Hilton Saint Petersburg ExpoForum — Hotel in Shushary

Stayed at this hotel as a tourist in May 2021 as a Diamond member. I received a pre-arrival e-mail from the management and could clarify on some remaining questions I had. Ksenya, the Reception Manager, made a great job with the pre-arrival e-mail and advising me on all my questions about my stay. I also have to thank for the nice upgrade I received upon arrival. ||||The Lobby and the entrance area were spotless as I expected it to be. I have received a warm welcome on my arrival and was offered a double deluxe room upgrade which I think was the best room the hotel has offered at the time. Maria, the Night Audit Agent was very helpful and caring every time I have approached her at the reception. She helped me to find my missing COVID PCR Test, contacted the airline I was flying with and made everything possible for my other arrangements. A big shout out to the Hiring Manager for finding such a pearl. ||||Due to Covid-19 restrictions, I did not get any opportunity to try out the pool, as it is closed for the time being. But looking at the pictures the pool area looks phenomenal. || ||Breakfast was perfect. Very friendly staff and a wonderful restaurant atmosphere. There are plenty of varieties on the warm buffet and salads. A young chef will make you a fresh omelette with your favourite toppings on request. I was always greeted by the young blonde host at the restaurant desk and she even remembered my name every time I came back for breakfast. What a great memory for guest names and their preferences. ||||The GRIL` s digital menu offers a great variety of Russian cuisine as well as modern and fresh dishes. Metro tiles, cubicles, open kitchen, Chesterfield sofas and Industrial Design decor makes you feel being somewhere in a stylish London bar in SoHo. || ||The Executive Lounge is located on the second floor and offers all the amenities you need for a short break and relaxation. You can work on the Mac and make print outs, as well as watch the latest news on TV. Or just read a book from the lounge library. The daily dinner and drinks service is offered between 6 and 8 pm and run by a professional Executive Lounge Manager. || ||The staff members were willing to go above and beyond to make guests feel welcome and safe. The security department is very well organised and always present in the lobby area. During the pandemic they will greet you in the lobby and make the temperature measurements. At the same time they will make sure no unauthorised folks are coming into the hotel. In addition there are guards patrolling around the exhibition area. You can feel very safe whilst staying at this hotel. || ||My ensuite double deluxe room was comfortable and equipped with high quality furniture and décor. The room had a panoramic view overlooking the outskirts of Pushkino Village in Saint Petersburg. On a clear and sunny day you could even see the GAZPROM tower at the Lakhta centre on the horizon. The room is quite spacious and the king bed was really comfy. The desk was really good as a working space with enough power plugs. The only thing I was missing were USB plugs. || ||The bathroom was clean and spotless. There was a massive rain shower and a bathtub. The hotel provides guest toiletries laid out the rack for guests´convenience. You could also find a speaker control right next to the toilet seat in the bathroom so you can listen to TV while you are getting ready. ||||The running of the hotel during the pandemic was professional, wonderfully executed and very much appreciated. I genuinely could not find any faults with the hotel or its excellent staff members. Regardless, if I came across with the shuttle driver, breakfast host, receptionists or the management, Everyone was delivering exceptional performance. || ||The only concern and warning I have to share with future travellers is transportation. When arriving at the LED Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg beware of all the dodgy guys standing in the arrival hall with their semi-professional made taxi licence lanyards offering you a taxi. They are not allowed to approach the customers, so they will whisper you: ”need a taxi ?” They will definitely rip you off and drive you in circles around the city. Mostly they are not authorized to transport people and ask horrendous prices at your final destination. Instead take a free shuttle to the Hilton hotel, which you can find at the end of the platform outside the airport building. Or take one of the authorized JANDEX taxis at the taxi stand. ||Alternatively there are some other public transportation links around: ||||Bus 39 will take you to the Moskovskaja Metro and back to the Airport. ||Bus 187 will take you to Expoforum from the Moskovskaja Metro Station, if you want to stay longer in the city and the shuttle is no longer available at night. || ||It felt great to travel again and to spend some relaxing days in this city. All in all, I really enjoyed my stay at Hilton Expoforum and I would definitely return there again. Just need to wait a little bit until the COVID restrictions are lifted and hopefully the Russian government introduces the visa free visits to Saint Petersburg again. I would highly...

My first visit was nice, but I cannot really say so about this other one. Long queuing time for the reception in the beginning, Next at the room, the room was nice and clean, but having a 3 minute shower almost caused an overflow, the sink did not work. I complained in the morning and it was to be fixed. Coming back from the Expo in the evening the sink was not done, the room was not cleaned, the wifi was not working. I went to the reception to ask for wifi, and for the sink to be fixed. I was told there is nothing wrong with the wifi and that I should do this and that to fix the sink myself. I asked the lady if she really meant that I myself with my bare hands would start cleaning the sink and she smiled nicely and said YES. You would really not expect that at a Hilton level hotel, would you? I told her that is not going to happen. So I did not get wifi, i did not get to the shower. The bed I did myself. One hour later I went down again. I explained to the receptionist that I really want the wifi and the sink done. She said that she cannot even phone and I said I know that, because you've run out of IP addresses and the only thing you need to do is to switch it off and on again. But as the people in the reception had a very poor English language and they did not have a clue about what I was talking about, I could not get any help. I got a plummer anyhow and the sink fixed. The wifi started to work around midnight when people were going to sleep and turned off their connections. The rest of the time was OK until the last morning when a young guy from the staff literally run on me when leaving breakfast. It hurt a bit and a couple of days later at home the blue marks started to show on the whole left side of my body. So.... what can I say? What should I think? Extremely bad luck this time and a staff that was helpless...

I recently stayed here for a work conference. The Hilton offers a free shuttle to/from the airport, but the taxi ride was super cheap (