While the major global hotel groups have thousands of properties, I’d like to think that I’m at least familiar with most of the aspirational ones. Along those lines, I just came across two fascinating Marriott properties that I’m surprised I wasn’t aware of. I’m not quite ready to plan a trip there yet, but I’d sure love to learn more, and I’m curious if any OMAAT readers have been.
Marriott’s two Autograph Collection hotels in Shahdag, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is a beautiful country with a lot of natural beauty, but I didn’t realize that Marriott had two ski resorts there, both belonging to Autograph Collection. They’re both located in Shahdag Mountain Resort, about a three hour drive from the capital city of Baku. Shahdag is located close to the border with Russia, near Dagestan. Okay, maybe it’s not an ideal time to travel here (on multiple levels), but I’m still curious.
The properties include the 167-room Pik Palace Shahdag, and the 164-room Park Chalet Shahdag. The former is described as being inspired by the surrounding mountains, while the latter is described as being modeled on European Alpine architecture, with stylistic influences from Aspen ski lodge developments.
These hotels don’t actually get particularly good reviews on Marriott’s website or Tripadvisor, though they’re also quite cheap, including during peak ski season. For example, I see rates of $140 per night in January and February, which is just ever-so-slightly cheaper than Aspen.
Has anyone been to this region of Azerbaijan?
While I doubt I’ll make it to either of these hotels in the near future, I’m fascinated. I’ve flown over this part of Azerbaijan and remember how gorgeous the terrain is, so I’m sure the skiing is pretty cool too. But it’s everything else that fascinates me:
- How are these two hotels actually?
- Are the visitors mostly people making weekend trips from Baku and/or Russians, or what’s the crowd at this property?
- What’s the aprés ski vibe like?
- I’d almost rather do this as a summer destination and go hiking, if that’s a thing here?
Bottom line
I’d like to think that I was familiar with virtually all of the ski resorts belonging to the major points hotel groups, but clearly that’s not the case. As it turns out, Marriott has two Autograph Collection ski resorts in Shahdag, Azerbaijan, which look kind of cool. They’re affordable, and while I’m probably not going to make it here anytime soon, I sure am interested.
Anyone know more about these two resorts?
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