Imperia Hotel in Sochi

My daughter and I stayed at the impressively named Empire Hotel from September 11th to September 25th! The pros are the proximity to the sea and probably the pool, but I'd chalk up the rest as cons! Let's start with the staff. I think the staff is the hotel's calling card. The only friendly people here are the maids and the janitor! The receptionists are constantly disgruntled; it feels like we're in their way, and the second-to-last day of our stay was a particularly egregious case. We went in the morning to order packed lunches for the next day because we were leaving, and the receptionist was intoxicated—literally, drunk. She wrote something down, or tried to write something down, but we ended up without them. That evening, we looked for the receptionist to pick them up, but she wasn't there. We finally called her and asked her to pick them up in the morning, but the lunches were gone that morning, and no one could find them! They didn't even ask us what time we were checking out, didn't apologize, or try to solve the problem. It's good that the transfer was late and we managed to get breakfast! However, upon checkout, they offered us compensation, a choice of juice or water! Regarding breakfasts and the cafe at the hotel, breakfasts are monotonous. This year, the hot dishes were so bad that sometimes it was even scary to look at, let alone eat. By the sixth day, I was downright sick from the scrambled eggs! Everything in the cafe is very expensive, but that's okay. It's not tasty, there's no choice. The waitress Oksana, who was also at breakfast at the hotel, is always dissatisfied, rude. Instead of saying good morning, did you only hear what room we were in? During our 14-day stay, no one remembered what room we were in, which is very strange for a three-star hotel! There is no drinking water or slippers in the rooms, and the bathroom constantly smells of sewage! I do not recommend this hotel if you don't want to ruin your vacation! Special thanks to our maid Ksyusha, she made our stay here even better, cleaning every day, changing bed linen every three days, always smiling, always asking what we need and always helping!

We booked a room for three, but reception said they misunderstood and booked for two, and the price would be 1,000 rubles more. The room smelled of chlorine and sewage in the bathroom, the pool was dirty, and there was no water in the room. We went to the cafe and ordered, but they didn't tell us the price per 100 grams, so they charged us 4,300 rubles for three people. 😆
I don't know if this is normal or not, but some people find it okay. We stayed for a day and then left.

The rooms are extremely poor, everything is old, the bathroom and toilet smell like sewage, and they wash them with bleach to mask the smell. The tiles are dirty and limescale-stained, and the shower is clogged with limescale and doesn't work well. There's no drinking water in the room or at breakfast. Cleaning is between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM, so if your child is sleeping, that's your problem, because they clean the rooms you've checked out of in the morning, and the cleaners work until 5:00 PM. The gym is 2x2 meters, stuffy, without air conditioning, the only treadmill doesn't work, and there are no additional weights (they just put it there for show; no one uses the "gym"). The pool isn't heated, not even the children's pool; the water doesn't warm up during the day from the sun, as it only gets there for a couple of hours. The hotel has no grounds. The bed linens are also old. We left early and couldn't stay there, and they refused to refund our money for the week voluntarily.

Very inconvenient location, you can't get out on foot
Meager, tasteless breakfasts that last from 9 to 10, and I have to be at work at 9
Lack of slippers and bathrobes
At registration they insisted on paying in cash
I ordered a superior room with a double bed, but there were no such rooms
Very uncomfortable, cramped bathroom
Windows overlooking not the sea, but the railway bridge. When a train passes under the windows, it feels like an earthquake has begun

The room has no Slippers even. The linen is old and damp. In the shower smells of sewer. For three days there was no cleaning in the room.