Family hotel Casa de Khasia has been hosting vacationers coming to Zugdidi since 2016. The house is designed in a vintage style, with the addition of modern household appliances for a comfortable environment for guests. To find out more, GEORGIA TODAY talked to Rusudan Kalichava, the manager of “Casa de Khasia” family hotel.
‘“Casa de Khasia“ means House of the Khasias in Portuguese. Because our family’s last name is Khasia, we chose Casa de Khasia as the name of the hotel,” she tells us. “We decided to set up a family hotel due to the rising number of guests, including international visitors, that have been visiting Samegrelo and Zugdidi in recent years, and the demand for both large and small family hotels. The second factor in our decision was the resources at our disposal – a house, a large yard and a Megruli Jargvali (kitchen). You can add to this list of reasons our great desire to have a nice and interesting small family business!
“Our guests are both Georgian business visitors and foreign tourists. Casa de Khasia is frequently visited by representatives of embassies, international organizations, companies and ministries,” Kalichava notes.
What is the main thing that makes your hotel stand out?
Casa de Khasia is a cozy and comfortable family hotel in the center of Zugdidi. The hotel is designed in a vintage style, with modern household appliances. The yard is beautifully landscaped, making it a pleasure to be outside. In its interestingly arranged interior, the guests get the feeling of “returning to grandma’s house”.
In the yard, there is an old Megruli kitchen – a jarvali, furnished with old furniture, objects and accessories characteristic of the region of Samegrelo. Often, visitors say it is like a small, authentic museum. Visitors can even have breakfast and dinner in this ethno-historical environment.
We organize Ghomi, Elarji and Ghandam (Ghobiani) Khachapuri masterclasses in the jargvali – fire place.
Tell us about the meals you serve.
Since its foundation, we have been trying to find, restore and introduce old Megruli dishes to the Casa de Khasia menu. It is especially fascinating for guests to participate in culinary masterclasses. Making gebzhalia, kneading ghomi and baking khachapuri on an “angura” (stone ketsi) is a lot of fun for them.
Tell us about your team.
This hotel is our family business, and as such our family members run it. Our son and daughter, Sandro and Tina, take care of the communication and marketing, while managing the hotel, logistics, working in the garden and kitchen are the responsibility of me and my husband.
Tell us about your future plans.
Casa de Khasia has recently added a new space – a patio with an outdoor fireplace, which allows us to offer guests dinner outside after the masterclasses. In the future, we are planning to offer Megruli wine tasting, wine made from authentic grape varieties of Samegrelo.
Interview by Mariam Mtivlishvili
