One of the unique things about tourism in Ashgabat is that accommodation choices are largely limited to a select few hotels, most of which are over-the-top fancy. For my tour I had the option of the Senagatchi Hotel or to upgrade (for $35 USD/night) to the Sport Hotel. I chose the upgrade option because the Sport Hotel seemed better located and clearly part of the Turkmenistan tourist experience is to see what these over-the-top hotels are like. So, the original $650 USD I paid Stantours ended up being $720.
I had expected the hotel to be largely empty, but, although I have no idea what the occupancy rate was, I was surprised how busy it seemed. There were always people in the lobby (at least during the day--when I arrived at 03:30 it was empty!) and I had to queue every time I wanted service at the front desk. Moreover, I do not think it was only foreigners staying at the hotel. I saw what I believe were Turkmen families who seemed to be in Ashgabat with shopping as at least one objective of their trip as well as what I took to be Turkmen business people. There were also foreign business people (maybe from Turkiye, Russia, and Korea) and tourists, including two groups of tourists--one from Finland and one from Australia. When I went to the pool there was a Turkmen family there enjoying the amenities just as there would be Canadian families at the pool of any hotel in Canada. All of this gave the hotel a much more "normal" vibe than I expected.
Still, the ostentatious lobby is not what I consider normal for a hotel!
Likewise, the Sport Hotel building itself is much more "Ashgabat" than "normal." Here are some views of the exterior. It is, as with basically every modern building in Ashgabat, white.
Unlike many Ashgabat buildings, however, they do not seem to light it up with any colours at night.
My room is on the eighth floor, and in some ways the hallway on the eighth floor was the more-understated space.
It was my room that really made my jaw drop. Very spacious and ornate. A hotel room experience I think I will remember for a long time!
I did not get a picture of the breakfast room or the breakfast (which was included), but it was not especially impressive by Western standards, although by Central Asian standards I suppose it was. I did get a photo of the view from the breakfast room.
I also did not get any photos in the spa/pool area, but I did take a picture of the list of first floor amenities . . .
. . . as well as the shoe shine room!
Oh, and one of the lobby washrooms, which was massive.
By the way, the Sport Hotel is so named because it is part of the "Olympic Park" complex, which was built for the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (not for the Olympics). I could take a picture from the 8th floor that gave a view of the complex and the stadium in the distance with a massive horse head making it very "Turkmen." The Olympic complex itself seemed locked down so I did not go inside, nor did I see anyone else in there, although I did see some people jogging and cycling around the perimeter.
My room faced the opposite way, towards the Berkarar mall and the streets and residential buildings and, behind them, the mountains that form the border between Turkmenistan and Iran.
I liked this view, especially at first, both because I could watch the white car traffic (who says the streets are deserted!?!) and because I watched the buses and figured out what route numbers might be useful and a little bit of how the buses and bus stops worked.
How much exactly the Sport Hotel costs normally I am not sure because my tour company paid for it and beyond the upgrade charge did not disclose the cost. The posted price I did see (180 manat) was so low it made no sense to me; it would have worked out to about $70 Canadian at the official exchange rate or, in other words, only something like $13/night at the black market rate! This seems impossible, so I am not sure what to make of it. Online you can apparently book the hotel for about $270/night, which in some ways seems more realistic, but on the other hand I do not think there is any chance my tour company paid anywhere close to that amount.
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