Frisbee

Anybody stayed at this property ???

Would appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Thanks ,

Frisbee

Counsellor

Yes, about six months ago.

Not bad location (but everything in Yerevan is near run-down buildings - renovation is on-going everywhere, it seems), the boulevard with shaded open-air cafe/bars is nearby and relaxing.

The interior is nice, particularly for Yerevan. Good business center (but remember this is the Caucasus, not Frankfurt), good if a bit small rooms.

NOTE: If you arrive on the OS/LH flight from Vienna, you get in about 4AM. If you check in and take a nap before breakfast, they will charge you for that "night" (the morning you arrived) as well as the night of the day of arrival.

Be sure to try the outdoor "beer gardens" at the base of the Cascades, and sample the local beers. They're extremely inexpensive (about $1 per half liter) and are pretty good quality. Food is good and also inexpensive. If the weather is nice, you can see Mount Ararat - now in Turkey, but in Armenia before (mountain didn't move, border did).

Nice place to visit, just rather hard to get to.

littlevoices

Anyone had any recent experiences? Looking at tripadvisor it gets very good reviews for location and "best hotel" in Yerevan comments.. Since there isn't a Hilton I guess this becomes my default but wondered for any thoughts from the community?

NorthOrSouth

We stayed about 5 months ago between Christmas and New Year.

The rooms were fine and the location is good. There's a nice Exec Lounge with a balcony overlooking the square but as the hotel was quiet only teas and coffees were available there (and an internet terminal). Breakfast was served in the restaurant and a free drink per night (one drink between two of us) was on offer in the bar.

The breakfast food was OK, plentiful but some of it was pretty stale.

Rooms were a good size and equipped like most Marriotts. Overall the staff members were helpful.

The public areas were quite nice but everwhere was a bit gloomy. Might be better in the summer with more sunlight!

If there's anything in particular you want to know, let me know and I might be able to remember.

Shigernafy

I went there almost a year ago, at the end of June 2009. I can basically just echo the other posters: it was a pretty nice place, but nothing exceptional. I had a nice room with a separate sitting area from the bedroom. The exercise room is mediocre, but the rooms are decent, the location is nice and it is indeed the best in Yerevan. The main square of downtown is right in front of you as you leave the hotel, and they have a large fountain that a lot of people hang around at in the evenings while it does a bit of a show.

It's a pretty nice little city with good food and hospitable people, I thought. And if the weather is clear, Ararat seems surprisingly close.

To echo NorthOrSouth, feel free to post specific follow up questions and I'll see if I can dredge up any memories. I also had a colleague who just stayed there about two weeks ago who I can ask if I can't remember.

SkiAdcock

Can anyone provide an update on lounge access on the weekend for the sticky at the top of the forum? In particular, is it open on the weekend, do they offer coupons to elites (G/P) if not, is it key card accessible if not, are there i-net terminals or wifi in the lounge, along w/ when you stayed? Thanks!

Cheers.

littlevoices

Thanks for the quick responses, confirms that its fine to stay there (not like there is too much choice and Marriott == free on points whereas the other hotels around aren't so cheap)

Only one specific question left.. perhaps not too specific to Marriott, I notice that the hotel doesn't provide a shuttle service - do they do a car service from the airport that anyone has used (it isn't mentioned on the website, perhaps the virtual concerige would offer later)?

Since our flight arrives at 1am my wife isn't too keen on the idea of grabbing a cab from the airport - and so for convenience it may be easier to just use the Marriott option, if available, or are there lots of cabs around at that time of night anyway at the airport that I'd guess are very cheap (I notice the European flights seem to arrive at odd hours)

PS: Sharon, I'll update your breakfast thread after my visit, its next month

Shigernafy

The flights do all land at weird hours, but the cab folks know this so you'll still find a large mob of people outside when you arrive, regardless of when it is. If you're willing to take one, you'll have options. Since my trip was for work, I had a logistics firm organize a car for me, so I don't know how trustworthy, safe or cheap they are, nor do I know options at the hotel -- but I'm sure they can arrange for something if you ask.

Sorry, not a ton of help.

NorthOrSouth

The lounge was not really being used while we were there so they weren't providing anything other than tea and coffee machines. We got coupons for breakfast and for the one drink per room. We had to ask for them though. Access to the lounge is by key card and we could access it any time of day or night and at the weekend (but not much there once inside it). The internet terminal that I mentioned before was on a desk in the lounge. There is only one which is a bit 'buggy' (it kept wanting to install upgrades so I'd be wary of its anti-virus capability as well). There wasn't any wireless access when we were there.

We arrived late at the airport as well and we called the hotel before we arrived to arrange a car. Can't remember how much it was but it didn't strike us as too expensive. The car was there when we arrived and it was pretty new and clean. There were cabs at the airport but I was wary of getting one after midnight and the Marriott option was reasonably priced.

littlevoices

Echo the thoughts here so thanks for the advice, which was spot-on;
I got the Marriott taxi from the airport -in the end they only charged us 8000AMD on our bill (no tax as originally implied, saving 20%, not sure why) - the car wasn't anything special (no merc, just a people-carrier type) and instead of air-con we had "window-open con". However driver was waiting for us and it was very easy at 1am in the morning considering the huge crowd awaiting relatives we were happy.

Lounge: open all the time but pretty poor - there was honor bar system for alcoholic drinks, breakfast was 3 different cold meats and a single egg type (rotated each day, boiled, poached and "benedicts"... which was more like an omlette with very salty meat), along with cereals and a few yogurts. Missed my hot bacon or sausage . Evenings were cocktail hour (6-10pm).. which consisted of an honor bar system (expensive for Armenia prices, but reasonably internationally), a soup (very traditional concept but tasty), a hot pasta (Traditional pasta concept, all fine) and a cold salad (Russian salad type, so cold veg, pasta and some meat). Nothing special but ok, free soda/water which was the main benefit, though the internet terminal was still there. However, the view from the lounge onto the main square was a good thing, which along with outside seating, made for a pleasant evening if you didn't mind the heat in the late evening.

Overall: The hotel was fine, service was poor and I think that as someone staying on points (even as a plat) they gave me a very poor room as a result - if it wasn't for arriving at 2am I'd have asked to change but as it was I just stuck with it for the 3 days. At least there was welcome fruit there, but, no upgraded room, or even a view onto the square (the hotel's big benefit and they must have half the hotel with this view) for my standard room - instead we had a view of a block of flats, and a half-view at that, the other half was into concrete about 2m away. To say the hotel appeared to be empty (the lounge rarely had another person in it and very few dnd signs) I would have expected a little more - perhaps an explicit request in advance would have helped.

Service was as I'd expect from the region's stereotype... however but I think Marriott does much better in other cities that are ex-soviet states or similar, with more "spirit to serve".. just not here . A few examples were: refusing to allow a small payment (900AMD... about $2) with a 10k (approx $30) note, had to pay by card (I'd nothing else at the time) and when we asked for advice about local taxi pricing, despite making it clear this was not the hotel's option (which is very overpriced) they still insisted on bringing over the hotel driver to give a pitch. I also tried to use the virtual conceirge to discuss spa treatments and a welcome champagne for my wife... which didn't work, my original request (In English, perhaps my mistake) elicited a response with details around the car at the airport, without anything else... a follow-up email wasn't helpful as it said someone else would be in touch... but no further responses were received. If they had provided a nicer room I'd have been more inclined to overlook these minor points but as it was it stood out more, especially as I'd made it clear that this was my wife's birthday (aka special occasion) rather than just another trip.

So, I will come back to Yerevan, but will probably consider an alternative hotel - even for free the Marriott disappointed due to the service/room, I'd prefer to pay for a local hotel next time to compare - perhaps they are all this bad, but I'd hate to think that!

SkyTeam777

What do they expect people to do if they land at 4am...what's the earliest one can check in here? Will they make me wait if I arrive at the hotel at 5am until Noon or so? Or if a room is available, can I go straight to it without being charged an extra night?

Counsellor

The two times I was there (last time about 5 years ago), they did let us go up to our rooms when we arrived from the airport ~5 AM.

I do believe there may have been an additional charge, since they made the room up after we left around noon for meetings. When we returned in the evening, the bed was made, etc. You may want to ask in advance.

SkyTeam777

For the record, the hotel did let me check in at 5am although they were keen to remind me that I was "early." My quick reply was that I was also leaving "early" the following day at 4am.

Received lounge access with an honor bar, fruit/nuts/drinks all day, breakfast 7-11am and soup/pasta/assorted cold plates/dessert 6-10pm. The spread is not often replenished so arrive early.

Great location in the heart of Yerevan!

acnev

Had a couple of stays here last week. Great location right in the center.

Was upgraded to the club level (which is on 6 and 7 with the club lounge on 6) with a room overlooking the main square. From our room we had a great view of the musical fountains that run every night (except Mondays) from about 9 - 11 (at least in summer). The view from the club lounge is better since the 7th floor rooms have to deal with the overhang from the roof of the hotel.

Was not expecting any welcome amenity since I am only gold, but was given a plate of nuts/dried fruit and a beer on the first stay and a full bottle of Areni (Armenian) red wine on the 2nd stay.

Rooms are large and include a pull out couch - met a family that had 5 in the room with no issues.

Club Lounge - breakfast selection consists of cold meats, juices, yogurt, bread, cereal and boiled eggs. Nothing special.
Evening appetizers consisted of: soup, cold appetizer and 1 hot dish. If you wanted, you could make a meal out of this. Additionally, free Armenian red and white wine and local beers were provided.
There is one computer for internet access in the lounge.

Overall - nice stay - no issues with service. Hotel was not very full and the lounge even less so. The people in the lounge consisted of a few business travelers and the remainder of returning Armenian diaspora.

One small nit - online the hotel shows max occupancy for a room at 3 yet it can easily handle 4 which the hotel lets folks do. This goes a long way to saving money especially for a family of 4 when the rates are around $250 or 20k per night(pts).

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the update! Was the lounge open on the weekend? Let me know & I'll update the sticky.

Cheers.