Hotel Saya Hotel Almaty

I stayed at SAYA for five days, and the location was the one real plus. You can walk to several good local restaurants, convenience stores, and cafes, so it's practical if you just need somewhere to sleep while you explore. The room was a major letdown, outdated and poorly maintained, and the bathroom wasn't good either. It wasn't cleaned properly during my stay, and I had to ask several times to get fresh towels and toiletries. The service felt inattentive and unprofessional.

The location is great, the beds are comfortable, and there's AC and a TV. On the second floor, nightclub noise wasn't too bad, but other guests were easy to hear. WiFi barely worked well enough to download an attachment. Breakfast was mandatory in the rate, but it wasn't Western style: mostly meat and bread, no coffee, fruit, or vegetables. I've never felt so unwelcome at a hotel. Staff were rude whenever I raised something, and they didn't greet us at the desk when we came or went. They kept claiming the card reader wasn't working, and every day there seemed to be a new problem or fee, often in cash. The AC stopped working, there were bugs in the room, and staff knocked at 9 pm, then called at 10 pm to check that water turned off in the bathroom wasn't leaking downstairs. They tried charging 100,000 tenge for new sheets and a comforter after my child had a nosebleed, then said they'd take $10,000 cash to wash them. They also demanded another fee for a towel because they said it had a mark. When I asked where, they had to get two more cleaning staff to find it. I understand charging for a replacement if something is genuinely damaged in a clean room, but this room already had dirt, marks, and bugs. It felt like they were using fees to supplement the business. When I brought a trapped bug downstairs, the woman snapped, 'Oh, it's from your room?' as if I'd brought a giant beetle from home and put it in my own bed. The dirty pillow in the photos was already like that when we arrived. I bought towels at the bazaar and didn't use their blankets. I tried to give the hotel the benefit of the doubt because the low price and great location lined up with other guests' comments about it being outdated, but I'd avoid this hotel like the plague.

I stayed for 12 nights and was very disappointed. Breakfast wasn't a buffet, and there was no fruit. They served the food manually, and the room was cleaned only on weekends. There was no free shampoo or hand soap in the bathroom, and even the garbage had to be carried downstairs by me. I paid a lot and wasn't happy with the stay. Before booking, check whether breakfast is actually a buffet. I can't recommend this hotel and won't book this kind of place again.

The location and rooms were good. The restaurant cook seemed strange and kind of racist.