Slovak Olympic Committee Reveals Hotel Problems

(ATR) Around the Rings has learned that Sochi 2014 has broken accommodation promises to at least one national Olympic committee staying at the Zhemchuzhina Hotel in the city.

The Slovak Olympic Committee has a delegation staying at the hotel, which is located a minute’s walk from the promenade. Representatives from the Canadian Olympic Committee are also understood to be using the hotel.

Slovak Olympic Committee officials told ATR on Tuesday that half of the 37 rooms booked out for the NOC and its guests were in a state of disrepair.

Despite pledges to have the unfinished rooms renovated by the time of the Games, these upgrades have not materialized. ATR was told that these rooms are tatty, some with torn carpets and stains on walls and floors.

Complaints from the NOC to the hotel have fallen on deaf ears, Slovak officials said.

And the hotel has refused to discount the $200 rooms, they added.

Slovak NOC officials said they’d been put in an embarrassing situation, forced to put some of their sponsors in the unfinished rooms.

The Lonely Planet travel guide describes the hotel as a "concrete monstrosity popular with tour operators [which] has a swanky lobby and casino but crummy, overpriced standard rooms."

Of 64 reviews on TripAdvisor, 30 labeled the hotel average, poor, or terrible.

The latest English review posted last week said nobody at the hotel could speak English with "poor breakfast, Spa musty smells and, most importantly no one is smiling. I'm very sure they will have difficulty in Winter Olympics."

The Canadian Olympic Committee was unavailable for comment.

The Association of National Olympic Committees could not be reached at the time of going to press.

Written by Mark Bisson in Sochi

Homepage photo courtesy of Getty Images

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.