Nevsky Grand Hotel — Local services in Palace District

We ended up at this hotel as part of our package, it was described as a three star hotel and had OK reviews so we didn't think to upgrade to a better hotel. We should have!||||The two stars are purely for the location, which is very central and waking distance to most sights, and for the staff, who were all perfectly pleasant.||||This place is not a normal hotel, and WAY below what you would expect from any other 3 star.||||Problems inclide:||-No obvious entrance, just a small door and a bell to ring. Makes it very difficult to find.||-No normal reception - just a tiny area at the bottom of some stairs, where staff appear to hide in a broom cupboard and emerge when needed (we discovered there is a reception desk and area upstairs, which is not in use) ||-Our room was tiny, with basic furniture from the 1970s or 80s. It was difficult to have room for your luggage and to stand up in the room at the same time.||-The room, and the bathroom, stunk of sewage for our entire stay||-The bathroom is tiny, stunk, and has a shower that barely works. The "Comfort shower" is about 30 years old, and the "comfort" jets are long since disconnected. The main shower head had almost no pressure, and the shower enclosure was not tall enough for me to stand upright||-The room we had was so tiny (with walls with very heavy staining of all kinds) because at some point decent sized rooms have clearly been split into more, smaller, rooms. I could hear noise and conversation from at least two other rooms||-The building is not being used as a normal hotel, it is to some extent divided into apartments, some of which appear to be private and have permanent residents - the "Hotel rooms" seem to be in the apartments not currently rented out||-The hotel does not have its own breakfast area - breakfast is in the basement of a different hotel, across the street. For breakfast, you leave your room, go down to street level, walk to the pedestrian crossing, go back on yourself on the other side of the street, walk down a little side alley, then go into a plain, unmarked door to the basement inside. The whole process is weird. The food inside is actually OK- but clearly aimed at domestic Russian tourists.||||Overall, this place is well located, but otherwise strange, not being run as a normal hotel, stinks, and is not worth the...

As part of the cruise ship package we chose this hotel (out of 2). It was conveniently located just of the Nevsky Prospect (Nevsky Avenue), very close to the Winter Palace. Walking distance to basically everything.||The entrance to the hotel does not look like a hotel entrance, and you have to ring a doorbell for the street door to open. After checking in you had a “fob” to use to electronically disengage the door lock.||At the time we stayed at the hotel they were under construction so the reception (normally on the 2nd floor) was moved to a crammed little space on the first floor next to the elevator. English speaking hotel staff. ||We had a modern room on the 7th floor (top floor) with skylights. We could see the Church of the Spilled Blood from our room. The bathroom was clean and modern. The mattress was a bit skimpy as we could feel some of the mattress springs. We heard no noise from anywhere during the night. There were no electric kettle to make tea or coffee, but it had a mini refrigerator. (There was a small market close by that sold wine.)||||The breakfast room was also undergoing renovation and the hotel had a space across the street in a basement room. The breakfast buffet had a good...

I arrived in st. petersburg with so much excitement. On my first day everything is very nice. Nice hotel and location, efficient staff admin, nice breakfast. On third day while going back from tourbus sightseeing, my wallet was stolen by a pickpocket just at the hotel main door. A gloomy day for a tourist like me. The staff patiently helped me and give advice how to go to police station and report the incident, and the rest is history. Thank you Mr. Denis (security), Cristina and Naya who were very efficient admin, and of course Oleg (who looks snub but turned out to be so helpful). Ive been to many places but so far you were the best team. You know the true meaning of "customer service". Nevsky Grand is very lucky to have you. You are all an asset to ypur company. God will reward your goodness. Someday we might meet again , and i will take the chance to return back your kindness. Keep up the good work, God...