Hostel charging luggage deposit in Almaty

[Poney]

Hi !

We have been staying in wanderlust boutique hostel in Almatyfor the past two days, and when we asked for keeping our luggage (2 paper bags with clothes in it), the manager's asked for 500 tenge per luggage per day (thus a total of 15.000 tenge...). Moreover, the same manager raised the price of double rooms from 12.000 tenge to 13.000 tenge overnight, he said ”because of the current situation”...

Such a behaviour is really greedy and should not be encouraged anymore...

[Christian77]

I really hate that the solution involves a large corporation, but... accommodation managers/owners fear Booking.com, as it gives a lot of power to the reviewer/customer. If you reserve through Booking, they can't raise their price when you arrive as a complaint from you gives them a strike on their Booking account.

My other solution is to check out reviews and search for places that are clearly family-owned and operated, with the family living on-premises. These ones are consistently the most honest in Central Asia. The hostel/guesthouse business has attracted some sketchy businessmen who think this is a way to may some quick money (it's not, so they start to squeeze after being open for a while).