Artisha Travel Hotel

I booked for a week at the last minute in August 2024 because I needed somewhere to sleep during a conference. The low price and night check-in option seemed convenient, but I had no idea what I was getting into. It's been over a year and that night still gives me nightmares. I wandered up and down the street in the middle of the night trying to find the place. Inside, a man was snoring in the hallway. A girl in a nightgown opened the door and led me down a long, stinky corridor and past the filthiest kitchen I've ever seen. The room wasn't the one I'd booked, and the sheets weren't fresh. It was 3 am after two flights to Tbilisi, so I just wanted to sleep somewhere. I used my own T-shirt as a pillowcase because otherwise the smell would have been unbearable. I didn't feel safe, but I was more tired than scared. The next morning I tried to shower, but there was only one bathroom. There was a huge pile of hair floating in the bathtub as I showered. With my bad eyesight and shower slippers, I managed to rinse off quickly, but I'm still traumatized by it. After a long conference day, I locked myself in my room and tried to sleep, still feeling unsafe. Around 11 pm, I heard a key turn in my locked door. A middle-aged woman I'd never seen came in. I panicked and asked in Russian, "Who are you?" I'd been communicating with the owner in English, and she seemed confused to find someone who spoke Russian. She said she was looking for an AC remote, but that was a lame excuse, since the room didn't even have AC. That was the last straw. I stayed with a friend and booked somewhere else for the rest of the week. My Georgian adventures ended there, but I still remember that night clearly.

There were over 30 guests crammed in, but just one usable bathroom. The other was locked without explanation. The available bathroom had no working lock, and there was no toilet paper, so guests had to buy their own. The kitchen was a mess too. The stove looked like it could explode any second, and the sink collapsed while I was there. Nobody fixed it. The room smelled of mold, the lights didn't work, and some beds had no sheets, just a bare duvet cover. Sockets were coming out of the wall with live wires exposed. It felt dangerous. The photos online didn't match reality, and there was no washing machine or terrace. Some photos seemed to have been taken from other properties. The power went out several times. The owner didn't apologize and instead asked guests for more money. He even called people in the middle of the night to let new arrivals in, because he wouldn't hire proper night staff. One staff member tried to help but didn't have support or resources to fix anything. I've stayed in dozens of hostels across Europe, and this was by far the most disgusting and dangerous. It's deceptive and unsafe. Booking platforms should remove the listing. Save yourself the stress and stay far away.

The facilities were dirty and broken, and nothing looked like the photos online. The owner, who is Iranian, was dishonest and manipulative. He said I needed a legal address to apply for a residence card, then demanded six months' rent upfront to "lend" me one. That's around €2,000 for something authorities later confirmed wasn't legally required. When I asked for a refund, he claimed I had said I wanted to rent for six months, which was a total lie, then demanded that I prove I hadn't said it. He kept finding new reasons to charge more. There was no written agreement, and it felt like he was trying to trap guests with false claims. Don't book here. You'll waste your money and time, and there are much better, more honest places.

The staff were very friendly, but the place is a low-standard hostel, not a hotel. They don't provide towels because, they say, "guests steal them." We got a different room from the one we'd booked, with dust everywhere and a dirty floor. The bedding was used and incomplete, but they replaced it with clean bedding after we asked. There was one toilet with a shower for eight rooms. The kitchen and bathroom were extremely dirty, and we didn't use the kitchen because it was disgusting. Wi-Fi only worked in the hall, not in the room, and someone was sleeping in the hallway.