Inside Edward Snowden's luxury hotel which has its own swimming pool, Turkish baths, gym and library

[HipChick]

14. Check out the reviews on TripAdvisor for the no-Visa Transit part of the hotel..

There are two parts to the hotel..Snowden is confined to the non-Visa Transit zone...many of the tripadvisor reports on this section say how horrible it is..

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g298484-d305522-Reviews-Novotel_Moscow_Sheremetyevo-Moscow_Central_Russia.html

My first time writing review on TripAdvisor. The terrible experience brought me here.
I booked the flight tickets with Aeroflot from Switzerland to Moscow and from Moscow to Hong Kong. Unluckily, as the 1st flight was delayed for two hours, I could not catch the next flight to HK; so I ended up staying with Novotel for a night together with other unfortunate passenegrs under the airline's plan.

At the front desk, we were told by the only receptionist that we have to share a double room with another passenger, who was a complete stranger to us. We were brought to this so-called non-visa transit zone, where we were not allowed to go anywhere but staying in our room for 24 hours, with a secuirty guard watching us to ensure we do not leave this floor.

As the meals provided by the airline were really not edible, I called for room service. Someone picked up the phone after 20minutes of calling. It took so long to take a simple order because the room service person did not understand english very well, so I had to repeat several times very slowly, and she get pissed when she did not understand something. I suppose the hotel should at least hire people who have a good command of english to take this position. Room service arrived after 15minutes which is reasonable, however they brought me a full bottle of wine when I requested just a glass. When I pay with my visa card, it was not working. The room service person tried several times but still it failed, I told her that I have just used it in the airport and it worked, but she demonstrate impatience and seemed not trusting I can pay. So I was taken by the security guard to the Front desk to pay, the payment was done with the first try. It proved that it was not my fault but the problem of there machine, but they did not appologize for this. When I went back to my room, the food was not hot anymore. This was really unpleasant when you pay for it but you were subjected to bad service and cold food. Due to time lag, I stayed up very late, so I informed the front desk that I didn't need any breakfast, and did not want to be disturbed. I mentioned 'Don't knock my door'. However, someone knocked my door fiercely in the early morning to send me breakfast. Clearly, the hotel did not care about my request at all, and no communication was made between the respective departments. Regarding the free wi-fi service, the signal was weak, the internet ran very slow, and I had to reconnect it to the wi-fi many times. This made me very frustrated because it was urgent to contact my family through internet to inform them about my situation.

Conclusion: Though I had only stayed in the non-visa transit zone, it was still part of the hotel; so I believed my comments were useful to reflect the bad hospitality service of this hotel. I expect we should be treated the same as other guests because it was not our fault missing the flight. Most of the staffs did not smile and were not friendly; they showed impatience and disrespect. The rooms were nice, spacious and clean, and the bed was pretty comfortable, but I considered service a more important aspect that directly affects your mood. Overall experience was poor. I was surprised that this hotel is a four-star. Two advices: This hotel is not worth staying. Never book Aeroflot. (If you go through other comments of this hotel, you'll see other similar cases happened very frequently