RA Nevsky 44 — Hotel in Palace District

It was really strange what happened. We had 2 bookings at this hotel. So after the first one we left the hotel (17th Aug) for a short trip to Moscow and I personally told to the receptionist that we are going to be back the next day for our other booking. When we came back the new receptionist gave us the key to our old room. All good till now. (18th Aug)||Problem was that there were other people having that room now. So we went back to the receptionist. She apologized and told us that she cant find our second booking and that it was canceled. We had a small discussion with her during witch she said that it was our fault that we didn't answer the phone (roaming was not activated) and also that we didn't gave them a Russian number (that we obviously didn't have).||We ask her to call the manager and told her that we confirmed that we returned and she told us "good luck in finding anyone at this time, they are all asleep". In general she was quite rude and she had no customer service skills that evening. The previous day we met her she was nice and helpful, she gave me a band-aid. So I guess she had a bad day. Still...||We told her that we will write a bad review on Booking.com and at this point she calmed down and stopped screaming at us and she gave us a room. At the end she told us that it was our fault and that it was in our interest to have a roof over our heads. And not to do it next time. So they canceled our booking and made a new one somehow. So at 12 in the night I received the mail confirming the cancellation. On Booking.com it appears as if we didn't show up.||At 8 pm that evening I had an other mail from Booking.com customer service telling us that the hotel is trying to contact us. We had no internet access at that point and we saw the mail at night at the hotel.||After that evening they calmed down. The elevator was still broken after 5 days. The hotel is at the 3rd floor. Also the stairs are a mess.||staff on the reception was inexperienced and rather trying to argue than to help.||Breakfast is horrible.||Very thin doors, making the rooms sound-transparent||Short beds||Water in the shower does not always come with good strength||Internet is horrible, there is internet only at the reception||The hotel is located on the 3 floor, and when the lift got broken, administration said it was not their business to help. Receptionist looked at us weirdly when we asked about possible help or discount.||||||||||+ location|| clean rooms|| The last day, the man at the reception(Mr. Frolov) was really really nice, he ordered a taxi for us and helped us with the luggage down the stairs, he was the only one with...

I cannot recommend this hotel. We booked a double room and paid roughly 80 Eur per night. The interiour was rather bleak - I guess you'll have to be into 1980's socialist aesthetics to really feel at home here. The wardrobe had two coat hangers only, sheets are changed only every 3 days. The bathroom was windowless and had a strong mouldy smell. Kind of cool - the bathroom featured an old Russian jakuzzi - the airflow was rather weak and the water green, but heck... Summer in St Petersburg can be very warm and the room had no air conditioning, so we needed to sleep with an open window, some noisy machine went on every 5 minutes or so, so it wasn't exactly quiet. The TV worked OK, Russian channels only. WiFi was free and perfectly alright. The breakfast consisted of coffee powder in a plastic cup (get the hot water from the hall), a toasted sandwich (two sliced of wheat bred with processed cheese and some kind of processed meat) and a very sweet "torta". ||The girl at the reception works 24 hours in a row - tough job. The dark-haired one spoke decent English and was very friendly.||The most positive aspect is the location: the hotel is located right on Nevsky prospect, the city's spectacular main drag. A subway station is right around the corner.||Considering the fact that we only stayed in the hotel to sleep for six hours or so per night, we could have made choices worse than the Nevsky 44. But it's definitely sub standard and 80 Eur...

Stayed 2 nights here and had nothing to complain about. Hotel entrance is located in the inner yard of Nevsky 44.Elevator brings you to the reception floor. Reception is 24 hours (I arrived at 2 o'clock at night). Staff at reception is polite and professional. Not sleepy at all. Room was located on the same floor and had almost everything I needed: good clean bed, well isolated window, bathroom with all taps working, hot water comes in 2 seconds after you turn it on. Slippers, bathrobe, modest amenities, etc. In the corridor there is a boiler with cold and hot drinking water. In the kitchen one may take some tea bags, warm up the food. Fridge is in the room. Well, nothing is shining and not really new, but very clean, well maintained and really worth the price I paid for all that (32EUR). Wi-fi is fast and easy to connect. Air is a bit dry and too hot, but you can always open window to get some fresh air. ||Location is wonderful: center of everything. Taxi from airport taked 15 minutes and costs 500RUB(7EUR). Breakfast is modest, but absolutely edible: toast with ham&cheese, porridge, chocolate muffin, butter, coffee, tea - all that is always included in the room price. Definitely not the place for a gorgeous journey, but suits a traveller who wants to see the city, stay warm, safe and...