The Moscow Savoy hotel is a 5 star building in a great location but operated as a 2 star hotel. Its a grand building in a rocco style, the restaurant has marble floor, ornate mirrored ceiling, floor to ceiling windows, elegant French style furniture, gilt chandaliers, a lovely fountain – & then when a guest asks for tea – teabags are dropped on the table & you have to go & find some hotwater yourself.
The staff are a disaster with no concept of service standards – the reception staff were pleasant although not particularly helpful or knowledgable, ie they no idea what was happening with the annaul Moscow Day celebrations that were happening NOW. The bar was soulless, the barman had next to no English & spent most of the time out back chatting to his mate & then charged £10 for a beer.
But breakfast was the worst – staff ignore arriving guests, no smile, no welcome & no suggested seating. They do not offer tea or coffee but stand guard at the machine. They only bring coffee if you can catch their eye (which is very hard) and you have to ask every time & they always seem surprised that you should want tea or coffee with your breakfast.
The food quality is very low, the cheapest cereal (chocolate drops in the museli), cheap fatty bacon & awful sausages but the scrambled egg slime was the worst commercial scrambled egg ever – I actually spat it out. If you are later arrival for breakfast there will be little left to select from as they don't top up empty containers.
And the awful Musak playing in the lifts and restaurant is more properly suited to Woolworths or an old peoples home.
The best staff are without doubt the cleaners & house maids as everywhere is clean & tidy. The room was spotless and the attractive marble bathroom was always fresh & clean. There were high ceilings and large windows & my room had an elegant look but it was somehow cold & soulless.
There was quite a nice basement swimming pool, which was completely empty – probably because its so hard to find & I had to go back to reception twice to get the directions clarified.
The hotel location is good, very near the infamous Lubyanka KGB headquarters but to be fair its also just a short walk to the Bolshoi theatre, Red Square & the Kremlin.
So don't let the name Savoy mislead you into thinking it has anything to do with the grand Savoy in London & there are plenty of better places to stay in Moscow.
