SanDiego1K

I am interested as to whether a suite is worth the additional cost in points/night (on a points redemption).

Also, are there other towns in the Ukraine that you would pair with Kiev for sightseeing?

SeamasterLux

To be honest, the Regency Suite is DEFINITELY worth it for 6000 extra points. I do it everytime I'm staying at the HR Kiev and I stayed there 7 times in total (5 times in the Regency Suite King).

For other cities, do skip Odessa but go to Lviv, it's truly beautiful

troyb

I also was not impressed with Odessa (although I was there for work and did not do much in terms of sightseeing). Also decent hotels are hard to come by - I stayed at the supposed best place there and it was still pretty weak.

You can do the Chernobyl trip - one I never did but still regret.

SeamasterLux

Was it the Bristol Hotel? I stayed at the #4 Tripadvisor (Continental Hotel) and was very disappointed.

I visited the Bristol rooms and was not impressed but their restaurant is very good!

troyb

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Yep it was the Bristol. Very strange place - extremely expensive relative to alternatives (about EUR 240) and the common areas were very luxurious in terms of the renovation, but the rooms, hallways, and restaurant kind of creeped me out!

GetSetJetSet

How does this compare of the Hotel Opera (LHW property)

SeamasterLux

I'm a member of the Leaders Club (LHW) but I also consider that there are LHW and LHW, meaning that all properties are definitely not at the same level.

The Opera hotel is overpriced and in great need of refurbishment.

It doesn't compete with the IC and the HR in my opinion

It's closer to classic luxury but outdated

troyb

Yea I had not heard good things from colleagues about that place. Hyatt, on the other hand, gets rave reviews from everyone I work with who has stayed there. I was not that impressed, but it gets the job done and is modern.

jarusoba

We will be going to Kiev in April and we have a reservation with Hyatt points at HR Kiev.

There is a new Fairmont to be opened in March. Since we have some complimentary night certs and we're not too loyal to Fairmont, I'm just contemplating switching to stay at the Fairmont instead, so that I can save some Hyatt points while using up the otherwise useless Fairmont certs.

To those who know Kiev, please let me know location wise, if the Fairmont is really inferior to the HR? Here is the map showing the location of Fairmont Kiev. We're mainly interested to explore the city on foot.

Thanks in advance.

SeamasterLux

Hello,

Thanks for the tip first of all because I had no idea the Fairmont was opening in Kiev. The location is also convenient for the Fairmont but be prepared since it must be quite noisy in the neighborhood since it's just on Kreshchatyk.

@ Troyb: I understand your point. The HR Kiev is a good hotel but not outstanding. I get a good service there but I've stayed there 7 times in a year (more than 30 nights) so that might be the reason. In any case, no hotel will blow your mind off in Kiev or even Eastern Europe, including Russia (they will certainly blow your wallet off though, especially in Moscow). The fact that more competition is coming to Kiev might be a good thing. I just hope it won't be the same as in Moscow were prices are outrageous everywhere and the service isn't even there

GetSetJetSet

Good to hear. I had an awful stay at the Opera last time. I prefer the location of the HR and will definitely stay there next time in Kiev.

SanDiego1K

What restaurants do folks recommend in the vicinity of the hotel? Or by taxi? I love eating outdoors during the long European summer nights, if weather cooperates.

gr8

Only can recommend Ukrainian cuisine, since my stay was short. Opanas is a short walk on Volodymyrska and is traditional Ukrainian food. Spotykach is basically across the street, designed to transport the visitor into the Soviet era with proper furniture and decor, decent place for food experimentation as well. A bit further (10-min taxi ride maybe), Varenychna #1 on Esplanadna is a 24-hour place that serves tons of local vareniki (dumplings that are boiled, not fried).

SeamasterLux

Da Vinci restaurant (Italian). Don't get fooled by the decoration inside, quite cliché and too much, the food is good.

El Puerco Volante

Really? And what's about Swissotel Moscow, which is one of the best luxury hotels worldwide, period?

Regards,

El Puerco Volante.