Hotel Royal Tulip a Almaty

My partner and I stayed (briefly) in the Royal Tulip in December 2022. To say it was a disappointment would be an understatement and to see an average rating of 4.0 suggests most reviewers have no concept of what a good hotel is. Firstly, on arrival, the ‘non-smoking’ room offered to us had obviously been occupied by a heavy smoker so clearly the hotel cannot enforce their own policies (we should have taken this as a sign of things to come but we were given another room). Secondly, the rooms are advertised on the official website as 'air-conditioned'. During winter months this is simply not the case as the entire hotel is cranked up to furnace levels of heat. We complained for over a week about this matter and were consistently fobbed off with excuses until it was ‘fixed’ and although better, the temperature control of the room was never satisfactory. Thirdly, the noise in the room was excessive with road noise audible at all times of day. On the 16th of December an event had been held at the hotel after which staging etc. was being dismantled. Not normally a problem, but given it was at 3 AM and involved scaffold being hurled into the back of a lorry for three hours it soon became one. Reception was made aware and did nothing. Manager was made aware and never even apologised. Having booked (and paid) for a moth’s stay we decided to leave after 10-days. When checking out, the hotel alleged a ‘technical issue’ with their bank and could not refund the difference of approximately $3700 USD to us (this is still an ongoing issue). Royal Tulip alleges that their bank accounts have been blocked by Kaspi Bank which is very alarming if true. The General Director of the hotel was very apologetic and alleges he knew nothing about the problems reported until the point we decided to leave. That should also worry potential customers in that it suggests hotel management are completely disconnected from the day-to-day operations of their own establishment. The Royal Tulip Almaty markets itself as a 5-star international hotel. As a seasoned global traveler, I can assure readers of this review that it comes up as a 3-star at best. The facilities are dated and do not function as intended (AC as example). The staff are inattentive to problems, dismissive of genuine complaints and do not even know their own facilities – after we left the Booking Manager messaged my partner to ask where it is stated that all rooms are ‘air-conditioned’ to which she sent the link to the official Royal Tulip Almaty website (where it is clearly stated). What an embarrassment of a hotel.