St. Petersburg Russia Hotel
Jun 18, 2008, 1:56 pm
#16
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Posts: 247
Astoria Hotel quick notes
Seeing this thread again reminded me that I never did post my impressions of the Astoria. In a nutshell - certainly sounds better than the GH Europe, but definitely room for improvement.
Highlights:
- Excellent location for the Hermitage and all of old St. Petersburg.
- Authentically historic hotel - Rasputin stayed here
- that has been restored very tastefully, nothing overdone.
- Rooms facing the inner courtyard are very quiet
- All rooms seem quite large
- Nice amenity of fruit, chocolate and "champagnsky"
- Breakfast was quite the experience with a very diverse crowd including champagne-swilling Russians. Order some blinis, forget the french toast.
Negatives:
- Long walk to subway, so visiting outlying neighbourhoods/attractions is not that convenient
- Bedding felt cheap, bed itself was OK.
- Erratic service, including an unannounced "proactive" room change. Not fun when returning to your room at about 2AM and finding all your luggage and belongings are "missing"! Sobered me up quite fast... At least the 2nd room was quite a bit nicer.
- First room was quite dusty
- No true blackout curtains, a pet peeve of mine
- Some wear and tear in rooms and public areas
- Truly outrageous internet charge of something like EUR 50 per day
Would I return? If the price were right, yes. The Four Seasons is being built right around the corner, so hoping that it will increase the competitive pressure among luxury hotels in the area.
Highlights:
- Excellent location for the Hermitage and all of old St. Petersburg.
- Authentically historic hotel - Rasputin stayed here
- that has been restored very tastefully, nothing overdone.- Rooms facing the inner courtyard are very quiet
- All rooms seem quite large
- Nice amenity of fruit, chocolate and "champagnsky"
- Breakfast was quite the experience with a very diverse crowd including champagne-swilling Russians. Order some blinis, forget the french toast.
Negatives:
- Long walk to subway, so visiting outlying neighbourhoods/attractions is not that convenient
- Bedding felt cheap, bed itself was OK.
- Erratic service, including an unannounced "proactive" room change. Not fun when returning to your room at about 2AM and finding all your luggage and belongings are "missing"! Sobered me up quite fast... At least the 2nd room was quite a bit nicer.
- First room was quite dusty
- No true blackout curtains, a pet peeve of mine
- Some wear and tear in rooms and public areas
- Truly outrageous internet charge of something like EUR 50 per day
Would I return? If the price were right, yes. The Four Seasons is being built right around the corner, so hoping that it will increase the competitive pressure among luxury hotels in the area.
