Empire Hotel Baku

This hotel could be one of many bland three-star hotels - nice and clean, decent location (three blocks from the seaside boulevard, nice twenty minute walk to Old Baku) and the standard services all provided. Only three things stand out, two good and one bad.

On the plus side, the rooms are kept nice and chilly, providing a welcome relief from the harsh sun of summer Baku. Also, the free wifi gives a strong signal from inside the rooms, which is nice.

On the negative side, the service has really been rather poor, both from the room cleaners (if you happen to be in the one time they try to clean, that is it for the day) and from the front desk. Actually, I find it hard to believe that the front desk staff even live in Baku. "Excuse me, could you tell me how long it takes to get to the Fire Mountain?". "What mountain?". "It is a large mountain, just outside Baku, that has been on fire for sixty years". "Never heard of it". And so forth - they really didn't seem to be able to help with anything.