The hotel building was put into operation in 1979. Over the past half-century, many events have taken place. The hotel “lived through” everything that happened in society.
The city had three major hotels, “Aktyubinsk”, “Ilek” and “Cosmos” built according to typical Soviet designs, like in many other cities in the USSR. The new «Aktyubinsk» hotel building, located in the city’s developing new district, with its luxury rooms equipped with high-level furnishings for that time, became a city landmark and a place of attraction for guests visiting our city.
The unexpected acquisition of our country’s independence was accompanied by an inevitable sharp economic decline, as the chains of interaction between enterprises and management structures were broken. It wasn’t easy to save production, enterprises, including hotel complexes. During this period, it was decided to preserve the top two floors and rent out the rooms as offices and the lobby area for kiosks to ensure the hotel’s and its staff’s survival.
On January 24, 1992, Umitbek Nurkin was elected a director of the “Aktobe” hotel due to the retirement of the previous director. In 1993, like many enterprises at that time, the hotel was privatized by the staff, and the company owning and managing the hotel, TOO “Demalys Zhaiy” was created. The name has a deep meaning and translates from Kazakh as “organization of rest.” Our city officially became known as “Aktobe”, and the hotel also acquired a new name – “Aktobe” Hotel.
Here, I must make a small addition to the story: Ill-considered privatization of the restaurant and the staff area by the regional administration occurred earlier than the privatization of the hotel, creating significant difficulties for the full operation of the hotel in the future. But this did not stop the enthusiastic colleagues of the hotel.
The difficult times gradually passed, the economy began to strengthen and grow, and after eight hard years of survival, we started to see the first results. Organizing our clients’ rest in the new market conditions required a considerable amount of work to be done, primarily by ourselves. Both the director and the staff engaged in the study; Umitbek Nurkin participated in seminars and courses on hotel business organization held in Germany, Turkey, Almaty, and Thailand. Therefore, all positive changes in the hotel are directly related to the process of continuous education of top managers and staff. It was not only possible to resume the operation of the seventh and eighth floors but to ceremoniously open floors and rooms with European renovation, a fashionable phenomenon at the time.
Then, we gradually renovated the entire hotel complex. We had new furniture designed by Umitbek Nurkin, replaced all wooden windows in the hotel with plastic ones, installed cable TV, and fully provided the hotel with hot and cold water.
Known problems with water supply in our city have been resolved by installing an automatic water supply station, solving the water deficit problem forever. We also abandoned central heating services by installing our autonomous boiler room. We implemented a project to expand the first floor, creating a conference hall for 75 people, expanding the cafe and kitchen areas, and making the first-floor lobby more spacious. We actively worked on transitioning from manual accounting to business process automation. We installed electric diesel generators that automatically turned on during city power outages, ensuring the full operation of the reservation and accommodation service computers and the boiler room.
During this period, people started to recognize us through our new website. In 2003, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the hotel and the 10th anniversary of TOO. In 2005, Umitbek Nurkin gave a significant interview for the project “TOP 100 THE BEST,” dedicated to the economy, culture, people, and leaders of Aktobe region, where he noted, “We conclude that Aktobe requires the construction of new, comfortable hotels. The flow of people wanting to come to us is growing, directly proportional to our level of development.
And since 2000, our region’s economy has been moving very powerfully. Meanwhile, we are not afraid of losing our customers. We already have our traditions of quality. In 2003, we were certified as a three-star hotel. Of course, we have hotels with more stars, but we will still serve the guests better than any other hotel. This document can be accessed in the hotel employee’s code. We have developed our quality policy. On March 28 this year, our hotel was certified according to the international quality standard ISO 9001:2000.” At that time, we established and continued the good tradition of voluntary certification every year and a half for the hotel’s compliance with safety requirements and the three-star category, as well as for the cafe and bar’s compliance with sanitary and hygienic requirements.
It was an interesting and challenging period for the hotel and staff. The call to build new comfortable hotels in the city, heard in the interview or dictated by the times, was realized. The era of competition and the adoption of new strategies began.
The pandemic was a test of resilience, loyalty, and the ability to recover promptly. The pre-pandemic period was an excellent school for us, where we made the right conclusions and took the right actions. Returning to full operation after the pandemic occurred quickly, smoothly, and with confidence. All the changes taking place in the hotel now can be called “reinvention” the business. We, the hotel staff, are grateful to our guests for their warm attitude towards us, for choosing and returning to us again and again, for their complaints, which were and remain points of growth for us, and for their trust in us! Dear guests, we love you and are always happy to see you! We work for you! Welcome to the “Aktobe” hotel!
