Are you planning a trip to kyiv, Ukraine? If so, you may be wondering whether it is better to stay in a kyiv hotel or to rent an apartment in kyiv. The purpose of this short article is to list here some of the factors that will hopefully help you make the right decision for you.
Staying in kyiv hotels
kyiv hotels vary in quality and prices. Daily rates for some of them start from around USD50 per night, but usually hotels in this price category are located outside the center of kyiv and are quite Soviet in style. Average hotel rooms cost around USD 100 per night and provide the main amenities you may need during your stay in kyiv: rooms with bathroom and hot water, telephone line, satellite or cable TV. More expensive hotels may provide high-speed Internet and other nice amenities like a hotel gym or a nice pool. Some kyiv hotels charge includes breakfasts which can be a very convenient way to start the day. The daily rates of some of the most expensive hotels in kyiv are around 500 USD per night.
The advantage of staying in a hotel in kyiv is the possibility to check out any day you want or extend your stay for as long as you want. Also, daily housekeeping, room service, some in-house restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, swimming pools can be a nice thing to have nearby. Disadvantages include a relatively high price for a small space and little privacy.
Staying in apartments in kyiv
Renting an apartment in kyiv is becoming more and more popular among foreign visitors visiting kyiv. kyiv apartments offer plenty of space (one-bedroom, two-bedroom, or even three-bedroom apartments), excellent Western-standard renovation, variety of amenities. All kyiv apartments have telephone lines, cable TV, refrigerator, oven, kitchen with everything you may need to avoid expensive kyiv restaurants. Many apartments have satellite TV with numerous international channels, air conditioning, CD players, DVD players. Some apartments have high speed internet or jacuzzi.
Apartment prices in kyiv vary depending on the amenities and the exact location of any specific apartment. In particular, apartments in the center of kyiv, near Khreshatik Street and Independence Square, are much more expensive than those further away from Khreshatik or in other areas of kyiv. Consequently, apartment rates vary considerably depending on those factors. Less expensive one-bedroom apartments outside the center of kyiv can be available at prices starting around USD30 a night, the most expensive luxury apartments can be up to USD300 a night. Average rates are around USD60 for a studio, USD80-100 for a one-bedroom apartment, USD120-130 for a two-bedroom apartment. The above fees tend to change and may be different by the time you read this article.
No two apartments in kyiv are the same. It is not a hotel where you book one of the rooms that are all almost the same. All kyiv apartments are unique. Although this is obviously an advantage of apartments, it also has some disadvantages. In particular, it may 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 vacate the apartment earlier, you will have to cover the full period of your reservation anyway, as the apartment was held for you and all other interested clients on the same dates were turned away. The above disadvantages can be easily eliminated by more careful and thorough planning of the exact dates of stay.
The very uniqueness of the apartments causes another drawback. Owners of good apartments 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 very attractive for apartment owners and agencies, so it will be difficult for them to book something specific. The exception is the situation when there are some opening days between other reservations that fit the dates you are interested in. Four-night stays are somewhere on the edge. Agencies can reserve a specific apartment, but there is always the possibility that the owner will disappoint the agency and not keep the apartment for such a short period.
To reserve an apartment in kyiv, you will be asked to provide a reservation deposit equal to one night’s stay or more depending on the particular apartment and the length of your stay.
The availability of specific apartments changes very quickly and some agencies have an availability calendar with reservations a few months in advance. Therefore, it is always a good idea to book an apartment well in advance, at least three or four weeks before your trip.
Those are basically the most important things to consider when choosing between a stay in apartments or hotels in kyiv. 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.
