Based on the other reviews .... it seems that we got one of the renovated rooms (15th floor). I cannot imagine how bad it must have been before ! I suppose we have to start with the fact that it seems like a renovated Soviet era hotel ......

The room itself was not so bad - the carpeting was fairly new, as was the wood panelling, shallow wooden closets that won't hold a suitcase (but you can hang up a few things) and a long narrow shelf behind the bed which was useful for storing toiletries, papers, etc.

The modern amenities are a mini fridge, cable TV with a couple of English language news channels and airconditioning unit (which we did not use since it was comfortable with the window open). The not so modern amenity was a hard wired phone, which was accidentally pulled out from the wall and never repaired.

Our room had a lovely view of the Caspian sea and the (I believe) the Parliament Building across the street... although taking photos might be a life-threatening action, due to the seemingly unstable balcony.

It was within walking distance of the Old City and there are numerous restaurants, markets, ATMs/banks along the way. If not for the rain, we would have liked to walk along the Caspian Sea. At the elevator lobby, there was a TV room with comfy chairs and the young male guests were watching football (soccer) a couple of nights.

As for the shower, or shall I saw shower room ? Usually, a shower room means that the entire bathroom gets wet when one showers, despite the shower curtain. No worries here - the water pressure was barely adequate for showering and rinsing and water was not sprayed all over the toilet and sink. However, since the room was so small, if another person was sitting on the toilet, the shower curtain would be in his/her lap, feet and shins would be wet, but torso would remain dry. The water took a long time to get up to temperature, but was eventually warm enough to shower.

The door locks were ridiculous. The door to the balcony doesn't lock, even with the provided key. Although, as noted above, anyone brave enough to use the balcony to go from room to room probably deserves something for risking his/her life. The front door was missing the deadbolt and the standard lock looked easy to slip into, what with a large gap between the door and the jamb.

The advantage of this gap is that with the window open, wet clothes quickly dried due to the draft. I'm thinking that this will be a lot less an advantage in the heat of the summer and the aircon working overtime.

At $80, it is probably one of the cheaper hotels for tourists in Bakku. If travelling with family, you might consider contacting a local agent for a serviced apartment. It might actually be cheaper as well as closer to the Old Town. One such agent is at www.azerbaijan24.com

As a Turkish guy, I had better advantages than from the other country citizens.... Being able to speak Turkish is one of them. Thankfully it helped me to communicate with the staff.

I went to Baku for business with my mom who had already stayed at this hotel earlier, because of that she managed to get a room even it was Navrouz holiday.

!!!!!!!! First, the best thing to know about hotels in former Russian Republics, the room rates are charged for 24 hours, unless otherwise indicated. Secondly, if you check-in after 6 am, you are not charged for the day before. !!!!!!! But to be certain just double check with the hotel before you arrange your travel or ask the reception before checking-in.

About Absheron, since we were there for business at the Navrouz holiday, I think we got the last room in the hotel. The hotel is quite big. If you get a room from the ground floor to ??th floor (they are continuously renovating floor by floor, so I don't know till which one they are now), they are renovated and better than the ones on the higher floors, but they are more expensive.

The room we stayed in was hideous for the price we payed. The sink in the bathroom was leaning downward. The beds were really uncomfortable. The carpet was worn.

Funny thing is my mom asked for a hair dryer from the front desk, and they told that only the expensive ones had hair dryers. We asked if they could lend us one, they said if one of the expensive rooms checks-out, so they could give us one.

I also checked the hotel if the breakfast was any good, but it turned out to be Azerbaijan breakfast is not to my liking since they have mainly so many kinds of processed meat. But the best breakfast you can find is at Mozart Cafe, downtown. Taxi costs 5 manats if you bargain beforehand.

Also one evening after a business meeting we came to the room and suddenly we had a phone call from the security, asking, if I was the one who has taken 3 girls in to the room (???????).

From this, I understood, female escorts are provided only by the hotel. :). Don't bother to bring your own.

The only good thing about the hotel was the Caspian Sea view from the hotel room.

I guess I won't be staying there again if I get the chance to go to Baku.

Without doubt this place will always be in the top five of the worst places I've ever stayed. Visited Baku in October 2004 for a football match, and it was arranged through a travel company. The place was a dump. Rooms were dated, with poor quality fixtures and fittings and the bathrooms in the bedrooms were particularly poor, with tiles falling off the walls. Apparently this hotel has different levels of comfort depending which floor you are on. I can only pray that it was better on other floors. Soome of our group fell asleep in the lobby bar and woke up covered in insect bites.

Staff in the bar were friendly and well meaning, but on the floors they were stuck in a different era - completely unhelpful and not exactly doing much to boost the tourist industry.

I'd rather hire a car and sleep in it than ever stay in this hotel. Avoid !!

I stayed at the Absheron for 10 nights in October while i was in Azerbaijan on business, when i arrived (at night) i was greeted by a very impressive building and the same can be said when i entered the hotel lobby, to tell you you the truth i though "great ive have done well" purely because i wasnt sure what to expect as this was my first visit to Azerbaijan.

I checked in and proceeded to take the lift to my room, when the door opened on my floor i was taken back by just how old fashioned it looked in comparasion to the reception, my bedroom was just the same, two single beds and very much in need of repair!! after staying for 5 nights in this room i went to the reception and asked to be moved due to various problems with the room, i was advised that these were economy rooms and the hotel was being re-decorated but this had not reached my floor. i paid extra money per night and was promptly moved to a room on the 5 floor, when the lift opened on this floor it was like a different world, very modern and clean, sparkling marble and cream carpets everywhere, my room was perfect too, complete with all mod cons including DVD player.

My advice to you is if you are staying at the Absheron ask to by put on one of the re-decorated floors and you will enjoy your stay.