Hotel Gagarinn

I enjoyed the visit. We used the third floor for an IELTS exam with around 100 people, and it was comfortable. The corridors were clean, the atmosphere was pleasant, and the restaurant looked good. I didn’t stay overnight, so I can’t comment on the rooms or service. Parking is the one drawback. It gets packed, and even with the first two hours free, you might not find a spot in the parking area. A bit of a post-Soviet legacy. Otherwise, it’s fine.

We were six people in two rooms on the eighth floor, and had three good points and three problems with Gagarin hotel. The rooms were neat and had everything we needed. The restaurant food was tasty and reasonably priced, and our family enjoyed both breakfast and lunch. The location is convenient too, near Arcadia embankment and fairly close to the beach. A taxi to the city center takes about 15 minutes. At night, nearby parties kept things loud until around 1 or 2am, making it hard to sleep. In both rooms there was a disgusting smell of cigarette smoke in the evening, apparently coming through the air-pile in the toilet. I can only guess whether it came from adjoining rooms or the casino on the same floor. We’d come from another city and trusted the hotel, so when we hurt a leg and asked the reception administrator where to get an X-Ray, it was frustrating that she just told us to use Google and didn’t even try to help. The next morning, at breakfast, she hurriedly asked for our room number to check if breakfast was included, without greeting us. It wasn’t included, and we paid without a problem, but her manner was unfriendly. The barman and waiter, though, were pleasant.

The hotel has a modern look and rooms are reasonably priced in winter. There’s a table by the window with good light if you need to work. The bed linen was clean, and the rooms were clean too, though the floor wasn’t spotless, so use the free slippers. Sound insulation is only average. You can hear guests on other floors if they talk loudly.

The room was awful, with a very bad smell coming from the bathroom, and the hotel was dirtier than any of the 1000 hotels I’ve stayed in around the world. I didn’t believe the reviews until I saw it myself. The reception staff were indifferent, disrespectful, and treated guests badly. There’s a person meant to carry bags who was extremely annoying, asking for money and bothering people at the entrance. Is that a baggage clerk or a beggar? It felt like the staff were begging guests for money, and there was no manager to address this farce. This hotel isn’t worthy of a star. I’ll tell my friends and post about it online.