Karat Inn Hotel

This is a three star hotel but the service is five star!
The staff really goes the extra mile!
Special thanks to Ayso at reception and the young man at the bar.
The breakfast was extremely good
Bathrobes and slippers were provided.
Location: walking distance to Nizami street
Recommended!

Friendly staff
A good location
You can access any place from there
Means of transportation are available
The rooms have poor hygiene
Old fashioned
It's restaurant is good
Its suitable for tourists who wanna be at the center of city and don't need any of hotel's facilities

It is a small and cheap hotel,with good enough service. It is near to city center and the beach.when you get hungry you can easily find somewhere to eat delicious donar and turkish food. There are are a lot shoppingcenters arround the hotel. Also there are a lot of taxi arround the hotel to get you anywhere you want.

Location: this hotel is located a half an hour walk from the historic centre of Baku. Despite this distance, we did have a good stay here. The room is affordable, compared to other hotels near the centre. No luxury but a decent standard hotel room. The beds were ok though a bit hard, the bathroom and shower were clean. The only thing stained was the carpet in the room. And on one of the nights, a picture frame suddenly fell down from the wall :) The breakfast is on the 5th floor and there's no elevator, so be prepared to climb stairs. Lots of choice for breakfast + staff prepares additional sweets and pastries. Very kind staff, but do not expect a lot of tourist information here (the front desk couldn't provide us with a tourist map op Baku). We got most of the information we needed from kiosks in the walled city.

We picked this hotel because it is within walking distance to the train and metro station (about 15 minutes walk). Hotel room is average in cleaniness and filled with cigarette smell. It is particularly bad when we turned on the ventilation fan of the toilet?!

There is no tea/coffee making facility in the room but you can hop up to the 4th floor breakfast room (no lifts) where you can have free access.

We had a very bad experience with the taxi driver recommended by the manager who refused to go to all the agreed places without charging us extra.

We made enquiry at the front desk about public transportation to Goubustan. A man lounging in the sitting area shouted to the reception staff in Azeri. We figured out that he instructed the staff to say there is no public transportation. He came over and said he can phone a friend, "Emil". We negotiated with this man the price of 50 manat to cover Goubustan, the mud volcano and the Fire Temple.

On the day of travel, we asked the front desk lady to speak to this driver again the three places he is suppose to take us and the cost of 50 manat thinking that should cover our base.

After the visit to the first site, Goubustan, the driver refused to go to the other two locations. Then he asked for 20 manat more. We finally agreed to pay10 manat extra and dropped the Fire Temple. That was a very unpleasant experience to say the least.

After returning to the hotel, we confirmed with more than one staff that the man is the manager of the hotel though we were unable to complain to this manager.

On check out, the hotel staff put on the invoice the 50 manat taxi charge although we have already pay the man 60 manat!!

l have stayed at this hotel for 1 night only because one of my business partner's office was in the same district.Location of the hotel is great.close to the centre,new and very clean hotel,staff is so and so,breakfast is very limited and not recommended.Price level for this category in the heart of Bakü is very good.

"It was OK" is all that I can say about this hotel. rooms are ok, no elevator, bad breakfast, staff didn't knew English (only the receptionist and only a little), good location, clean bathroom, and that's all. Guess if you don't want to stay at hotel much, it doesn't matter. although it's better for you to have breakfast somewhere else. it really was that bad!

Hotel is located near the center, clean, good furnishment, wireless internet with no fee, breakfast not great, you may need something for preventing mosquitos, not expensive if you talk to reduce the price, they can also arrange your pick up from airport. There is no elevator in the hotel, and also they have not exchange office in the hotel. Price-quality is good for this area.

I got in this hotel for a mistake. Anyway it was an incredible suprise! In Baku it is difficult to get a good hotel at reasonable price. So I was vey lucky. The hotel is new, clean and very nice. the people are very kind and at your disposal. Internet is free and works well. The hotel is located in the center and in a good position. The rooms are big and nice. They provide you all the necessary for bathroom, shaver, toothpaste, comb, ecc.ecc. If I will come back to Baku I will return here for sure!

Most of the hotels in Baku are absurdly overpriced, so I was thrilled to find this nice little business hotel for $100 a night. It's located in a noisy, busy part of downtown, which isn't really ideal for tourists. But most Baku attractions are within a 30 minute walking distance, and at least you won't feel like the area is at all "touristy."

The hotel is quite small, and there weren't more than a handful of other guests there with me. My room was fairly large and simply decorated with a large bed, table, television, and bureau. While the furnishings weren't particularly nice, everything was very new and spotlessly clean. My view was of an ugly & noise construction site just outside my room, but I just closed the blinds and tried to ignore it. It was much more enjoyable just to stare at my TV, which had a wonderfully large selection of channels, including BBC.

The room rate includes breakfast, which is a small but tasty little buffet and eggs made to order. The kitchen staff doesn't speak any English, only Russian & Azeri, so bring your phrasebook if you want to request a particular kind of eggs!

My only complaint is that the hotel staff wasn't knowledgeable at all about Baku or even the immediate neighborhood. Nobody knew where I could find Internet or even give me directions to famous attractions.

We stayed at the Karat Inn on Suleyman Rahimov Street (1 block from the Republican Theatre) for 4 nights. We were participating in the Baku Jazz festival and we were placed there. It was in April 2005 and the hotel seemed to be quite new. In other words, everything shiny and clean; crisp white sheets, new mattresses, etc. There was no sign yet on the front lobby door, but I would guess it's a three star hotel.

The staff was very friendly and hospitable and most have a knowledge of some English.The breakfast 'buffet' table was basically continental, but you can have an omelet and sausage plate prepared for you on request.

It is not located on a main road, so you are a bit isolated from traffic sounds, though it seems they might have some 'interesting plans' for the empty lot behind the hotel.

Our room was large, with a mini bar, TV, etc. It could have used a few more pieces of furniture, but we got extra chairs - with a smile - on request.

Couldn't ask for more! ----