SHYMKENT – Rixos Khadisha Shymkent, the first ever five star hotel in South Kazakhstan, opened with great fanfare on Dec. 20.
The grand opening of the hotel saw about 400 guests, including representatives of the Akimats (local governments) of Shymkent city and South Kazakhstan region, guests from Astana and Almaty, representatives of business and culture. The event included a gala dinner featuring performances by foreign artists and a festive entertainment programme.
Located in the heart of the city, the new 34,000-square-metre hotel, Rixos Khadisha Shymkent offers 177 rooms, decorated in a modern style in six different categories: superior, suite, family suite, luxury suite, royal and presidential suite. According to the hotel, its Presidential Suite spread out over 450 square metres is the biggest suite not only in Shymkent, but throughout Kazakhstan. The hotel also boasts meeting rooms of different sizes for groups from 15 to 100 people and a ballroom with a capacity of up to 700 guests.
Rixos Khadisha Shymkent also features two restaurants where patrons can enjoy dishes from around the world. The Italian restaurant Olivia offers fine cuisine from Italian chef and Kazakhasia restaurant offers dishes of national cuisines of Central and South-East Asia. Khadisha patisserie aims to delight guests with delicate desserts, sweets and homemade cakes.
The White Horse Bar and Atrium Café are to offer a wide range of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages.
The hotel has a Spa with fitness room, swimming pool, hammam, sauna and a snow room. It also has a beauty salon equipped with the most modern equipment. The Spa also offers a vitamin bar and massage rooms.
Rixos Khadisha Shymkent is the fourth hotel of the Rixos hotel chain in Kazakhstan, the other three being located in Astana, Almaty and Schuchinsk in the Burabai resort area.
Its construction began in early 2013. The so called green technologies were used in building it up, with the aim of minimising the impact on the environment and reducing energy consumption.
According to the hotel, the appearance of such a facility in Shymkent has a very important social and cultural value to the city, including in areas such as job creation, training employees in international standards of hospitality and Rixos five-star hotel standards, opening of new places for leisure such as restaurants, bars, hotels, spa, as well as the appearance of new conference and banquet facilities. The hotel also participates in the so-called Road Map programme of dual education together with the Akimat of the Shymkent city.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Rixos Hotels Fettah Tamince visited the hotel before the opening and noted that implementation of the project was very quick and on the high level.
“Hotel Rixos Khadisha Shymkent today is unmatched in the elite and comfort. Thomas Noll, General Manager of the hotel, invites all to enjoy the highest hospitality level and widest range of services,” he said, according to a hotel press release.
The Rixos Hotels, established in 2000, is one of the world’s fastest growing hotel chains. The Antalya-based company owns and operates resort hotels and villas of the highest category, including urban hotels in countries such as Azerbaijan, Croatia, Georgia, Egypt, Libya, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates.
