Overall, the apartment is good. We stayed there for three weeks because we had some work to do. The location is good: close to the metro station and near a mall with a large supermarket. It is extremely busy in the surrounding streets, but that is the case in many places in Almaty. The bed and bathroom are good, which is very important to us. It's nice that there is a large walk-in closet for your clothes. The kitchen is also nice for cooking. There are some kitchen utensils, but it is certainly not complete. For example, we bought our own mug. I would have given a higher rating than a 6 if the hospitality had been better and we hadn't had such a bumpy start (see below).

First of all, the location listed on Booking is incorrect. The apartment is east of Sairan metro station in a large apartment complex. It's impossible to find without help. We had a very friendly driver who let the host know well in advance that we were coming. However, the location was also unclear to him, and we had to wait 10min to finally be picked up. It would have been nice if they had been waiting for us and the taxi driver hadn't had to go to so much trouble. Once we arrived at the apartment, we were given instructions and they filmed me in the meantime. Of course, I hadn't given permission for this and didn't feel comfortable at all. You can't do this! Because we arrived late and came from Kyrgyzstan, we hadn't had the opportunity to get cash. Certainly not such a large amount (we stayed three weeks). This was a big problem for them. We had to pay NOW. In the end, we gave our passport as a deposit, but we didn't feel comfortable about that at all. I understand that if we're staying in the house for three weeks, you don't want to get your money on the last day, but this was very strict. The host clearly has trust issues. The next morning, I opened my phone and saw a message from booking.com saying that we hadn't checked in and the booking had been canceled. I was flabbergasted and not happy at all. Probably just to avoid booking.com's commission, but then don't rent your property through that platform. I think the host was happy when we paid the next day as agreed, but I think she still has a lot to learn about hospitality and trusting guests. When we checked out, there was a quick inspection, and I requested that she delete the video she had made. There is no air conditioning in the kitchen/living room, and it gets very hot in the summer. Curtains would help a lot. The surrounding apartments are still being renovated and that can be extremely noisy. Luckely they only started around 9a.