4.6/5Outstanding23 Reviews
0.23km from Local Kebab
So my brother and I stayed at the Taleon for 4 nights in September. The rooms were solid, but the hotel fell short in many other categories. Location: pretty decent. It's close to many of the main sites in city center. That being said, there are tons of hotels with good if not better location. Rooms: solid. Clean and comfortable. Nice bathrooms with good showers. A/C was available. Service: not great in my opinion. Here's an example. I asked the concierge Natalia to book us a train reservation. It's a known thing that booking through an agency will increase the ticket price by about 50%. I knew exactly what train I wanted, so I asked her to book through rzd.ru - basically book direct. She apologized and told me they always go through an agency because it's easier. I'm sure it is easier for the concierge. But as a patron of the hotel, I expect the concierge to work on my behalf not just do the easiest thing and pass cost to me. Not a big deal, but a good example of the level of service we received at the Taleon. Of note, our hotel in Moscow clued me into booking direct and advised me not to go through an agency because of the price hike. Bar: pretty bad. Something about the configuration along with a big gaudy flat screen stuck in the middle of the place makes for a terrible place to enjoy a drink. Front desk: mixed reviews. Some were nice and some were just adequate. My brother dropped off some postcards to be mailed with postage already attached. He still had to pay 100 rubles/postcard. I am still blown away by that. Spa: standard massage. Nothing special. The lead up to the massage was awkward for many reasons. Here's an example. Once we booked, they told us to change into robes in our rooms and then come back to the spa. I asked if they had some dressing rooms, and the spa reception confirmed, I needed to change in my room first. I'm not shy, but it was weird considering they have dressing rooms. In short, the Taleon was totally adequate, but in my opinion, we paid a premium for subpar service.