Primorskaya Hotel crossed our illusions about Sochi in a flash.

At the beginning we have to book the room through the Travel Agency "Mega-Tour" who charged us the full cost in advance as Hotel does not want to have a deal with tourists directly. The manager described the Hotel in colorful words (it was at he beginning).

And the X hour has come, we 've got Sochi (it is the other story what kind of city it is). Found Primorskaya and lost power of speech for 10 min at least: old building which is ready for demolition, damaged walls, long Soviet corridors with pulled pieces of it, mould smell and LUXE Room in the "quite area!" with the windows to the road (night club is opposite). It was CHOCK.
We have not find the courage to check bathroom and Buffet but sure it is not better.
Only one thing we wanted - to run AWAY!

When we let the Hotel administration know about our decision to leave this "wonderful" place and asked for our money back- it was the other SURPRISE - penalty fee 50% of all sum we have paid in advance.
Two days of communication concerning the money refunding with Hotel and Travel Agency brought nothing, absolutely 0. Only feeling that they made you the kind of IDIOT.
All smiles have disappeared for their faces - only "making money" process was their prerogative.

If you do not want to be disappointed in Russia at all and especially want your vacation in the right way, stay in well-known International branded Hotels, never PRIMORSKAYA or Hotels like this with the rates more than 120 Euro per night!

I've never stayed at a hotel/motel in another country before so this was an experience. The staff was very pleasent and tried to be as helpful as possible given the language barrier. If you want a good room, plan to stay in section 4 of whatever floor you are on. They seemed to be the nicest. I was in the first section of the hallway and had a reasonable room. The room was clean with a beautiful view of the Black Sea. We were lucky enough to have air conditioning, which was pleasent in the evening, but not much help during the heat of the day. Our bathroom was nice and kept clean, though tile was missing from the wall and ceiling in a couple of places. Also, we never knew if we would have hot water when we turned on the faucet. Sochi is working on the water lines and this is supposed to be city wide. The door and window leading to the balcony were very weathered and worn. Other people in our group had the misfourtune of having a room on the main street side. Each evening a truck with booming music and half naked women parked on the street. The women danced all evening to advertise the night club across the street. The music did not stop until after 4am! Other people in our group had rooms with no bathroom and had to use "public" facilities. Make sure you bring shower shoes and don't lean against anything. The showers had quite a bit of mildew/mold growing. Check to see if your hotel room includes their breakfast. It was rather good. Also, I mentioned you had a view of the Black Sea. The hotel is in a great location. The name means "by the sea" according to a native I met. You walk down a great flight of stairs and you are at the Boardwalk and beach. The beach is rocky, not sandy like in the United States. The shops along the boardwalk sell many of the same things you get in Panama City so be careful...and haggle the price. And finally, if you stay in the lobby too long and you are female, you will probably be acosted by a drunk man wandering through the lobby.