Sheki Palace Hotel in Sheki

Our tour agent’s partner agency in Azerbaijani, Geo Travels, booked us into this property as they have a contract with them. Money is more important than customer satisfaction – as I found out in other dealings with Geo Travels. My travel rep in Advantours (our tour company in Georgia) did not bother to check out the suitability of this place. This property has a plaque outside the front door stating that from 2015 – 2018 it had five stars. Today, it should be known as “Shaky Place” as it is possibly one of the worst hotels I have stayed in during all my travels over the decades. 1. We arrived at the hotel reception at 5.35 pm which was a bad time as the hotel was full. There was a large delegation of sport persons who represented part of the Assocn. of Sports for all the Stan countries. 2. We were put up in the annexe so for any requirement we had to call or go down and across a larhe open courtyard to Reception. 3. We were given a room in the annexe on the second floor. After entering the room, I heard the sound of constant scraping and dragging of furniture. After nearly 90 mins of constant noise, I went to the 3rd floor and found that we were right under the main restaurant and the sound was the scraping and dragging of chairs of the guests as they sat, got up, left, and staff replaced after cleaning !! This was to happen from 6.30 am to 11.00 pm. I was shocked that someone had seen fit to have a dining room above a set of bedrooms. I spoke to the Manager and staff and requested them to understand our problem of constant loud noise. They were kind and considerate and for the two days stay, the noise reduced and generally stopped by 10.30 pm. I suggest that management fix rubber stopper’s on each chair leg to stop this noise. 4. Room – a. When heating is on in other rooms, you cant have air conditioning. So it becomes suffocating even on low heat level. b. There is poor lighting in the room. I needed an extra room lamp which they refused as they said they had no extra lamps. I spoke to my guide who called the hotel and suddenly a table lamp magically appeared. c. The furniture is old and “tired” – the chair springs etc are poor. The bed is as bad. d. The curtain was partly falling off the rod and no maid seemed to care fixing it properly. e. They give exactly TWO tea bags for two persons. Not a friendly act as one has tea in the morning before breakfast and in the afternoon; or even more in some cases. f. There small insects in the room – needs fumigation 5. Bathroom – a. Tiles are cracked. b. The bidet fitting was such that if you tried getting up, you might topple it on the side. Fitting was loose. It was shown to the room maid. c. The toilet got blocked (not our fault) and they sent someone to clear it. d. Water from the bath leaks into the bath area thru the pipe which is linked to water outlet near the bath !! It was shown to the room maid. e. The whole bathroom stinks of a bad smell emanating from the wat