Experiencing Swissôtel Tallinn

I have stayed at Swissôtel Tallinn closer to ten times without any loyalty card. This was my first stay after Swissôtel joined Le Club and I was interested in to see how the hotel treats Le Club members.

I arrived before the official check-in time at 1:30 pm. There was a queue to front desk. I chose the empty and unstaffed Le Club desk to find out what will happen. After a few minutes wait someone came to ask if I needed help. I said yes, I would like to check in myself. I was then asked to move to another lane. My room was ready and I was proactively told that I had been upgraded. I received a key card and a drink voucher.

The hotel has several room categories: Swiss advantage, Swiss grand, and Swiss executive rooms, plus three different suites. All comes with either city or harbour view and they are considered different categories.

So to speak, a view is as an upgrade here: if one book an entry-level Swiss advantage room with city view, like I did, one will receive an upgrade to Swiss advantage room with harbour view. Not much of an upgrade if you ask me.

On the other hand, different rooms are pretty similar to each other in terms of amenities and design. Every rooms has espresso machine, bathrobes and slippers, for example. I have tried all the categories except the suites. Actually, Swissôtel offers complimentary upgrades to anyone who just book a stay at Swissôtel’s website.

The grand rooms and the suites are slightly larger and the executive rooms are on high floors and includes lounge access, naturally. The smallest room is 28 sqm and the biggest 36 sqm. Some of the rooms has both walk-in shower and bathtub, some only walk-in shower. I had both. Bed is too firm to my liking.

My bathroom was in bad condition. In addition to broken floor tiles, water flooded from the shower to all over and I had to place towels on the slippery floor. A cleaner was sent after I reported the front desk.

I was told that the management is aware of some construction defects and that those will be fixed next year. Yeah, right. The hotel isn’t a new one. It has been open for 11 years now so it has taken a long time to fix this problem. While waiting for the repair, a rubber list between shower door and floor should be added.

I was also disappointed to the quality of towels that were thin and rough, like sandpaper, not thick and fluffy that I expect in a hotel of this level. No turndown service was provided.

It’s hit and miss. People working at the front desk and breakfast restaurant are often grumpy while the staff at lounge, dining restaurant and bar are nice. If there is an issue the front desk staff is excellent in arguing and not solving the problem.

There is an executive lounge. I didn’t book it but I was offered an upgrade for 95€ (was gold back then) which I decided no to accept since I thought that it was a better idea to use the money in some of the Tallinn’s excellent restaurants. One of them is located on the top floor of the hotel. For about same money I had a decent five-course menu with wine pairing.

I’ve tried the lounge before. It’s on the 28th floor and quite small, a size of two guest rooms. When the house is full it’s not a relaxing place at all. The lounge has a basic selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, plus decent snack buffet, but it’s not worth the 95€.

Breakfast place has a clinical ambience that reminds more a school cafeteria than hotel restaurant. Quality is somewhat modest.

The hotel has a calming spa with swimming pool, steam room and Finnish sauna. It was most of the time almost empty.

The location is excellent. Walking to the old town takes about 10 minutes. Taxi to the airport and harbour is more or less the same. There is a high-end department and grocery store just beside the hotel.

The elite experience was overall a little letdown. Morning paper wasn’t delivered to my room and at breakfast they only had a small selection of news printed on white paper.

The drink voucher was usable for anything expect champagne and spirit. Yet I was able to have a GT and pick any gin brand I wanted to so kudos to that.

A welcome gift was already in the room when I arrived which was a positive surprise. However, it was rather lame: a rhubarb drink and a water bottle. While it was nice to have something local the rhubarb season was already over. Perhaps an Estonian cheese platter or selection of local chocolates and Vana Tallinn liqueur would have made me more happy. This is how Hilton Tallinn Park treats their elite members.

Late check-out was granted at 2 pm.

The stay was okay. The hotel is nice and being the tallest building in Tallinn it offers magnificent views to the city in clear days. But as a Le Club member I didn’t feel anything very special. Hilton close by is often cheaper and deliveres better value for money.