Located in the prime district and historical heart of St Petersburg, W St Petersburg has the best of all locations.  It’s just behind the St. Isaac’s Cathedral and just a couple of blocks away from the prestigious Hermitage museum. And its neighbours include the famous Astoria Hotel and Four Seasons, which is just next door.

When my friend and I arrived at the hotel, the check in was fast. Ms Katya, the front desk staff, was clear on our hotel reservations especially when our stay was booked under both our names. She was both professional and friendly.  I was impressed with how she was aware of our tricky reservations, and she handled them very well.

We were given an upgrade to the Marvelous Room on the top floor. After a less-than-satisfactory stay at W Bangkok just a few months ago, W St Petersburg was a breathe of fresh air. I like the vault-looking door and also the baroque-inspired wallpaper and curtains. Although the bathroom boasts an open concept, it is definitely much well thought-out and executed compared to the risqué design of W Bangkok. One staff was appointed to bring us to our room and guide us through the different facilities in the room.  I gave the staff a perfect score.

Our room is on the top floor and it has a good view of the garden. I don’t usually like soft pillows but I still managed to fall asleep with the soft pillows in the room – must be that I was super tired from an 18-hour journey.

On the first night, it seemed as though the housekeeping staff had forgotten to turn down our room. When we notified the front desk the next morning, we were informed that we needed to tell housekeeping.  The front desk officer also speculated that the housekeeping might have left the room untouched because of the do-not-disturb sign was outside our door. But she was proactive and told us to contact the Whenever/Whatever desk should we require any assistance. Anyway, the do-not-disturb sign was not used for our room.  We did not to pursue the matter since it could be just an oversight.  After all, the experience had been satisfactory so far.

It was raining on the second day when we were at St Petersburg.  When we asked for an umbrella, we were told that the hotel has ran out of umbrellas.  The hotel was not even full! Despite the front desk staff’s best efforts to locate an umbrella for us, she advised us to get one from a bookstore few blocks away from the hotel.  And to get there, we had to walk in the rain.  Not a pleasant experience.  To her credit, she called the bookstore and ensured us that the bookstore has umbrellas.

When we returned to the room after our activities later that evening, the housekeeping had completed the turn-down service. This meant that housekeeping staff had entered the room twice.  But none of the staff noticed that they didn’t leave any toiletries in the bathroom.  We had to call for a new set of toiletries. Not good at all.  The housekeeping is definitely dragging the other staff’s best efforts to provide excellent service.

We tried the Mix Up bar at the Terrace.  The view is spectacular and it’s worth a visit.  But we wouldn’t recommend you to eat there.  We had a thin crust pizza (tomatoes, ham and mushroom) which costs 500 Rubles! And it’s no bigger than 6?.  The cocktails are equally expensive and averaged at about 550 Rubles per drink. My recommendation is to have the Russian Beer, Bathika No.7.  It costs only 250 Rubles. And it costs you another 15,000 Rubles if you were to take pictures with a DSLR camera because it was deemed more professional than a dummy camera! Fortunately, all the Mix Up staff are very friendly and that’s the only redeeming factor.

The gym is rather small with three cardio machines and a couple of weights machines.  And the hotel charges an entrance fee of €20 to use the pool!

On the whole, the hotel staff, with the exception of the housekeeping, are excellent.  They tried their best to pamper their guests.  However, the over priced drinks and food at Mix Up are pushing its guests to try the cafes and restaurants within the vicinity, which there are many. W St Petersburg definitely has to focus on its guests and start offering them food and drinks of good value.

W Saint Petersburg
6 Voznesensky Prospect, St. Petersburg, 190000 Russia