The Ritz-Carlton, Almaty

At a rate of just under USD 1,000 per night (in county such as Kazakhstan with lower overall cost of living) after a multi-night stay and with Marriott status, I asked if they could extend the check out by 1.5h and was told 'no, you are welcome to pay for another full night' - not impressed The hotel itself is very nice

Pretty bad overall. Didn't get the USG rates like I thought I would get. Also got diarrhea for a weekend to the burger I ate here. Also was treated like a 2nd class citizen since they were catering to Kanye west and his team. If there's 2 people om sure they can help a member of Kanye's team and me. Doesn't take 2 people to listen to 1 person. Pretty bad experience. Even with points with Marriot I would not go back here. Just a bad experience. But Kanye's security team were very nice and professional. Also the wells are way too thin. You can hear everything that's going out there. Also the water spray from the tub was broken..

For a Ritz Carlton, this hotel left something to be desired. Its location is solid as it’s near the Esentai Mall and River, but it’s not ideal for tourists as most of the tourist attractions are going to be in the city center, which is about 4.5km away. With Almaty traffic, that’s about a 15-20 minute Yandex ride. The room also had some quirks. The AC couldn’t be dropped below 18 degrees. This is fine, but the room temperature hovered around 20 degrees. The AC felt overmatched by the summer heat. Lastly, and most annoyingly, the blackout curtains had a gap, which let a lot of daylight in. The curtain design was not great. I ended up patching the issue in our room (2223), but I think this might be a fairly common issue given the bad design. The one thing this hotel did great was service. It was classic Ritz Carlton service from top to bottom. Special shoutouts to Nursana and Saya. Other hotel amenities like the pool, sauna, steam room, not to mention the breakfast, were all good as well.

We had a corner room and the room. It was just beautiful and spacious. Only less than the thirty minute drive to the hotel from the airport. A Ritz Carlton hotel that lived up to its name with an outstanding service. From very friendly and welcoming staff. With special Thanks to Aidana and Amina at the front desk. laundry service was quick .

The property has decent service standards and the staff were responsive to requests. The service in my opinion needs a consistent level of excellence for a Ritz-Carlton. Things like assistance with luggage are basic expectations for a luxury brand but I note that you have to ask for staff to assist you. The breakfast is very expensive and although you can order room service, you cannot order a la carte in the restaurant during breakfast. So to eat a small breakfast at the restaurant on a rushed morning, you either pay 30000 tenge plus taxes, or, you can leave.