Uyut Hotel

The staff were welcoming and helpful, with a warmth that reminded me of old Almaty hospitality. My room was quiet and clean, with complimentary bottled water, a small tea tray and kettle, warm blankets, and plenty of pillows. It’s a good hotel in a central Almaty neighborhood, and a hidden gem for business or leisure stays.

The room was larger than it looked in the pictures, and the breakfast was decent. Those are the only reasons I’m giving Hotel Uyut two stars. For what they charged, more than Holiday Inn Express, I expected better service from a brand, and didn’t get it. I’ve stayed at another local hotel closer to the airport on an earlier visit to Almaty, and that was a much better experience. I wouldn’t recommend this place at its price. My family and I, three adults and one child, wanted to try a local hotel for half our trip, so we split the stay between Holiday Inn Express and Hotel Uyut. Hotel Uyut was more expensive, even though it had seemed a good price. At check-in we were greeted well, but it felt as if I should be grateful to get the room despite having booked it in advance. I paid at check-in and got the room. On the first day we ran out of toilet roll. I called reception because there’s no direct line to housekeeping. They said housekeeping had already left enough, but I told them I wouldn’t be calling if there were enough. The next evening, we came back from dinner to find three towels instead of the four we’d received on arrival. I called in the morning for another and said my family had to leave in an hour. An hour passed, we called again, and the towel still never arrived. The night before departure I asked a man at reception if they could help with breakfast since we’d be leaving before it was served. He agreed, but when I mentioned that all of us were vegan, he looked irritated and called the restaurant. The packed breakfast was ready the next morning, but that wasn’t the kind of front desk interaction I wanted, right to my face. During my first three days in Kazakhstan I’d stayed at Holiday Inn Express and had a great experience. The Almaty tours were great too, and the people there were nice. My suggestion is to stay here at your own risk. The price isn’t worth the service you’ll get.

The room was warm and pleasant on a cold, snowy day. Breakfast selection was good, not extensive, but enough for breakfast. The hotel staff were helpful about keeping our luggage.

The room had a stale smoke smell, which surprised me since it was a no-smoking room. Then I noticed an ashtray outside the window. The balcony door doesn’t open, but guests can apparently sit at the open window and smoke, and the hotel provides an ashtray for it. I also had a bad experience at breakfast. Restaurant staff refused to serve me because I was wearing a lightweight down jacket. I didn’t want to take it off because I was going straight to the gym after a quick breakfast, wearing a tank top underneath, and would have been cold in it. Apparently the jacket broke their rules. I explained this to the manager, who asked for my room number and said she’d follow up, but nobody did. I was short on time and left without breakfast. My tour group of 15 had lunch at the restaurant too. It took 1 hour 15 minutes for the food to arrive, and the meal was awful. The group voted it the worst meal of our two weeks traveling through five countries. International tourists and tour operators should avoid this hotel.