How We Review and Rank Batumi Businesses: Our Method
The BatumiReviews Team decides the order of every list by judgement. For each business we ask one question. Would we send a friend here before the next one? We check each business against its own website, its prices, public records and what its customers write, and every list shows the date we last checked it.
- Who decides the order?The BatumiReviews Team, by judgement, after checking every business on the list
- How is a business checked?Against its own website and prices, public records, and what customers write in Russian, Georgian, Turkish and English
- How current is a list?Every list is dated and re-read every month
- What if you are wrong?Tell us. We check it straight away, correct the page and log the correction with its date
- Who writes the reviews?The BatumiReviews Team. No single named person writes or signs them
Who decides the order of a list?
The order of a list is decided by the BatumiReviews Team. For every business we ask whether we would send a friend there before the next one, and the answer sets its position. A business's Google rating and what its customers say feed that answer, but they do not decide it. Positions run 1, 2, 3 to the end of the list, and no two businesses share a place.
How we make a list
- Find the candidates. We start from the businesses already on our file and add the ones most often recommended as the best in Batumi.
- Check who can be listed. Each candidate goes through the entry checks below. A business that fails one is left off.
- Review each business. We read its website and prices, test the language versions of its website, check its claims about itself against dated records, and read what its customers write on several platforms, in the language they wrote in.
- Decide the order. We compare the businesses with each other by name and agree the positions.
- Write the reviews. Every ranked business gets the same review block, with at least one real flaw.
- Date it and re-read it. The list carries the date of the check and is re-read every month.
Which businesses make a list?
A business makes a ranked list only when it passes every entry check and we would actually send someone there.
A minimum number of Google reviews in the last two years, set per service: at least 10 for estate agencies, 20 for services whose customers review more often. Each ranked list states its own minimum.
How we check it Its reviews over the last two years, on more than one platform where they exist
A business that has traded long enough to judge, with its claims about its own history holding up
How we check it Its website's age, archived copies and other dated public traces
Set per category (see below)
How we check it Its own website, price list or booking engine, or for daily flats the listing sites, with the date we saw the price
The languages it says it serves in are real
How we check it Its website's language versions, and the languages its customers write in and say they were served in
What it says about itself holds up
How we check it Its numbers, years, memberships and awards checked against dated records
Our daily apartments page ranks no businesses. It compares booking sites and buildings on price and booking terms, as set out below, and the review minimum does not apply to it.
The price check is set per category, because prices matter differently in each trade.
- Hotels
Listed only when the hotel publishes a room price of its own, on its website or booking engine; where it shows only a starting price, we print that price with the date we saw it
- Daily apartments
Compared on asking prices per night as the listing sites show them, with the date we saw them
- Real estate agencies
Listed with or without a published fee; the review says "on request" when the agency publishes none
We do not publish the names of businesses we checked and left off. A business that wants to know why it is not listed can ask us, and we answer privately.
What do we judge in each category?
Each category has its own list of what matters, and every business on a list is judged on the same points.
- Real estate agenciesWhat decides it
- Whose side the agency is on
- What it charges and whether it says so
- Its record with clients over the last two years
- The languages it really works in
- Whether its claims about itself hold up
- What it does after the deal
- HotelsWhat decides it
- The hotel's own price and what it includes
- What guests meet at reception
- How it answers complaints
- Whether its claims (stars, pool, sea view) hold up
- A comparison, not a rankingDaily apartmentsWhat decides it
- Flats by asking price per night by size, district and date
- Booking channels by who holds your money, what is added to the price and what happens when you cancel
Where does our information come from?
Our information comes from
- Each business's own website, prices and booking engine
- Public records such as domain dates, archived copies of websites and the company numbers businesses publish
- The reviews customers leave on Google Maps, Yandex Maps and booking sites
- Forums, expat groups and public channels in Russian, Georgian, Turkish and English
- From launch, what readers and businesses tell us
Every fact we print is kept on file with its source and the date we saw it.
We review from public evidence.
How to read one of our reviews
Every review on a list has the same parts, so any two businesses can be compared line by line.
Rank and label"Our number N in Batumi" and what it is best for.
VerdictOne sentence: what the business is best at and whether we would go
SM Sale is our first choice among Batumi's agencies, and where we would go to buy a new build from a developer. It sells without pressure, and not one client review in two years is a complaint.
The reviewWhat it is like, who it suits, how it compares with a named rival, and at least one real flaw
SM Sale works with Batumi's developers and takes a buyer from the first viewing of a new build to the keys. Its general director runs it and fronts it on his own YouTube channel, and the purchase it runs is calm, with no push to sign. GulfStream has the wider range and sells every kind of property, but SM Sale has the cleaner recent record, and for a new build it is the better call.
Why we would goIts concrete strengths (numbers 1 to 5)
Why we would go
- No-pressure selling, and no complaint in two years of client reviews.
- Easy to reach on WhatsApp and Telegram.
- Works across Batumi, Gonio and Chakvi.
Worth knowing before you goIts flaws and limits
Worth knowing before you go
- The Russian-only catalogue was last updated in October 2024.
- Ask who pays the agent before the first viewing.
PriceWhat it costs, or "on request" when it publishes no price
Price
On request. Its partner site says the developer pays the commission and the service is free to you. Get that in writing.
Not ideal forWho should go elsewhere, and where
Not ideal for
Land or a resale flat. GulfStream sells both.
The factsAddress, languages, hours, website and the like
The facts
5a Tbel-Abuseridze St, Batumi · Website in Russian · Hours not published · On record since 2022 · SM Sale LLC, company number 402236512 · Google 5.0 (61)
"Best for" on a card names the need that business serves best.
How current is a list?
Every list shows the date it was last checked, and every list is re-read every month. A business can move up or down, or leave the list, at any re-read. Prices carry the date they were seen, because prices in Batumi change with the season.
What happens when we get something wrong?
To report an error, send it to us and we will check it straight away.
- Write to info@batumireviews.ge, or use the page for businesses.
- Name the page and quote the sentence you think is wrong.
- Send what shows it, such as a link, a document or a dated photo.
- Look for the correction in the log below. When we find an error, we correct the page and log the change with its date.
Corrections log
No corrections yet, as of 5 October 2026.
Who is behind BatumiReviews?
BatumiReviews is written by the BatumiReviews Team. The reviews belong to the team, and no single named person writes or signs them.
You can reach the team at info@batumireviews.ge.
How a business gets listed or corrected
A business can correct or respond to a listing at any time.
- Send facts we should check
- Correct a fact that is wrong
- Ask why it is not listed
Frequently asked questions
BatumiReviews dates every list, prints at least one flaw for every ranked business, and corrects and logs every error it confirms.
BatumiReviews ranks businesses by the team's judgement after checking each one. We ask whether we would send a friend there before the next one; ratings and customer comments are inputs to that answer, not the answer.
Google shows you what customers rated. We read what they wrote on several platforms and in their own languages, check the business's own claims and prices, and then say which one we would choose and why, flaw included.
A business is missing because it failed an entry check, because we would not send someone there yet, or because we have not reviewed it. A business can ask us why, and we answer privately.