Average price, not 4 star, internet only works in foyer, helpful staff , room fine, breakfast good. local bar across the road full of characters, Price reasonable for Almaty, forget the stars you get what you pay for, no more and no less. I'd stay there again.

We checked in here as a group of 6, as all other hotels in town were either full or over $300 per night for a basic twin. madness in a town which is based in a low income country such as kazakhstan.
Ambassador was an average 3 star hotel with a tired feel and basic amenities. Air con was ineffective and wifi was particularly annoying and unusable. Lift was antique.
Breakfast was basic but had the essentials. Location was good - with a variaty of shops, parks, cafes and restaurants within 500m of hotel. No maid
Easy to get taxis' outside and reception were very helpful with maps and advice. 3 nights here was enough to see Almaty and probably would not return. No complaints.

I travel to Almaty a couple of times a year on business and our local contact always books us at the Ambassador Hotel. To be honest, I have never stayed anywhere else recently in Almaty, so I cannot compare this hotel to the others in town. I can say that it does the job well. The rooms are bit past their prime, but are comfortable, clean and peasant enough. The internet connection is strong when it works, which is nearly all of the time, i.e. MOST of the time but not always.
I cannot comment on the price because we have a special rate, which works out very reasonable.
The location is good.
A big plus in this hotel is the restaurant: breakfast and lunch are pretty boring but in the evening, the menu is varied and the food really good. The price is also very reasonable.

This is annoying that you know the hotel owners does not improve the quality, then every time you have to stay in here, since you do not really have an alternative.
I come to Almaty almost 10 times a-year. First I stayed in Tien-Shan (smaller one) and Alma Hotels 3 years ago at the beginning of my Almaty adventure. Afterwards I found Ambassador. It was quite good at first, when I switch from the above mentioned hotels comparatively. But, by the time passes, while they make no maintenance at all, it started to get older. Finally they cancelled the free Wi-Fi to a paid model (2000 KZT a day !). It is not even the money, I would say no claim if they would have increase the price by 2000 KZT but keep the Wi-Fi free. But this time, you need to adjust many TCP/IP details to use the internet!! Sometimes it takes 1-2 hours!!
The noise issue, stay away from the rooms at the end of each corridor, which have connection to the corner rooms. Provided that the connection door is locked up, it is a fact that the sound isolation is not done through the wooden doors. eg I had to listen to party of 2 men and 2 women (came from outside!) last night until 03.40!! Besides some three men were talking and smoking in the corridor, when I eventually got out of the rooms and yelled out for being quite, they attempted to ask me "yto?" but I stared at them with my best(!) look so they gave up suddenly.
Also beware the room no:107 which has a couffer saloon just in front door and starting to work around 08.30 in the morning with a lot of customers and noise (the worst room). Another hint is to stay away from the rooms near the restaurant since the odor of the cooking is filling up the rooms nearby.
Finally, what is the reason that the cleaning staff always select to operate the vacuum cleaner in front of my room, or do they ever stop working it?
But, it is ok now, no more Ambassador Hotel. There are new hotels like Holiday Inn and Royal. My contacts are trying to have a good company package deal with them and I am sure it will worth even I will need to pay 3-4000 KZT more for each night stay.