SO/ Санкт-Петербург — Hotel in Адмиралтейский округ

My star rating corresponds to how many stars this hotel should be holding given my experience. For such an incredible location, lots needs to be done to improve the business. The hotel is currently overpriced for the perceived value.

For starters, it would be great for your customers to know you charge an additional deposit for the stay. No information about this is mentioned in any of the follow-up emails I received from SO Sofitel.

It's a nice touch that, unlike other hotels, you offer guests welcoming complimentary snacks and soft drinks. This notion loses it's importance, however, by the absent mindedness of some of your room service staff. We only had a single disposable toothbrush provided throughout our stay. The coffee, tea, spoons and sugar were never restocked. The floor near the entrance of the room was never mopped, leaving dirty stains left by melting snow from winter shoes.

As noted by many other guests, there is poor sound proofing. There is a whole menu of sounds audible too. You can hear everything from the guests next door, footsteps in the corridor to even the elevator sounds (10 metres away from the room). After complaining about this at the reception, I was offered ear plugs, which is a solution of course, but it does not address the problem at its source. The front desk manager smirked at the end of our stay regarding   this complaint when I repeated that I couldn't sleep because of the noise. Unfortunately, this is a significant issue indeed.

I always appreciate a hotel that is eco-friendly. Your suggestion to re-use towels is great, as is in other hotels too. Why have plastic teaspoons though? That contradicts your eco-friendly stance. They were also bad quality as they melted in tea. Yikes.

As for your spa, I never felt more unwelcome to be in a place. Any questions asked there have been met with an awkward attitude. It made me feel idiotic. Why pay someone to feel idiotic? The sauna was not operational as it was cold, and when I alerted the staff, I was told to wait as it "should automatically heat up". This naturally suggests it was off. We were considering to book massages, but changed our minds after this treatment.

For a chic hotel, I cannot say I felt special treatment. Me and my wife preferred the hotel we stayed in right before SO Sofitel, even though it was nowhere near the perfect location of your hotel, 4 times cheaper and just 4 stars. The entire experience left us looking forward to our flights back to Moscow, really.

I have read your previous responses to other guests' reviews, and I would like to stress that for a 5-star hotel smack in the centre of Saint Petersburg, the problems outlined are far from minor. Your staff should be providing exceptional guest services that create wonderful memories. I hope you take my feedback seriously and use this opportunity to improve the future...

Where do I begin? My boyfriend booked a Russian Holiday to celebrate my 30th birthday. We stayed 3 days 2 nights at So St Petersburg and it is the “best birthday ever”. Arrived as early 10am and they accommodated our early check-in. To our surprise without even presenting our identification, the Guest Relation Manager already recognized us. The check-in was as informative as possible. It’s really a plus point for us to converse with someone in English. Arseney (still not sure with the spelling) is the most humble, kind, helpful and professional person we have ever encountered during our entire trip. From PCR testing, restaurant reservation, theater booking, showing around the hotel and even special arrangements to access the rooftop for photo-shooting, he made it all possible. No words can express how thankful we were to have had known him. Thank you for your patience and service. Well as much as I wish to speak highly of him, there are other member of the team we wish to appreciate, Yara the Concierge, the breakfast staff, the greeter at entrance and the guy at the lobby bar(sorry I didn’t get their names). We didn’t use the housekeeping service as what we usually prefer when we travel nevertheless thank you for delivering our request so promptly. We find it difficult to navigate the AC so we ended up sleeping every night with balcony door slightly open. But nothing to bother. Room is well furnished, equipped, clean and tidy. ||Oh. Bdw, of course how can I forget, thank you for such a lovely birthday surprise. Our room is decorated as if I am hosting a party in the room. Thank you soooo much! ||Now, for traveler. If you are planning to visit the country. My only reminder is to secure PCR test result which is valid within 24hrs before you book for any indoor activities such as theater or museum. We missed the hermitage as out PCR is expired.. we could’ve known. |Please check the regulations before booking any ticket.||To So St Peterburg team..once again thank you very much. from your fellow Heartist.. until...

The customer service upon arrival was excellent with the reception staff accepting a deposit in Euros as I'd arrived late into St Petersburg and was unable to exchange my money. They even gave me directions to the nearest exchange that opened on Sunday!||The following day however was very disappointing. I was told that I had to pay more than the booked price, then was ridiculed as my eyesight problems had me struggling to count the money. I have no problem with young people in general, but many lack the solid customer service skills required to work in a 5 star establishment.||Then there was the situation with breakfast. The hotel has a restaurant next door which has an entrance to it within the hotel. On the first morning I naturally assumed our breakfasts, which were part of the booking, were served in this restaurant. We had a lovely breakfast there and left unchallenged as expected. The following morning we did the same only to be presented with a bill for that breakfast and the one from the previous morning. They then told us that breakfast for hotel guests was taken on the 8th floor! I wasn't told this and there was no literature regarding this in our room.||The rooms are excellent, the views while eating breakfast on the 8th floor are spectacular, but the management and customer service at this hotel is sadly lacking.||Try the other 5 star...