service was excellent throughout our stay. Giorgi and Nino were especially helpful, and upgraded us to a better room. Loft Hotel Gudauri is cozy, nice, and well located. We had an amazing stay, and I’d definitely book here again when visiting Gudauri.