gatemando

I will be visiting St Petersburg for the first time and staying at the Renaissance using Marriot Reward points. Couple of questions:

1) I am staying for one night (Saturday) - does the hotel have an "executive lounge" with complimentary food & cocktails (and is it open on Saturday)?

2) Does the hotel provide free breakfast for Rewards members?

3) I read about an "Upgrade Reward" where for another 5,000 points I can try and secure an upgraded room. Does anyone have experience with this, specifically at this property?

4) I also read that if you are staying at the Renaissance, you are allowed to use a separate entrance to the Hemitage, usually reserved for groups. There is even a special booth where you show your key and bypass the line. Does anyone have experience with this? Also, what is the charge to visit the Hermitage?

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

bsb21

I have been in contact with this property and her is what I know.

1) No lounge.
2) Free breakfast is provided for Gold & Plat Elites, as it must be if there is no lounge.

I have haerd about the special perks at the Hermitage but cannot say anything more specific.

MacDaddie

As the previous poster said. No lounge and breakfast is provided. I personally wouldn't bother with the upgrade at this property.

The Heritage thing only really matters in the middle of the summer - you can use a seperate line to buy your ticket - I believe that they can also arrange some sort of "special tour". Other than the height of tourist season the lines aren't really that bad especially if you arrive 10-15 minutes before opening.

You can easily walk to the Hermitage from the hotel

sophiegirl

One caveat -

breakfast is only required for plats & gold if it is a weekday. as the OP is there on a SAT night, it will be up to the hotel (as to whether) they wish to extend that amenity.

OP - I would not bother with an upgrade. I would note in my res comments, or upon check in, that a high floor with a view would be appreciated.

tsastor

I thought I'd do a quick report as we recently stayed at this property with points. The hotel is excellently situated for the main cultural sights of St.Petersburg itself. In fact I'd go so far as to say that it may be the best location in town.

Check in was one of the nicest we have had anywhere. Sparkling wine was offered and we were encouraged to take the glasses to our room. As I had only a light shoulder bag I was almost sorry I had to decline the offer to help with our "luggage". As a silver benefit, we were asked if we wanted red or white wine brought to our room. They also had some great chocolates at the reception, especially imported for the hotel from the Ukraine.

We had a room on the fourth floor at the very end of the corridor, a kind of corner room which was very spaceful and could have been combined with the next room if needed. The carpet was plush and the bed very comfortable. The room had a combined bath/shower and the usual (minimal) amenities. Other than this, we did not spend any time at the hotel and were not tempted by the overpriced breakfast (which I actually feel should be included with a reward night anyway).

The main museums like the Hermitage and Yusupov's palace are a five to ten minute walk away. We did not visit the Hermitage as we have both been there and you really should plan your visit there beforehand anyway because of the enourmous collection.

Our main purpose of this visit was to see the Queen of Spades at the Mariinsky theatre. This opera, lasting four and a half hours, was premiered at the very same theatre by Tchaikovsky in 1890. The play was performed extremely conservatively with the stage setting changing completely for each act. The audience was very knowledgeable and absolutely no sound was emitted from the audience when "Yeletsky" sang the famous aria "I love you beyond measure".

It felt nice being able to walk to our hotel after the performance in the early night and very early spring of historic St.Petersburg.

NJUPINTHEAIR

Am planning a trip here for the White Nights during 2012 and would appreciate updated information on the hotel, perks to elite guests, transfer costs, etc.

Am staying 7 nights on points and am wondering whether that is sufficient to see all the sights in and especially around St. Petersburg, remembering that the first night we will be toast as we are flying from the USA.

Much appreciated!

NJ

jr1202sr

Anyone have any recent trip reports? Any Suggestions for 48 hours in St. Petersburg? What tips about the getting a visa?

northsideguy

NJUPINTHEAIR

Sorry, I never made it.

BKKLEE

I'll be there next month for 5-nights.............IMO, the palaces (Peterhof and/or Catherines) located outside of the city are to far to be seen during such a short trip so IMO wouldn't try it............the Hermitage should keep you sufficiently occupied..........

if you arrive/depart on a cruise my understanding of necessity of a visa for St. P. is that you will not need a visa..........

georgebaz

Hey, me too, checking in on your last day. Do FT-ers ever meet in person or only on the WWW?

BKKLEE

yes, they do............ but I'm scheduled to leave St. P. on the Allegro for HEL at 1125-hrs on the 8th so if you're checking in early then............

georgebaz

Landing at LED at 9:30 AM, definitely won't make it to the hotel if only to wave you good-bye. But I'm sure the trailing dots will still be visible in the lobby.

SkiAdcock

On-topic:

I love Peterhof! Agree that if one is only going to be in StP for 48 hours, best to stay in the city. Hermitage alone could keep one busy, but there are other things to do as well.

Re: the visa, cruise ship should take care of it if someone's on a cruise. Otherwise I think you need to get the hotel to issue an invite, which goes w/ the visa app? The appropriate travel destination forum would have more info.

Off-topic:

FTers frequently meet in person, in addition to virtually. In this forum there is a sticky that shows which Marriott properties FTers might be staying at when.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/9324655-post1.html

Of course it's dependent upon people posting in the thread. One time there were 3 FTers at the Schaumburg IL Marriott at the same time, & they didn't find out until after the fact because none posted or checked! I met up w/ a FTer in AMS for a quick drink in the exec lounge because he was checking out the day after I checked in, so we overlapped for a few hours. Some of the other hotel forums have similar stickys. In the United forum there is a meet up at the United club thread.

And of course there's the forum related to meeting up called Community Buzz. Get-togethers (DOs) can be as simple as hey I have a layover at ORD/who's around for lunch to the 14th Annual Brooklyn Reality tour or OzFest which are usually a weekend of organized events.

Community Buzz

I've gotten to meet many FTers over the years at DOs, and see them either at Dos, when I'm in their city or they're visiting mine, or at airports as we fly to our various destinations. Some I just know virtually as our paths haven't intersected in real life.

Cheers.

jr1202sr

This caught my eye from a previous poster earlier in the thread (from 2 years ago):


I have heard about the special perks at the Hermitage but cannot say anything more specific.

Anyone have any ideas/thoughts?

I will let people know when I arrive in June/July when I arrive. Let me know if anyone wants me to check on anything.