Hilton Tallinn Park {EST}
Hilton Tallinn Park
FR. R. KREUTZWALDI 23 Tallinn, EE 10147
Great stay at Hilton Tallinn Park (0 Photo)
Hilton Tallinn Park
Check In
I booked the cheapest available room, in a sale, but could see the day beforehand on the app/website that I had been upgraded - from a King Guest room.
Mobile check-in via the app wasn't enabled.
On arrival there was a small queue for the check-in desks and was very warmly greeted at the desk. I was offered the opportunity to go to the executive lounge to check-in, but since I was already being served didn't see the need.
Check-in was very friendly and efficient, going through the hotel details etc and genuinely seemed concerned that we should have a great stay.
Room
Really nicely designed and modern room. Fantastic views from the 11th floor towards the Old Town and the bay.
Bed was very comfortable.
Nice, large, shower and seperate bath.
Air-con / heating worked very effeciently and quietly.
Was never disturbed in the room was any noise (corridor or other).
Dining
As HHonors Gold we were able to chose between breakfast in the Executive Lounge or the Able Butcher Restaurant, we went for the latter.
There was a great selection of food (hot and cold) available, including some delicious breads and fresh honey straight from the honeycomb. Whatever sort of coffee you'd like was available and a good range of juices, as well as a juicer to make your own fresh as well.
Executive Lounge
The executive lounge was fantastic. Very nicely decorated - great space to spend some time.
Lounge staff were friendly and helpful and keen to ensure everything was running smoothly.
Good selection of food in the evening (6pm to 8pm), including a couple of hot options (although no vegetarian hot options) and range of drinks including spirits.
If you check-in at the executive lounge you appear to get a glass of champagne - so I cheekily asked if we could as well since I check-ed in downstairs and this was fulfilled with delightful enthusiasm.
Location
Very easy to get to/from the airport - uber was less than €5 and chose to walk back to the airport which took around 35 minutes and was along proper pavement with pedestrian crossings all the way.
Good location to visit the Old Town and all the sights to see there - less than 20 minutes walk each way.
Spa
Complimentary spa for all guests. Again, very nicely decorated with some good lighting.
A nice, good sized, pool as well as jacuzzi were great. There was also a realy good sauna and steam room as well as rain showers and relaxing areas.
The only downside was the relative business of the spa area meaning it wasn't as relaxing as it could have been.
Overall
A fantastic, modern, hotel with effeciently and genuinely friendly staff.
Great value and highly recommended.
As a Diamond I was pre-upgraded to a spacious Corner room. Lounge is fine, nice views but the food is just ok. Drinks are average - Red Label, 3 years old Havana Club, terrible wine. Local beer was cold and nice. Coffee is fine, sweets better than expected. Restaurant breakfast was very good indeed. Quite a few fish, omelettes, cold cuts, pancakes, nuts, seeds, etc, etc. I only missed proper croissant.
I was told that as a Diamond member I can access spa area for free. 2 saunas, whirlpool and a pool. More spa luxury kind of thing than a pool. Finnish sauna was something I particularly enjoyed for the stones in the middle of large sauna room.
Street parking is certainly possible. Saturday after 15:00 until Monday 8:00 is completely free.
I'll return when in Tallinn.
Living room area
A few comments:
- Even though we stayed here before we had to provide passport information again, as they seem to have lost it.
- At check-in the agent said no upgrade (not even to a King Deluxe Room with View) because hotel was fully booked. I saw Suites availability about 3 hours prior to checkin and there was also Suite availability for the last 4 nights, but not the first night (well, the Tallinn Bay Suite was available throughout the stay, but no One Bedroom Suites).
- Breakfast was understandably extremely busy at times and included a wait for a table to become free. I noticed on the breakfast room list that there were only a handful of Diamonds at the property.
- We had 2 housekeeping issues. On one day, only 1 towel was provided, but we were two guests. On another day, the kleenex were not refilled and there was no facecloth. I called to ask them to deliver this and it took 1 hour. Apparently there was some mis-communication. The duty manager then delivered the kleenex himself but brought towels instead of facecloth. It took then another 20 minutes for the facecloth to be delivered, which I think is just too long.
- We had a rental car on the first 2 nights but they added automatically the parking charge for the 5 nights to the folio. I noticed this at check out and they fixed it.
Will be there again next week.
Deluxe Suite was really nice.
Deluxe Suite Bathroom
Deluxe Suite King Bed
Deluxe Suite living room
Welcome
Lounge food was really good during the week, beautiful pieces of cooked cod... weekend...not so much. They definitely spec the lounge better midweek than when the hordes come in on the boats and drink the place dry. They have to open the "London Room". The atmosphere of the place changes. It reminded me of a typical UK Hilton with a lounge on the weekend.
Breakfast was very good. The Babuschka preparing the eggs bennie was much better than the younger staff on other mornings. She really took her time over it and it was perfect.
Restaurant dinner started off truly great, delicious Carpaccio starters, but then our meat was not cooked to spec and had to go back. Meat recooked but sides not and put under a hot lamp. So they had to go back a second time as they were cold. It was their error, not ours. Bit of a disaster.
I noticed the staff were very patient with some very demanding Finns who wanted to know absolutely everything about the food and wine. Kudos to them.
Cocktails in the bar were great when prepared by a young Estonian girl. And she was incredibly polite when an American woman, at least twice her age, was trying to invite her back to her room and asking her if she liked boys or girls... it was cringeworthy Yewtree stuff. I thought I would have to intervene. But she handled it with grace and did not offend the drunk American.
It's really interesting to see all the entry level roles carried out by Ethnic Russians...what Ukrainians do in Poland. I was able to practice my Russian!
Tallinn really is a dead city during the week. Not only was it quite expensive, but we noticed everywhere was totally dead. Went to the Telegraaf, dead, not a single pax in the bar at 9PM.
The Euro seems to have really killed it off. It was busier when I last visited during the EEK times.
Lounge food was really good during the week, beautiful pieces of cooked cod... weekend...not so much. They definitely spec the lounge better midweek than when the hordes come in on the boats and drink the place dry. They have to open the "London Room". The atmosphere of the place changes. It reminded me of a typical UK Hilton with a lounge on the weekend.
Breakfast was very good. The Babuschka preparing the eggs bennie was much better than the younger staff on other mornings. She really took her time over it and it was perfect.
Restaurant dinner started off truly great, delicious Carpaccio starters, but then our meat was not cooked to spec and had to go back. Meat recooked but sides not and put under a hot lamp. So they had to go back a second time as they were cold. It was their error, not ours. Bit of a disaster.
I noticed the staff were very patient with some very demanding Finns who wanted to know absolutely everything about the food and wine. Kudos to them.
Cocktails in the bar were great when prepared by a young Estonian girl. And she was incredibly polite when an American woman, at least twice her age, was trying to invite her back to her room and asking her if she liked boys or girls... it was cringeworthy Yewtree stuff. I thought I would have to intervene. But she handled it with grace and did not offend the drunk American.
It's really interesting to see all the entry level roles carried out by Ethnic Russians...what Ukrainians do in Poland. I was able to practice my Russian!
Tallinn really is a dead city during the week. Not only was it quite expensive, but we noticed everywhere was totally dead. Went to the Telegraaf, dead, not a single pax in the bar at 9PM.
The Euro seems to have really killed it off. It was busier when I last visited during the EEK times.
Re pricing, not only €, but alcohol tax too. It has come more expensive, yes, but is still very affordable.
My stay would be in August including weekend days so I am not excited about a zoo-like atmosphere in the lounge according to reports above, but perhaps August is not as bad as other months?
Hilton Tallinn Park
FR. R. KREUTZWALDI 23 Tallinn, EE 10147
Hilton Tallinn Park = Great New Modern Hotel Not Far from Old Town (28 Photos)
Hilton Tallinn Park
I hesitated between booking at Hotel Telegraaf (Marriott) or Hilton for our visit in Tallinn. The location of Telegraaf is one of the best in the city but it comes at a price premium. I had a preference for a hotel with better odds of a suite upgrade and with a lounge, rather than pay extra for the location, a smaller room, and no lounge, so I picked Hilton given the numerous other reports about Diamond suite upgrades. I did not regret my choice.
Location
Hilton Tallinn is located about a 15-minute walk from the old town so it’s not so far away as to be terribly inconvenient, at least not during summer months when the weather is nice. There is also a large department store including a grocery store only 5 minutes away so I found the location to be fine even if not the best. The Hilton hotel was built from the ground up three years ago right in front of a park rather than being a renovation of an old hotel.
Room
I booked the entry level room for less than 100 EUR per night and we were pleased to get upgraded as Diamond to a deluxe suite which is a proper suite with a sliding door separating the bedroom from the living room. Our room was in the corner of the building so we did not hear any noise from outside our room and because of the positioning in the corner, the room had floor to ceiling windows on two walls in both the bedroom and living room. The hotel being fairly new, everything looks sharp and in good condition. The pillar in the living room gives some flair to the room and the bedroom was large enough to have a chair and small table at the end. The little details in the room are eye appealing for example the art work and the little stones right below the lights on each side of the bed. The main bathroom has a large sliding tinted glass door at the entrance which allows natural light in the bathroom which is good design. That is in addition to the half bathroom off the entrance which is convenient if not travelling alone.
Dining
Breakfast in the lounge only has a few offerings but the advantage was a very peaceful environment. One morning we wanted a quiet time so we stayed in the lounge given that the choices although slim, are good enough for example a few fruits, scrambled eggs, pastries, etc.
The restaurant looks very nice design-wise and the table arrangement was such that it did not feel overly crowded however clearly not as quiet as the lounge. Food choices were better than the lounge as can be expected, but nothing stood out in a major way except perhaps that there were a few choices of fish available. The rest of the buffet was fairly standard for example the hot options like bacon and sausages, there were raw veggies, pastries, pressed juices, an omelet station, etc.; no glaring weakness but just nothing which impressed me particularly. In some hotels, everything on the buffet is mediocre but they will have a couple of items which I will notice as being much better than similar competing hotels, either special fruits or a creative hot dish, etc. But not here, so breakfast was not the highlight of our stay.
Happy hour in the lounge is 6-8pm and we had to arrive before 5:30pm to have a decent table. By 6:30pm the lounge was almost entirely full, but depending where you sit you could still have some privacy because the lounge is not crammed with tables and chairs. I would also note that if you have a table by the windows you have very nice views of the old town in the distance. For alcohol you have the choice of one white and one red wine in addition to spirits and beer. They had a rotation of three hot dishes per day, not the healthiest stuff such as spring rolls, sweet potato fries, sausages, fried shrimps, samosas, cheese balls, etc. The exception was one evening there was a dish of beef and steamed veggies which was a change from the fried stuff. As noted in previous reviews, this hotel provides subpar food on weekends and better during the week – it was my observation as well. The cold salads were a bit better, and one evening they had sushis which I was pleased with at the beginning but later disappointed when I realized they contained some kind of salmon mousse rather than real fish. There were desserts as well to make it happy hour a complete offering. Overall I would say happy hour was above average for European standards although not fantastic especially not on weekends.
Wifi
Tallinn being a high-tech city I expected wifi to work without issues and it was the case. I measured speeds of around 20 Mbps.
Service
Service in the hotel was mixed. We received a nice pre-arrival e-mail from staff in the lounge and upon arrival they were clearly prepared to welcome us. Service in the lounge was good during happy hour despite the lounge being busy, but in the morning one request went unanswered and also when calling reception from the room sometimes it would just ring non-stop and nobody to pick up for several minutes so we had to go to the lounge to talk to someone face to face to get service. Housekeeping was well done exactly at the time we requested which was great. We also received a welcome gift in the room with two small bottles of Estonian rum, strawberries, and chocolates.
Overall
Overall I thought Hilton was not perfect but solid value and a very nice new hotel with a modest price tag. Hotel Telegraaf and other luxury hotels in the old town are quite popular during the summer and they seemed to be 50-100% more expensive than Hilton depending the exact dates, at least when I checked. By the time we arrived in Estonia I saw Telegraaf was fully booked because it’s a smaller hotel so I probably would not have received an upgrade, and even if I did the junior suites there are 35 square meters there compared to the deluxe suite we got at Hilton which was almost double the size at 65 square meters. If someone values extra space then Hilton is a no brainer with the hotel offering generous Diamond treatment, plus the lounge. Outside of the old town there is also an aging Swissotel which I discarded given subpar reviews and no lounge. If going to Tallinn in the winter I think the price differential is not significant between Hilton and hotels in the old town, and with cold weather perhaps the location of Hilton becomes a bit more of an issue so that could be the time of year where I might be willing to try Telegraaf or Hotel St.Petersbourg (Small Luxury Hotels / Hyatt) in order to compare with Hilton, but in any event we cannot go wrong by picking Hilton.