florens

hugolover

I think the F&B Manager is drinking too much champagne... �10 a glass or �60 for the bottle ... whoops.

yurtripper

Good spot! Mind you, I've been to enough places in CEE where they serve wine or even prosecco like it's VSOP cognac. I think the glass I had in CAVA (Polish chain) recently was not even 75ml. The waitress then had the nerve to ask me after serving it whether I wanted a double! (ooh, so 150ml? )

At least with the bottle you will get the actual quantity listed!

CMK10

Stay Report - 3/8 to 3/9

Location: Perfectly located. As its name suggests the hotel is in Riga's Old Town. You can walk to all major sites, plenty of restaurants and bars as well as to the tram (1/2/5/10 lines) as well as the bus. The airport is about a 15 minute drive (Bolt, the local Uber app, works very well).



Hotel: The building is a modern new construction HGI and ranks as the nicest HGI I've ever been to. There's an attractive lobby with a bar that also serves dinner and has a full liquor selection. Underground parking garage. Gym in the basement and really pleasant common areas. Everything about the hotel is nice and modern.



Check In: So like an idiot I booked my stay a day early. The check in agent was very helpful and made me a new reservation matching that rate. I was also upgraded to a junior suite and given my choice of breakfast or points plus a welcome drink for a beer, house wine or soda

Room: Fitting for everything else about this hotel, very nice. Separate bedroom with a large bed with outlets next to it and a TV, living room with pullout couch, TV, work space and coffee machine plus a nice sized bathroom with a good shower.









Everything about this hotel is great. I had zero complaints during my excellent stay. I'd gladly be back.

florens

Interesting. When I stayed there were no Suites, but equally the floor plan did not match the app.

I reckon they have completed construction later and added Suites?

We stayed in a very similar room which was designated "King Deluxe With View".

LassiJ

True. They don't have rooms designated as suites or junior suites. I stayed in a room which looks the same as in the photos of CMK10 and it was a Deluxe room. Maybe the reception / desk just used their own "nick name" for the Deluxe room which practically could be renamed to a junior suite as well?

LassiJ

I stayed in HGI Riga in Mid June and had stayed there earlier this year before the corona outbreak in Europe so I had a fresh stay to compare with.

The lobby desk is now behind a plexiglass and most of the employees are usually wearing masks. They have sanitiser bottles around the hotel for use and pens are separated to sanitised and used ones.

The lobby bar is unfortunately closed which means Diamonds (and Golds) won't get their bar vouchers nor any other welcome amenity even from the pantry which is open (we asked).

They have the 72 hour policy in place which states that after a guest stay no one else can be visiting the room for 72 hours. Due to that they originally didn't have any Deluxe rooms available but after querying from the house keeping, to our luck one Deluxe room from the 6th floor had just been made ready. We got the room 615 which is spacious and nice. 611 might have a bit more suite style layout though. We had only one still water bottle in the room. Unfortunately the tap water in Riga isn't very tasty/drinkable even after boiling it. The views from the 6th floor rooms are really nice as can be seen from the photo.

The breakfast was available until 12 which was a surprise. This is probably to have less guests at the breakfast at a time to allow better social distancing. Also as the breakfast is served to the table from a menu which causes extra work for the restaurant staff so the extra time is required to be able to serve everyone. I enjoyed the breakfast selection and the only disappointments were the lack of natural yoghurt and the lack of sausages during the first morning.

I noticed that they seemed to have more than the usual amount of trainees there working now maybe due to temporary layoffs and more time available to train them in the half empty hotel.

As the fares are low now during the Dream Away campaign the stay was definitely worth it. Riga Old town had also some good 2 for 1 discounts in the restaurants which wouldn't be there during a normal summer season.

florens

Thanks for the report. We will be there in a couple of weeks. Let�s hope the bar is open by then.

SPBanker

We spent four nights at this property last week, June 28 to July 2. The bar was not yet open, but now the breakfast was the normal buffet. Except you were to take one set of fresh utensils and use them to pick everything. Breakfast was more or less normal European Hilton buffet, i.e. good. (They made my daughter vegan porridge when she asked etc.)

If I would hazard a guess, occupancy was maybe 25%? Rooms were dirt cheap, �51/night.

Riga was pretty empty, which is a pity. It is a great city, and very affordable.

LassiJ

My friend who stayed there yesterday got the info that the bar should open 7.7.

florens

Perfect. We check in tomorrow.

hugolover

Basia flies back to RIX from next week, its tempting to pay a visit.

florens

I can confirm the bar is open.

hugolover

Still with the peculiar prices?

florens

Limited menu now, no cocktails or champagne from what I can see. But should be available in a couple of days.



Drinks list 1

Drinks list 2