The new W St. Petersburg and the old Hotel National Moscow were our hotel picks for our long weekend in Russia. They are both part of the Starwood group but are very different hotels.
First up, the very new W St. Petersburg.
W St Petersburg room interior
The W was only open for 3 days before our stay and it was suffering from the minor issues that most new hotels suffer from. Nothing major was wrong but a few picky things like the curtains wouldn’t close all the way, no water or towels in the gym, nobody to greet us upon arrival and help with our luggage, long check in process, and a few other minor things.
The biggest complaint was trying to get a transfer to the airport. I had reserved a car the night before but I found out in the morning they didn’t order it. They called the taxi company immediately and said it would be there in 10 minutes. It was an hour later and the taxi still wasn’t there. The staff just kept saying it would be here soon. It wasn’t until I made a scene in front of a very full lobby that the manager got involved and ran out to a busy street and flagged one down for us. We made it to the airport on time but only barely.
Breakfast was also ridiculously expensive. $75 USD for french toast and an eggs benedict. They were very, very good but 75 USD… really??
Other than the few minor complains the hotel was very nice. Great location. Spacious and well appointed rooms. All very typical of W hotels.
Our next stay was at the Hotel National in Moscow.
Hotel National Moscow
This hotel has an amazing location overlooking the Kremlin and the Red Square. It’s also been around since 1903 so they have had time to work out the the new hotel issues the W St. Petersburg suffered from. The hotel has a lot of history and is decorated to an almost museum like quality. Lenin and many other communist leaders even lived here for a while.
We stayed in the new wing so we didn’t get to stay in Lenin’s room but it was still very nice. Take a look at the gallery to see some more pictures of the room.
Just beware of the breakfast. We found out after the fact that the breakfast buffet wasn’t included in the room charge. It turned out to be a shocking $50 per person for what was basically a mediocre continental breakfast. Ouch. There are a lot of cafes nearby that sell much more reasonable breakfasts. There is also a Mc Donalds near by just in case.
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