The second stage, never completed, was to construct a 13-story building in the form of an open-ring with an inner courtyard with a swimming pool and fountains.

The hotel was the first in the Soviet Union to offer buffet-breakfast and Continental breakfast.

[citation needed] In 1986, the second part of the match for the world chess championship between Garry Kasparov and Anatoliy Karpov was held in the hotel.

[citation needed] On February 23, 1991, a fire consumed the seventh, eighth and ninth floors of the hotel, killing seven guests and nine firefighters.

[2] The second floor of the hotel contained a winter garden with views of the historical part of the city.