Gomarduli near Batumi
in Georgia 🇬🇪 gomarduli.life 
✉️
has closed for coliving, it offered:
Reviews we don't rate spaces—please interpret other's opinions per your own values
I had great experience in Gomarduli Dao Space. Wonderful nature that calms you down and helps take a break from city life. There was yoga retreat so I could participate in it at the same time. Also I liked tea ceremony that Evgeniy made for us. The food was very delicious and stuff friendly and supportive. 10 out of 10:)
Loved my time in Gomarduli! Definitely recommend this beautiful place. We were lucky with the weather and spent lots of time hanging out on the balcony with a view.
Hard to find right words to describe this magical place. Wonderful team, incredible location and view and overall place to let yourself recharge with positive vibes.
Special thanks to Anastasia for making our stay unforgettable 🩵
I had a bitter experience last year - issues with arriving, noise, conflicts between staff, no activities that were marketed, water and electricity losses and bad internet connection (it is marketed as coworking space), agressive stray dogs, low food quality, culminated with stomach sickness spreading through guests/staff without adequate hygienic measures (e.g. chef cooking although he was sick, no soap in the toilets next to kitchen and yoga room). Although the nature is beautiful and I met some wonderful people, all together it was far from the peaceful recharging I planned. I cannot recommend it, especially for individual stays/residency, it seemed that people who came for organised retreats had better experience. It is my first 1 star rating and it took me a while to gather the impressions, it feels fair towards others to share.
DON’T GO THERE
especially in winter
This was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. We hired a place for a retreat for 25 people in February 2022. We had to leave earlier because of unacceptable living conditions. The owner is a liar, sexist, and bully, and refuses to refund. The place could be a wonderful retreat center, the nature is stunning there. However, the owner does not seem to realize that his toxic management style and unwillingness to invest in staff and facilities ruin all the magic.
DETAILS
TRANSFER. The Gomarduli Dao Space is located up in the mountains, approx 70 km from the airport. There was no transfer offered. We hired several cars to get there. The drivers were saying that they probably would not be able to go to the destination because of the snow. The owner did not warn us about that. As expected, the cars didn’t manage to reach the destination because of the deep snow. The whole group, including two kids and a pregnant woman, had to walk uphill in the snow for almost THREE HOURS. Eugene, the owner was not at the place. We were too tired to complain at that point.
WATER. When we arrived, there was no water. At all. It means, no drinking water, no water for cooking, no shower, no flushed toilet. The owner wrote that the problem is already fixed and we just need to wait till morning while the water reservoir is being filled. Never happened. The people who worked there were melting snow on the stove to cook and make tea. We had to melt the snow ourselves to wash and flush the toilets. The owner kept promising us via text messages that the water supply would be soon restored. We left after three nights, there was still no water.
FOOD. The food was scarce. Never enough for all people. Because of the snow on the road, there was no supply. I am surprised that in the place in the mountains where snow is frequent, there is no stock of food and drinking water.
SPACE FOR GROUP ACTIVITIES. The next morning when we were supposed to start group activities, the space was still freezingly cold and full of smoke because of misused heating. We had to start our retread in the kitchen, not in the beautiful space you can see in the pictures.
STAFF. The place had only one hired worker, a very nice Chechen woman. She was definitely overworked and I had an impression that she is scared to death by the owner. She was apologizing all the time and doing everything she could but she could not fix the water supply. The other people working there were volunteers and far too few. The workload was obviously not what they agreed to. One of them left while we were there, saying that he did not expect so much stress and so little food.
OWNER. Eugene is not ready to take responsibility for his choices and risks at all. When we insisted on zoom-call and described all the problems, he started to harass the woman who worked there shouting at her. I had to interfere and point out that the people there were doing everything possible, that the problem cannot be fixed by melting snow and that it is his job to take care of it or suggest an alternative.
Eventually, we had to hire an evacuation team to leave the place and relocate people to another hotel. We paid for everything ourselves. Eugene promised to refund us but then refused claiming that the the situation was a result of force majeure. Ridiculous claim because snow in the mountains in winter is a predictable risk and can’t qualify as force majeure.
And one more thing. The whole communication process with Eugene is a painful and energy-draining experience. At first, he can seem quite a sweet guy. But when it comes to being responsible for his own choices and risks, he turns into a bully and abuser or just stops communication.
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