GRAND POET by Semarah hotels — Hotel in Riga

I arrived at the hotel at 11 am and was welcomed by a friendly receptionist who spoke excellent English and checked me in quickly. I had informed the hotel in advance of my early arrival and was happy to find that they had a room ready for me at this hour.||The room was nicely decorated and felt fresh and impeccably clean. It was in very good condition, but not very large. Sizewise, it was not a five-star room, and the view of the hotel garbage bins in the inner courtyard was, well, not very nice. But the bed was comfortable, there were sockets by the bed, the AC was effective. The room came with a safe and two 0.33 L water bottles as well as a desk and chair, and an armchair. There was no sitting area, not even a coffee table, because there was not enough space. The curtains did a good job keeping the room dark after sunrise. Wifi was free, fast, unlimited, reliable and easy to use.||The bathroom came with a bathtub that filled up rather slowly, and a handheld as well as an overhead shower with okayish water pressure. Toiletries were single-use, which I very much appreciate for hygiene reasons: hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, body lotion. There were bathrobes and slippers as well, but no dental or shaving kits, as would be customary in a five star hotel. The bath towels felt thin and cheap, which was a letdown.||Do note that the hotel consists of several historical buildings and the long hallways come with a few steps along the way. If steps are a problem, make sure to request a room with step-free access.||Breakfast was served in the breakfast room on the 1st floor from 7 to 10:30. It was busy but not overly so. Sadly, they did not offer eggs Benedict anymore, which I had looked forward to. While the hot items were basic, there was a wider array of cold items, such as good quality gravlax, cheeses, lots of breads and several sweet bakery items. Nothing was over the top, but overall the breakfast was still nice and I would say that for a European city hotel, the spread was above average. Everything was self-serve, including coffee from a machine.||The restaurant was closed during my stay.||The spa in the basement was open from 7 am to 10 pm and free of charge for hotel guests. There was a nice 15-metre swimming pool that was not busy at all, as well as a jacuzzi, a steam room and saunas. The spa receptionists were very friendly and accommodating.||I liked the location of the hotel. There is a park opposite the hotel, and the old town is right behind the park, a five-minute walk away. The walk from the airport bus stop took about 15 minutes. Central Riga is not large so you will be able to walk everywhere.||While the hotel is definitely above an average four star property, do not come here expecting full five star luxury to avoid disappointment. Considering the price I paid, 127 EUR/night including the city tax and breakfast, I still found it to be excellent value overall and will not...

We stayed at the Grand Poet for 7 nights (December 27, 2024 to January 3, 2025) and our experience is a mixture of happiness and disappointments.

The + : It’s location is very good and has a nice view on a parc; it’s at walking distance of all nice things to do in Riga : Christmas Market, Central Market, Old Town, KGB museum etc..). The hotel is very well kept, clean and quiet. Housekeeping does a great job.

The +/-: The breakfast offers a large range of all kinds of food but it is 100% self-service…. Where is the difference between a 5 star hotel, a 4* or a 3* if no service at the table is offered? Usually, at least all beverages are brought to the table. Why so little service when the client pays the price for a 5* hotel ? Service is what makes the difference… no ?

The - : When we arrived, there was no one to help us with the luggage and the welcome at the reception was really cold and unpersonal. Our room was really large but cold in all ways (no heating and dull/dark decoration). We were sent to our rooms with our luggage to deal with and, after unpacking, we left the room to go walking. When we came back, the room was still very cold… why? Because when we removed the card from the electricity box, it cut the light but the heating too!!!!!!!!!! (in December in Riga!!) We froze all night in this large un heatable room! The next day, we learnt our lesson, left a card in the electricity box and when we came back in the afternoon, it was a little better but still cold. The tiled floor in the bathroom was frozen and when we mentioned it, we were told there is floor heating and the switch is in the bathroom. Had they accompanied us the room like a proper 5 star hotel, they could have explained that then ! We asked to change room and that is when we finally met a very kind lady from the reception (the trainee as per her badge) who really help us and found us a lovely romantic room (519) we managed to keep nice and warm! We downgraded ourselves but it was worth it (even if the hotel did not do a gesture on the final bill since it was our decision… decision we had to take because of their heating system). The rest of the receptionist do not listen and couldn’t care less. I.e: I asked for an extra bottle of flat/still/no gas water (I used those three words) and got sparkling water. Not the end of the world but again… no proper attention to the client.

The SPA is tiny, there are only two long chairs and when we arrived one day at 4.00pm, the pool and jacuzzi area were jammed, messy (towels, bathrobes and plastic shoes everywhere) and noisy. You can only access a relaxing area if you buy a SPA treatment.

So, our conclusion is not to stay in “chain 5 star hotels” anymore because family held hotels offer proper service and much more attention...

This hotel had some problems mainly the air conditioning and heating system. The hotel decided to turn off the air conditioner and from what I've heard from somebody I swam with the heater. A hotel with no air conditioner and heater because they're too cheap to pay the bill officially drops this down to a four-star hotel. Also I had a front facing room so it was a little warm and the only thing to do was to open the window which kind of brings in bugs and dust. Breakfast was good and I actually like my front facing room of the park but the floor/ carpet was kind of Dusty and so is the furniture in the room. This would not have been the case had they put screens on the window or at least a clear White curtain before the fancy curtain to keep airborne particles out of the room. The management told me they turned off their air conditioner because it's getting cold but there is global warming and it was September and I had a room that hit the sun all day so it was kind of warm for a few hours and then it got cold. I would stay here again but there's definitely room for improvement. Also if you get a courtyard room it basically looks like you have a view of a prison courtyard nothing colorful except for Soviet type looking brick. Ask for room facing the park and pray that they turn on their air conditioning and heating. Any hotel over $100 a night should have automatic air conditioning and heating especially if it's in their ad. The people at the front desk were in training and they really couldn't recommend me a restaurant and one of them was quite flippant about where I should eat. I think that the Hotel trainees should have somebody supervising them. One gentleman had tattoos all over his body and it didn't look very professional at least wear a long sleeve shirt . I would 80% stay here again but there's definitely room for improvement here. When I complained about the cleanliness of my room they did send the main end too just the furniture and a vacuum the floor which was desperately needed. Also I would advise the hotel with the air conditioning and heating be used by...