Planning a trip to Kiev, Ukraine? If so, you might be wondering if it is better to stay in a Kiev hotel or rent an apartment in Kiev. The purpose of this short article is to list some of the factors here that will hopefully help you make the right decision for you.
Staying in Kiev hotels
Kiev hotels vary in quality and prices. The daily rates for some of them start from around USD 50 per night, but generally the hotels within this price category are located outside the center of Kiev and are quite Soviet in style. Average hotel rooms cost around USD100 per night and provide the main amenities you may need while in Kiev: room with bathroom and hot water, telephone line, satellite or cable TV. More expensive hotels can provide high-speed internet and other nice amenities like the hotel gym or a nice pool. The charge for some Kiev hotels includes breakfasts which can be a very convenient way to start the day. Daily rates for some of the most expensive hotels in Kiev are around $ 500 per night.
The advantage of staying in a hotel in Kiev is the possibility of checking out any day you want or extending your stay as long as you want. Also, daily cleaning, room service, some restaurants, cafes, gyms, and swimming pools can be a nice thing to have around. The downsides include a relatively high price for the small space you’re getting and little privacy.
Staying in Kiev apartments
Renting an apartment in Kiev is becoming increasingly popular with foreign guests in Kiev. Kiev apartments offer plenty of space (one-bedroom, two-bedroom or even three-bedroom apartments), excellent Western standard renovation, variety of amenities. All Kiev apartments have telephone lines, cable TV, fridge, oven, kitchen with everything you might need to avoid expensive Kiev restaurants. Many apartments have satellite TV with numerous international channels, air conditioning, CD players, DVD players. Some apartments have high speed internet or Jacuzzi.
Prices for apartments in Kiev vary depending on the amenities and the exact location of each specific apartment. In particular, apartments in the very center of Kiev, near Khreshatik Street and Independence Square, are much more expensive than those further away from Khreshatik or in other areas of Kiev. Consequently, apartment rates vary considerably based on these factors. Less expensive one-bedroom apartments outside of central Kiev can be available at prices starting around USD30 per night, the most expensive luxury apartments can cost up to USD300 per night. Average rates are around $ 60 for a studio, $ 80-100 for a one-bedroom, and $ 120-130 for a two-bedroom. The above rates tend to change and may be different at the time of reading this article.
No two apartments in Kiev are the same. It is not a hotel in which one of the rooms is reserved, which are almost the same. All apartments in Kiev are unique. Although it is obviously an asset to the apartments, it also has some downsides. In particular, it can be difficult (if not impossible) to change the dates of your stay. For example, if you want to extend your stay in the apartment for a few more days, someone else may have already booked the apartment. On the other hand, if you want to leave the apartment earlier, you will be asked to cover the entire period of your reservation anyway, as the apartment was saved for you and all other interested clients on the same dates were rejected. The above disadvantages can easily be eliminated by more careful and thorough planning of the exact dates of stay.
The very uniqueness of the apartments causes another drawback. Good apartment owners are reluctant to commit to bookings of less than five nights. If someone agrees to book an apartment for a shorter period, it often means that they will accommodate you in any available apartment on the date of your arrival. Stays of one to three nights are not attractive to apartment owners and agencies, so they will hardly be able to book something specific. The exception is the situation in which there are some opening days among other reservations that are adjusted to the dates that interest you. Four night stays are somewhere on the edge. Agencies can reserve a specific apartment, but there is always the possibility that the owner will defraud the agency and not keep the apartment for such a short period.
To reserve an apartment in Kiev, you will be asked to provide a reservation deposit in an amount equal to a one-night stay or a greater amount, depending on each particular apartment and the length of your stay.
The availability of specific apartments is changing very fast, and some agencies have an availability calendar with reservations a few months in advance. Therefore, it is always a good idea to reserve an apartment well in advance, at least three to four weeks before your trip.
Those are basically the most important things to consider when choosing between a stay in apartments or hotels in Kiev. Regardless of the type of accommodation you choose, you will enjoy your stay in this beautiful European city with so much to offer its visitors.
