Нормальный отель с "минусами". Normal hotel with some cons.

To be honest, looking at the sad photos of rooms on the hotel website and reading reviews about drunken guests from Finland, I expected the worst. If my husband and I were traveling alone, we would not even look in the direction of the Metropol. However, in honor of the "round date" of my birth, it was decided to go to Tallinn in the company of close friends, and the financial issue came to the fore, and staying in this hotel turned out to be the most economical.
The flight and accommodation in the "Metropol" were booked 4 months before the trip through the website http://travel. airbaltic. com, and cost us only 193 euros / person (flight Kyiv-Riga-Tallinn-Riga-Kyiv + 3 nights in the "Metropol" with breakfast + 1 free baggage piece / person, for which "Boltiki" usually require 20 euros on top ).
Monthly transfers and changes in departure times initiated by AirBoltik, a colorful 20-minute connection in Riga is the topic of a separate entertaining story, but I will say right away that everything ended well, albeit a little "nervously" : )

Let's return to the description of the hotel. In "real life" everything turned out to be much more fun than in the photo. The hotel looks decent, the lobby and rooms are clean and comfortable enough. The bathroom has underfloor heating. There is a hairdryer, mini-bar (empty fridge), TV. The rooms are decorated in a simple Scandinavian style. Beds with soft orthopedic mattresses. Despite the fact that we were accommodated in a smoking room - the smell of tobacco was not felt either in the rooms or in the hotel corridor (I am a non-smoker - I didn’t feel anything either). Cleaning and change of towels daily. Very, very, VERY responsive front desk!
: ) Unfortunately, most of the workers speak Russian "a little bit" which does not prevent them from understanding your requests and promptly responding to them (call a taxi, bring a vase, order a lunch package, etc. ) In the rooms and in the hotel lobby, it formally works Wi-Fi, but it is impossible to connect to it - the router is weak, however, you will not remain completely "torn off" from your favorite Internet: in the lobby (to the left of the elevators) there is a computer with access to the World Wide Web. The first 15 minutes of use is free of charge, this is quite enough to check the mail, the weather and even check in for the return AirBoltik flight by printing out boarding passes with the help of a friendly reception. Pathological human greed does not allow paying real money for virtual communication and automatically "dissolves" possible queues, which provides round-the-clock free access to a computer with the Internet: ).
Everyone writes about it, and I am no exception: GREAT LOCATION of the hotel in the design district of Rottermann! To the passenger terminal D of the seaport, from where ferries to Helsinki and Stockholm start - 15 minutes at a leisurely pace, about the same (or even less) to the gate and Viru Square, from where the Old Town begins, and there is also a large shopping center "Viru keskus", souvenir market "Viru turg", public transport stops, taxis, etc. In general, the first impression of the hotel was rather positive. There are really a lot of Finns in the hotel...as well as French and Italians. We arrived on the days of Catholic Easter, and the "Metropol" was literally packed with foreigners "to the eyeballs", in my opinion, we were the only Russian-speaking tourists in those days in the "Metropol".
Well, now "about the sad", about the little that can overshadow all the positive aspects of the "Metropol".

Firstly, this is a karaoke bar located on the ground floor of the hotel and is very popular with guests and residents of the Estonian capital. We were settled in room 216 in exactly above this same "Koskenkorva". Many hotels "sin" with poor soundproofing, but when our neighbors decided to indulge in love pleasures, they were practically not heard, because the Finno-Estonian song repertoire coming from the bar drowned out all possible night sounds. I will add that the karaoke bar is open daily until 3 am, and from 3 to 4 bar guests leave, slamming taxi doors loudly and joyfully under the window of room 216. In general, the first night I did not sleep at all, since watching with envy as a girlfriend, a teacher by profession, hardened by school trips with the class, peacefully snores on the next bed after putting on ear plugs.
The next morning we asked to be relocated, but alas, it was impossible due to the overcrowding of the hotel (with us, some French poor fellows with a "booking" reservation were sent to look for free rooms in a nearby hotel): (My wife and a friend got room 207, overlooking on the opposite side of the building. They were quite satisfied with the level of noise in their room : ).
The second "UzhOs" is breakfast. What is served for breakfast in the restaurant "Berlin" in the "Metropole" cannot be called food. It's not food - it's "protoplasm". Well, that is, edible, but not tasty. Some kind of oatmeal, scrambled eggs, fried fish mixed with sauce in a large vat (as for pigs in a barn), soy sausage, sausages, boiled eggs and sliced ​ ​ u200bu200bcucumbers - that's all the "menu". Not even potatoes! Oh yes! There are muesli and yogurt, there are fruits (only in diced form), instead of pastries - loose shortbread cookies of dubious freshness.
In general, the breakfast did not impress us, to put it mildly. Although the "capturists" chewed and did not frown, plentifully eating "food" with bread toasted in a toaster.
And finally, the third, biggest problem is drinking water. For the first time I come across the fact that even at the reception there is no drinking water in the hotel! The minibar is also empty, meaning you can't even buy water! I'm not talking about such a miracle of civilization as an electric kettle - don't dream, it doesn't exist. The breakfast restaurant closes at ten in the evening and there is no hot tea to drink. And this is in Estonia! Where did it snow during our stay in April! : ( The only place where you can try to quench your thirst is the same cheerful "karaoke bar". There, to the deafening sounds of the phonogram, you will have to stand in line of visitors, heated by cocktails and thirsty for other entertainment.

They are hypersociable and, not being embarrassed by language barriers and differences in builds, they can easily invite you to their room to "continue the banquet" (perhaps you're lucky; )). Since we arrived on holidays, the shops in the area either closed early or did not work at all. So there was practically no alternative to "karaoke" : (

So, in summary: when going to the Metropol Hotel, you should remember that this is a normal tourist class hotel. Clean, friendly staff and convenient location. Due to the low quality of hotel breakfasts, you can safely save on them (believe me, they do not cost 7 euros per day).
Drinking cold and hot boiled water is not available at the hotel, so take appropriate measures: take a water heater and immediately upon arrival buy several liter bottles of water from the nearby "Rimi" supermarket. If you find that the windows of your room overlook the "frontal" (main entrance) part of the hotel - immediately go down to the reception and demand a replacement number ...Or run to the pharmacy and urgently buy ear plugs! : )