Stayed: January 2025, 3 nights; I booked a Standard Room, received an upgrade to Premium Room due to VIP Status, and paid around 70€ per night, including the additional VIP discount and free breakfast; the average price off-season is around 70€ prepaid without breakfast and 90€ flexible with breakfast.
Location
The Radisson Blue Hotel Olümpia Tallinn is located not too far from the city centre. It can be reached within 20 minutes walking time. The hotel is situated on a main road, next to the Olympic Casino and the Stockmann Tallinn, a large department store within five minutes walking time. Public transport is close by and you can find the tram line 2 and 4 at Paberi. The airport bus stop is located at Tornimäe, which is about 600 meters from the hotel and about a 10-minute walk. From the airport, you can take bus number 2 and it will take about 20 minutes to get to the stop. Overall the connection to the airport and the city is very close by.
Check-In/Out and staff
The check-in and check-out procedure at the hotel was efficient and quick. Due to my status, I was able to check in a little bit earlier as the room was ready. The staff member on check-in was friendly, but not overly friendly. I was welcomed to the hotel and received my room key together with a drink voucher and my upgrade to a larger Premium Room due to my VIP status with Radisson. More information about the hotel facilities (like breakfast, gym, bar and restaurants, and Wi-Fi) at the hotel was not provided. The check-out procedure was quick, I was asked how I would like to pay for my stay and that was it. There were no questions asked about my overall stay and if everything was okay. In this aspect the hotel can improve further and train their staff members better, to ensure that more information about the hotel and its facilities is provided on check-in and that staff members take feedback from guests upon check-out.
Room and Wi-Fi
I booked a Standard Room at The Radisson Blue Hotel Olümpia Tallinn and due to my status, I was upgraded to a Premium Room with a size of around 40m². Within the room, you can find a large bed with two pillows on each side, which were not very comfortable to sleep well. You can see from the picture, that in this room two single beds were put together with a large mattress and a mattress protector on top. The mattress felt rather thin and was not overly comfortable. For a Premium Room, there should be a better bed, or at least a large King or Queen Size. The acoustic insulation in the hotel was very poor and you could hear every noise from other guests. There were a lot of families with kids staying in this hotel, and you could hear everything from other rooms. If you need to get work done from your hotel room, this can be an issue.
During my stay, the weather outside was very cold and the rooms were heated through a central heating system. In the winter time, the air conditioning is turned off so the room can get hot and feels sticky. However, it is possible to open the windows for fresh air, even in higher floors which is clearly a benefit.
In the Premium Room, you will find a sofa with a desk, the TV in the middle of the room, a nice working desk with a lamp and chair, a kettle to use to make tea and coffee, and also a Krups capsule machine to prepare an espresso. Overall the room feels large and spacious, especially if you have to stay inside for some time or need to get some work done. However, cleanliness needs to be improved as the sofa and work desk contained some stains and marks and also there is some dust in the room due to the carpet.
Upon arrival, there are two complimentary bottles of water provided and there is also a fridge with a stocked minibar available. The coffee and tea set offered English Breakfast and green tea with a cocoa drink. The Krups Espresso Machine has six Nescafe capsules including: 2x decaff, 2x ristretto, and 2x other strength 4. During my whole stay, there was no room cleaning provided, it was only available upon request. The working desk is spacious behind the minifridge with a large lamp and chair, but unfortunately, the chair and the table were not very clean. The hotel only provides a small pencil and a small notepad, which is not sufficient if you need to make any notes. The sofa in the room is not very comfortable to sit for a longer amount of time and as mentioned earlier it was not very clean. However, the TV and the channel selection were excellent. You will find plenty of international TV channels including several sports channels. Another great feature is, that you can use the TV to check your current hotel bill, so there are no surprises later.
The Wi-Fi connection is free and the speed was good enough to do some work and watch videos. The speed was average around 25-30 Mb/s. It was decent, however for a business hotel or premium rooms and guests, there should be an option for premium internet. Overall the connection and the signal was strong, I had no issues on a higher floor.
Bathroom and Amenities
The bathroom has two doors. One is located at the entry side of the room, the other door is near the bed. So you can easily access the bathroom. There are two big sinks and overall the bathroom is an old-style bathroom. There is no modern shower, only a bathtub with a shower and a glass door, which is very high and difficult to access. You will find only basic amenities, like shampoo, shower gel, a tissue box, and towels. Since this was a premium room, there were also bathrobes and slippers provided and everything else had to be requested.
The floor of the bathroom can be very slippery, especially after taking a shower, so it’s good to be careful. The water pressure was very good, and the water was hot and it was enough to regulate the temperature. This worked pretty well. Unfortunately, there was only one roll of toilet paper provided and the second roll was not restocked upon arrival. This should be checked by housekeeping more carefully since room cleaning is only upon request.
Food and Beverage
The hotel offers a restaurant where you can enjoy lunch, dinner, and breakfast. During my stay, I only had breakfast at the restaurant. Overall the food and beverage selection at the breakfast is very good, however, the breakfast can get very crowded during certain times. Unfortunately, I could not take any pictures since it was very busy during my stay. There are plenty of seats, but you should still be prepared for waiting times if the hotel is fully booked.
The hotel breakfast is served at the restaurant on the second floor of the hotel. The breakfast times are from 06:30-10:00 during the week and 07:00 until 11:00 on the weekend. Some tables near the window can offer you some views. Overall the selection is pretty wide, however, if you stay a couple of days there is not much of a variety of food items that are changed regularly, except for the fish (salmon vs mackerel).
For the hot food option you have eggs, but you cannot order any omelet or additional egg dishes. You will also find pancakes, bacon, sausages, potatoes and vegetables. For the cold dishes, you will find salad, 4-5 several cold cuts, cheese, honey, jam, marmalade, toast, and bread as well. There is also a selection of cereal, fresh fruits, milk, and yogurt. There are three coffee machines which are very slow with a variety of choices and a large selection of tea assortment. Overall the breakfast is decent with plenty of choices, but nothing is outstanding. I would compare the rate difference and price options for your stay to see if it’s worth it.
Rating 7/10
Overall this hotel is centrally located and you can walk within 20-25 minutes to the city center. The staff is friendly, but certainly some procedures could be improved as providing more information to guests upon check-in or following up during check-out. The breakfast is decent and if you can get a good rate for your stay I would consider this hotel. However, I would not pay 150€ or more during the high season as there are better alternatives around the city. Especially the carpets should be replaced and the bathrooms and older furniture should be renovated at some point. The acoustic insulation in the rooms is also very poor so you hear everything from other rooms, this could be problematic in the high season when the hotel is fully booked with guests and families with children.
