Hotel Golden Palace

The room was very large compared with rooms at other hotels, and they cleaned it daily, replacing the water and WC supplies. Navat and Kishlak are among the nearby restaurants. The hotel is a bit outdated, but it covers the basics for a couple of nights. My main problem was the street-facing room on the second floor: the windows let in light, and there was some noise from trucks, cars, and roadworks. The internet was also down for 4-5 hours. I didn't need to work then, luckily, but having to use my own data was frustrating.

There are restaurants around the area, including degirmen. From our sixth-floor room we could see wide mountain ridges, a view my wife and daughter really liked. Service was nice, and about four out of five receptionists could communicate in basic English, which helped as we don't know the local language. They even used their kaspi apps once to top up my Onay cards, which was convenient. The downside is that some buses we took didn't stop close to the hotel, so we had to walk a couple of minutes. Not too bad.

The staff really impressed me. They were kind, communicated clearly in English or in a way I could understand, helped arrange cabs, and gave me useful guidance about places and locations. The hotel is good value, though the WiFi was a little slow.

The staff were rude and never smiled back, and I wouldn't recommend staying here. The rooms are very small, breakfast is limited and almost the same every day. There's no kettle or tea and coffee sachets in the room. When I asked for an extra pillow or another bottle of water, I was told neither was available. Very basic facilities.