Golden Dragon ApartHotel in Bishkek

I am struggling to understand how anyone has rated this hotel more than 2/5. It looks nothing like what the pictures show. I feel like I just walked into a prison from the 90’s that went out of business and got converted into an excuse of a hotel. I have stayed at hostels around the world run by teenagers that cost $15-$20 a night that were better than this place. The staff is a bunch of unmotivated 20-year-olds that clearly have not been trained by management about the definition and application of hospitality. Front desk has zero knowledge about nearby points of interest or restaurants etc within the vicinity of the hotel, and make zero effort to help out. The rooms look nothing like the photos. They are very dated, bed springs have been worn out, shower drainage doesn’t drain the water, room phones don’t work. There are two buildings in the property, so if you have a room in the second building, you have to walk through an emergency exit in the back door of the main hotel lobby, which is a very narrow corridor that has signs saying “staff only”. It’s clearly just a make-shift path to the other building. I felt like was sneaking out of my college dorm room emergency staircase. Housekeeping will walk into your room while you’re inside, and when they realize you’re still in there, they’ll just walk out. No apologies or anything, they just pretended like nothing happened and walked back out 😂. Again, lack of training by management. The property looks like it’s last maintenance was done in 1991. Broken floor tiles, unsafe stairs, doors that don’t close properly, a piano in the lobby that’s so out-of-tune that not even Beethoven could save it. When I tried dabbling with the piano to revive my piano skills, I was told that it’s just for “decoration”, so I’m not allowed to play it. Pretty expensive “decoration” if you ask me. The breakfast… may Allah never show you hotel breakfast like that, aameen. Limited options, hot items were cold, bread was so stale it felt like it’s been there since the hotel first opened, astaghfirullah. Location isn’t great, but at least there’s a convenience store across the street and a couple of half-decent restaurants nearby. But it’s not very close to the main center or the city parks.

In summary, the hotel claims to be 5-star… it’s nowhere near the standard or quality of 5-star hotels. The ratings online by other guests deceived me. If I knew what to expect, I wouldn’t be this disappointed. For the same price, you can definitely get better hotels. Don’t believe any review that is more than 2/5 or maximum 3/5.

Recommendation: avoid unless you’re desperate. It’s not the absolute worst option in the world, but it’s pretty bad.