Hotelli Salpa — Hotel in Lappeenranta sub-region

Beautiful nature in this place, smell of cigarettes in reception, mold smell in the room. Good breakfast and friendly service. The hotel is 25km from the airport.

⭐⭐⭐ Outdated Reception but Renovated Rooms with a Beautiful Lake View

Salpa Hotel, located in Luumäki, left us with mixed feelings. First, the reception and lobby are quite outdated. The area where the reception, bars, and restaurants are located is connected, and unfortunately, there was a strong smell of cigarettes because some visitors were smoking and drinking on the terrace. Since the door to the terrace was open, the cigarette smoke filled the inside area, which was very unpleasant—I even started coughing due to the strong odor.

Our room was renovated, clean, and tidy, but unfortunately, there was a noticeable smell of mold, which was disappointing. Additionally, the housekeeping could have been better—there was an old yogurt left in the fridge, and the table on the terrace was covered in cigarette ash. The hotel seems to cater heavily to smokers, with ashtrays placed everywhere.

On the positive side, the hotel is conveniently located right by the road and stretches along the lake, offering beautiful views from the rooms. We were very happy that there were hardly any other guests at the hotel, giving us peace and quiet.

However, one particularly disappointing experience was when I left the spa in a white robe to enjoy the view of the lake and watch the birds flying by. Instead of a peaceful moment, I was disturbed by the loud laughter and chatter of men drinking and smoking on the terrace. The smell of cigarettes was overwhelming and ruined what could have been a relaxing experience.

One thing I particularly appreciated was that the staff served us in Russian, which was very nice, and they offered us breakfast at a time convenient for us.

Overall, despite the unpleasant smells of cigarettes and mold, I would give the hotel 4.5 stars if that were an option, but since Google Maps only allows for full stars, I’ll give it 5. I just wish the atmosphere around the hotel, especially on the terrace, was more serene and enjoyable, without the smell of cigarettes and noise from local residents.

We stayed in a Deluxe Double Room with a lake view. The room provided white robes, but there were no slippers (though they were in the list), no kettle, no tea, or any similar amenities, so it’s important to bring some snacks and drinks with you. Otherwise you will get only tap water after 19:00. We brought tea in a thermos and some yogurt, which came in handy. The room also had a refrigerator and a Panasonic air conditioner, which added to our comfort...

Everything (excepting one thing) was fine: food was tasty, barkeeper was welcoming, views were calming and the weather was sunny and warm, and their own charging ports for electric cars (we used one). But below you can find a disappointing story. So having breakfast in the morning we decided to stay 1 night more. Booking website showed us available rooms for the same price, and we decided to book directly with the reception after breakfast and it was a great mistake. We met Viktoria K. at the reception desk and she said that there are no available rooms for that price. When we showed the website and ask if we can book with the website she said that in the case we book there she will cancel our booking. But she said that she can give us another type of room for a higher price. By the way - another type of room also was available at the booking website but for a lower price but Viktoria said that she will cancel it. We asked barkeeper who was near to help us, because we thought that it was some misunderstanding (such an unbelievable situation really). And only when the barkeeper (thanks to him) joined our conversation she said that she is not going cancel our booking if the price there is better for us. But during all that talks she was working with a laptop and (!) when we got the confirmation that she wouldn’t cancel our booking and finally started booking with the website - oops - both rooms were unavailable. Viktoria just blocked them, but to us she said that somebody was faster and booked them already. Fortunately there are a lot of nice and cozy places at Finland, so we booked another one. After we moved to another hotel we decided to check the web site for Salpa hotel and (ta-daaaam) found that these 2 rooms were unblocked already and still available. Why did she did this? Now I understand that perhaps Viktoria wanted some tips. I have met such practice in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, but never - ever at Scandinavian countries and in Finland...

Lake view rooms are great value, view is fantastic, lake right down the hill (max 1 min walk), 5 to 8pm pool and saunas opened too - nothing big, but enough for kids to splash if weather not suitable for lake swim! Breakfast is simple, but still enough to get everyone fed (don't expect anything fancy). Guest kitchen available, so can cook your own meal/make tea, etc if wanting! Restaurant outdoor seating gas wonderful view to the lake, food was ok, but not...