Navy Fleet Hotel   x Foreigners not accepted.   Phone: 7 (812) 550-3645

Egad! Another hotel with horrible conditions. As the Russians say, "Oo-jasna" (awful). They don't take foreigners.

The Neva Hotel   L   No website or email.  Phone: 7 (812) 278-0500

Rates: Single 1300 to 1800 rubles ($43.33 to $60); double 1800 to 2400 rubles ($60 to $80); luxury suite 3800 rubles ($126.67).

Location Rating: Good. Interesting old buildings are everywhere. Lots of local businesses.

Proximity to Metro: Good. They say Chernyshevskaya Metro Station is a 7 minute walk.

Lobby Appearance: Old, tired, and unimpressive.

Room Appearance: Even though every hotel in Saint Petersburg is dying for customers here in cold January, and business is so slow at all the hotels right now, they still chose not to show us a room. So we walked around and saw some open doors. I think the room quality varies from so so to kind of crappy. The hallways are dark and the wood floors creak as you walk across them.

Useful Nearby Businesses: There's a neat looking casino right around the block! Plus there are lots of stores and cafes around.

Hotel Restaurants: They have one that actually looks sort of nice. It was recently updated, and it probably is the nicest place in the hotel.

Other Amenities: Hmm... I don't recall any... because I don't think there are any.

Would I Stay Here? Hmm... if I was in a Survivor mood, wondering if I could endure maybe 7 whole days in a place like this, maybe I might try it. But this place would not leave me with memories to cherish.

Staff Speaks English? Only a little. And the one woman who knew some English was not confident in her English abilities. So communicating could be difficult here.

Comments: Very unimpressive entrance (Hey, buy a new door handle!). This place was built in 1863. It has a very interesting Victorian style staircase. This is the climax of your Neva Hotel experience. Once you leave the stairwell, your visual feast is over and now it is all downhill. Bye the way, that elevator looks scary. A super skinny elevator door that looks 50 years old does not give me a good vibe. That reception area was a downer to see. After walking into that room, my expectations were immediately lowered -- way down. They say most of their guests are foreigners, and I feel bad for them. "The Neva Hotel," what a nice and normal sounding name. But where is the river? You might think you have a river view from here. But it's two blocks away, and you can't see it from here. Tanya gives The Neva Hotel the thumbs down. Considering the low price and the good location, I still have to give it the thumbs down as well. I would really find it depressing to stay in a place like this.

Click here for a customer review of the Neva Hotel.

Neva Hotel Update: January 26, 2004. Oh my... The Neva Hotel has surprised me. After visiting the brand new Onore Mini-Hotel just down the street, I decided to try one more time to get a facility tour at the Neva. Of course, this didn't change. Again I was denied. But I made it by their security guy after I said I wanted to visit their cafe. It turns out the restaurant is quite nice in appearance. Then I snuck upstairs to see the corridor - oh my - they invested in their facility: newly carpeted halls, much better lighting, new ceiling, recent paint. I'm shocked! I imagine some of their rooms have been updated.

So it appears the Neva is not so bad now. However they still don't have a front desk person who speaks English. I upgrade this hotel to K

Okhtinskaya Victoria Hotel  J   http://www.okhtinskaya.spb.ru  Phone: 7 (812) 227-4438

Rates: Double $83, Luxury $150 to $190

Location Rating: Fair. The views are okay. It is situated along the Neva. The very unique Smolney Cathedral is right across the river, and it is quite an unusual sight. It has a good view of one of the bridges and plenty of Saint Petersburg's old buildings are around, but it is outside of the core of the city.

Proximity to Metro: Poor. Novocherkasskaya Metro Station is a 40 minute walk away. The good news is the hotel offers an hourly shuttle service to Nevsky Prospekt. The cost is 20 rubles (67 cents). The service runs from 9am until 8:30pm. Or you can walk east across the street, walk a block through an alley to the next major street and pick up the number 23 tram. It cost 4 rubles (about 13 cents). And it will take you to the metro.

Lobby Appearance: Clean

Room Appearance: The corridors and the rooms look fine.

Useful Nearby Businesses: There is a really inexpensive cafe on the first floor.

Hotel Restaurants: They advertise they have 2 restaurants. After looking at one, waiter Andrey sold Tanya on sampling dessert. We ended up ordering a meal and we both ordered the grilled salmon, plus the dessert. We had a nice view of the Smolney Cathedral. The atmosphere was very comfortable. The waiters were very professional and spoke English. And we were the restaurant's only customers. I thought the food portion was small in comparison to the price. The fish was tasty. The dessert did not meet our expectations. Meal cost was 744 rubles ($24.80) including their 10 percent service fee which was itemized on the check. We enjoyed our meal.

Amenities: They have a business center with internet access (but it was closed on this day and we didn't see it). Currency exchange can be done there.

Would I stay here?  Yes.

Staff Speaks English?  Yes.

Comments: Tanya and I both think this hotel is a good value. It's clean and it's got a little bit of class, yet the price is at a reasonable level. I recommend requesting a room on the 13th floor with a good view. Number of rooms: 290. Currently there is an art exhibition within easy walking distance featuring oil paintings of the city by "the area's best artists." Admission cost is 8 rubles per person.

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