Citybox Tallinn — Restaurant in Tallinn

This is a budget, no-frills hotel, and is priced accordingly. The room and facilities overall were more than adequate during my stay in Tallinn.||The check-in process was simple, and required no interaction with any humans. Instead, you are emailed a code for check-in (provided you book on the official website). Upon arrival, you type the code in the check-in machine in the lobby, pay for the room and then the machine prints out a hotel room key for you. This was all logically designed, straightforward to use and efficient. It took me about 3 minutes to finish the whole process, which was impressive.||Indeed, throughout my whole stay I only saw 1 member of hotel staff, from housekeeping. Your room will not be cleaned during your stay, but that was fine as I was only staying a few nights, and this is mentioned on their website.||In my double room, the size was OK - not a large room by any means, but fine again for a few days. The design philosophy is one of an industrial/minimalist aesthetic, in keeping with the reliance on modern technology in the hotel. The room was clean, had a desk and mirror and looked smart. There's no TV (again, this is clearly mentioned on the website) but the wifi is fast enough to stream online. The windows are floor-to-ceiling, but there is no glass frosting so in theory anyone from the street could see into your room, so using the large curtain is necessary for privacy. This is a little bit annoying, but on the other hand the room also got very warm from the sunlight when I opened the curtain. It's therefore a relief that the room has enough lighting and is not too dark with the curtain closed.||The bed was quite soft, and oddly in Estonia they provide two single duvets for a double bed instead of one double duvet. The heating/cooling system in my room worked fine, but it was very noisy so I did have to switch it off at night. No wardrobe is provided, but there are hangers on an open style rack. The room was quiet despite being quite close to the public communal areas.||The bathroom was modern, although the water pressure from the shower could have been slightly stronger, and I didn't like the towel rack being directly above the toilet. Otherwise it was functional and adequate. There are even some hooks to hang up your clothes, which isn't always the case even in fancier hotels!||There's no kettle/cups etc in the rooms; instead there is a kitchen on the 3rd floor with lots of paper cups/plates, and a sink to fill up your water. There's also vending machines that sell coffee and what looked like frozen ready meals. As my room was on the same floor, it was quite convenient, but perhaps a bit of a trek if you have a room on the other floors. TVs are also provided in the communal lounge.||As for breakfast, the hotel website does not offer a breakfast included rate; instead they give you a 10% discount in the hotel cafe, which is handy as the cafe was a bit pricey. The smoked salmon and eggs I had though were lovely though, especially the bread it came with. Personally I prefer that you can order what you want from the cafe menu and pay the appropriate price, rather than get lumped with an expensive breakfast buffet add-on, where you probably wouldn't eat most of the food available anyway. The service in the cafe was prompt for Estonia, where service is normally frustratingly relaxed.||Checking out was ridiculously easy: just insert your room key into the check-out machine and then you're all done. One final point - the glass lifts in the hotel are a nice touch and give a more premium feeling that you might not otherwise expect in a budget hotel.||Given the budget price and no-frills nature, there's nothing really significant to fault about this hotel. I thought it was completely fine for a short break and the efficiency of checking in and out is great. All the things that the rooms don't have are clearly specified on the website, so there shouldn't be any unforeseen surprises, and the communal kitchen makes up for what the room lacks. For the price I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the room and the design. I can't complain about the customer service as there wasn't any so to speak!||As for location, it's just outside the old town in Tallinn, but it's less than a 5 minute walk to the old town and also 5 minutes to the Rotermann Quarter which has lots of shops and restaurants. I thought the location was quite convenient overall. I would also imagine being outside the old town would mean that vehicle/taxi access is easier should you...

Well, after having booked hotels in dozens of countries on various continents, the award for the absolutely most unaccaptable place goes to Citybox Tallinn. Congratulations!

There is really nothing which makes this place being a "hotel", it is rather a youth hostel. The minimum criteria for being a 3*hotel (which is claimed on various sites) includes having a TV, having a daily room service and a reception. There are no TVs at all in the rooms, there is no room service (but you can book a paid one !!) and the "reception" obviously consists of 1-2 young people (probably student workers who are called "hosts" in their "concept") who can do nothing except to help with the self-service check-in, since the registration codes for the check-in won't even arrive if booked via a third party (for example expedia).

The rooms are ridiculous, there are no fridges in the rooms, the beds are around 80cm wide (prison sized bed - which is sold to booking agencies as "twin bed") where you need to try to not fall of during the night and there is also no possibility to get fresh air inside - imagine a room with no openable window which never had fresh air in its existence - and they have lots of them!

Instead, a fan is in the room for ventilating obvsiously non-fresh air. This all has absolutely nothing to do with a "hotel" and the idea of selling this as "minimalistic" is great, in fact however "cheap&inadequate" is the correct discription. It is really necessary to move the 80cm bed (without mattress but only an uncomfortable topper) next to the wall, so you cannot fall off the bed in both directions while you try to sleep at night with no fresh air.

Firstly, it seems to be some type of air regulation in the room which actually is not one, it shows permanently 24,6 degrees but cannot be instructed while it shows "set your desired temperature" - shall this be funny?

Since there is also no phone in the room, it is necessary to search some staff (as mentioned most likely student workers - this is also "minimalistic", right?) to complain about the situation, however they do not have any competences and are not informed about the branch at all. They are only allowed to sell upgrades (you need to pay 70 EUR to get a room with a window that can be opened). Asking them, what qualifies this place as a "hotel", they cannot answer this question, the only thing they know is that this place would be a Norwegian chain and that's it..

In the bathroom, there is one large towel for the whole stay - no room service.

There is no luggage rack or wandrobe in the room.

All these missing amneties - wandrobe, luggage rack, fridge, room service, TV, real(!) reception, guest room with fresh air circulation (!!!!) are self-evident for a 3* hotel while "citybox" claims that a fan for ventilating is already a "highlight" in their room which excuses non-openable windows, no fresh air-circulation at all and otherwise they believe that no service at all has to be delivered.

The name of this place includes "city center", what it is not, but outside of it and close to the harbor. The city center is 1km walk from this place..

After escalating the case, the only offer was to make a paid room change (now for 40 EUR). Great offer - being in another room of the same terrible hostel - and to pay for it.

I cannot recommend staying only one night in this place, the whole concept is ridiculous and has absolutely nothing to do with a "hotel", the realistic price for such a place is somewhere around 25EUR/night and the correct discription is "hostel". There are real hotels around which prices are similiar to this location.

On the day of my arrival, I tried to arrange with "Citybox" to shorten my stay and get refunded for the not used period, so I can check-in in a real hotel, however they declined that this would not be possible.

I will never step in a "citybox" again and can only suggest not to do so as well. The absolute best part of the stay here is check-out and I would not even stay in such place again even if I would be...

This was a great choice for my stay in Tallinn. A big factor was how easy it was to walk to the ferry terminal as I was getting an early ferry for a day trip. But it was also very easy to walk into the Old Town so it was perfect.

I checked in around 10pm and it was quick and easy.

The room was clean and tidy and everything was as expected. The wifi worked fine for me and i used it for general use and also streaming on occasion and did not get problem.

I would have appreciated a plug for the bathroom sink to be able to wash my face and not waste water.

the website said that your room was not cleaned during the stay and only at the end, which is fine by me, but unexpectedly someone did come in and do this on one occasion which i was suprised by and wish they had not as i'd have left the room in a bit more a tidy state. A sign to be able to put on the door to say 'do not disturb' would be appreciated as the staff do not waste their time on my room :-)

I found the surface of the floor covering a bit odd on the feet, especially with no socks on but not a huge deal! I understand its durable and probably easy to clean so serves a purpose and thats what i look for in a hotel - functional!

No breakfast on site was ok as you were offered a discount at several places using your key card.

It was out of season (mid March) so I don't know if the peace and quiet would be replicated all times but it certainly was for me. it also meant it was a good value price as well.

When I went to check in my room had been upgraded which was welcomed, but not a sway in my review as it wasn't that important to the experience.

there is a kitchen area with coffee machine (pay for) and lounge area but i did not use it.

I had small amount of contact with staff and it was fine when I did.

The luggage storage was easy to use and very appreciated. I got the storage key from the office, but i think you could create the storage key when you checked out too as self service.

There was only one downside that I think other reviews have touched on - I had a window so was able to ventilate the room, but the air system I don't think would have been very good in summer as for cooling it did not go very cold so i'm not sure how it could function as air conditioning. This did not affect my stay and i didnt need the heat either but just a comment. This downside also included the bedding. it was comfortable but I don't know if the matress or duvet were a synthetic material but it seemed to make me very hot, even though the room did not seem hot. It was a bit strange. I did not report this to the staff as I did not see what they could have done about it as it is a uniform product used across all sites. I just found it very odd.

apart from this detail, i don't think i could fault anything about the experience, given i had read reviews and had an idea of what to expect. i would look to stay with this brand again if the location and price...