Citadel Boutique Hotel

This hotel was nothing but a massive disappointment. I arrived at 4:30am after a long flight and couldn't wait to finally get some sleep. On check-in I was told by the night porter that they don't accept cards. I only had Euros in cash, but this was emergency money for my journey as I planned to withdraw local currency the following day. He asked me how much cash I have (!?) and insisted I gave him 50 Euros as a "deposit" until I had some Manat. I asked for a receipt, because if he didn't trust me, I wasn't going to trust him to return the deposit. Apparently it was impossible to get a receipt. I was so tired I could barely stand and instead of a warm welcome and being shown to my room I had to debate with this guy. Eventually he gave me a hand written note as a receipt. Unfortunately that was just the beginning. I entered the room an immediately noticed it didn't look clean. I then discovered hair in the bed and suspicious stains on the bed sheet. There was also hair in the bathroom sink and there was "brown evidence " in the toilet from the previous guests. I then informed the night porter that the room hadn't been cleaned. The excuse was that it's Sunday and the cleaning lady has her day off(!). Some guy had cleaned the room but not properly, I was told. Absolutely shocking! There is no excuse to not change bed sheets in between guests! The night porter quickly changed them, but at this point I was so disgusted that sleeping in this filthy room was just a nightmare. The next morning I informed him I will go and look for another hotel. He tried to convince me that the cleaning lady would make the room sparkling clean but it was too late to win me over. When I had found another hotel I went back to collect my luggage and my 50 Euro deposit, as I now had some Manat to pay with. The night porter was gone and only the cleaning lady, who barely spoke English, was there. She informed me, through a translator app, that they will not return my deposit as I check-out early. I couldn't believe it! I was willing to pay for the one night, although they had given me a dirty room, but now they demanded 50 Euros for that!!! I was getting furious. The lady was just the messenger so I don't blame her but the night porter had promised I would get my deposit back. The lady eventually returned the money and I paid them for one night. But this hotel is not honest. I rarely write bad reviews but they do not deserve such a high score as the have on the booking site and I want to warn other travellers. I paid 50 AZN for my stay but they have modified the price to 15 AZN in order to pay less commission to the third party booking site. They also cancelled my invite to write a review on the site, making sure I cant share my horrible experience. Don't trust these people and stay somewhere else!

Tiniest little room but super clean and cute, and had a great view. We did not buy breakfast but that was an option. We were also able to leave our bags after check out for several hours. Overall a very good stay.

Best balcony view room. Best location near nizami street. Customer service was on top. Won't prefer their breakfast as it was expensive and less variety. Their receptionist Fuad was a very nice guy to accommodate us in every manner.