Hotel Review: Anantara Siam, Bangkok

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Hotel review: Anantara Siam, Bangkok (Siam Suite) Bangkok, May 2018 Introduction After a beach holiday in Hua Hin I had booked a room for one night at Anantara Siam in Bangkok. I wanted to try a new hotel and this would be our second Anantara experience on this trip after checking out their sister property Anantara Riverside Resort about a week earlier. This time I booked a Kasara Club Room directly from the hotel's website. The price was pretty much the same everywhere, but booking directly got us an afternoon tea set for two at the lobby for free, and that sounded like a fun thing to try. Check-in and lobby We arrived at the hotel after 2pm, pretty close to a normal check-in time. Anantara Siam, The Lobby Our bags were immediately taken care of by the welcoming staff, and we were seen to the most luxurious lobby I'd ever seen. This really looked like a five star hotel to me! The hotel radiated elegance and style, and there

Review: Hilton Tallinn Park

Review: Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel

Introduction

This is my personal review of Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel.

A little autumn break was due so we decided to take a little family vacation in Tallinn, Estonia and try the new Hilton Tallinn Park, of which we had heard praise from my colleagues. I booked a four night stay in a King Deluxe Room with a view for three persons. 

We took a boat trip in a completely packed Tallink Silja SuperStar on a beautiful, sunny Wednesday morning and arrived on time in Tallinn. The disembarkation took quite a while and it was a longish walk before entering the terminal. Outside were taxis and we took one to take us into the hotel.


Hilton Tallinn Park facade
Hilton Tallinn Park

Hilton Tallinn
Hilton Tallinn Park

Lobby and check-in

When you step in to the hotel, the first view is quite fabulous. The lobby is gorgeous and modern with a high ceiling and dark, beige and golden colors. In the middle there is a bar which looked awesome and seemed to invite clients at all times of day. We were immediately impressed. A nice photo on the Hilton website.

On the right side there are check-in counters to which we proceeded and were greeted by very friendly employees. When finding out we were booked in an executive room they gave an option to check-in in the lounge. We liked the idea and they made a call to the executive lounge to inform we were coming and showed us to the elevators.

Inside Hilton Tallinn Park
Hilton Tallinn Park, elevators


Up we went to the 11th floor and the lounge was directly facing the elevators. We walked to the door and another friendly employee came to let us in and helped with the check-in while we had a drink in a window table and marveled at the beautiful autumn scenery towards the city of Tallinn.

In a few minutes we had our room keys and took our bags again to take them into our room 1007 on the 10th floor.


Executive Room

As the hotel itself, the room has very pleasant and appealing decor and everything looks brand new.
For those who need space for working there is a decent sized desk with USB and power outlets in the corner next to the window.

A stylish, thin 42-inch TV is on the wall in an unobtrusive way.


Hilton Tallinn Park Executive Room
Executive Room



On a small round table there was a welcome letter along with a small bottle of Vana Tallinn liquor, and thin rye bread with cheese and cloudberry jam. A wonderful and tasty local greeting!

Hilton Tallinn Park, welcome gift - drink and snacks
Welcome amenity with a local twist


Hilton Tallinn Park, drink and view from 10th floor
A pretty glass with Vana Tallinn liquor


Beds are comfortable and big though some of the pillows could be more distinctively different. They all felt a bit soft but we had a good night's sleep anyway. We had a king bed and an extra rollaway bed for the child.

On both sides of the bed there are small tables and over them little reading lights. Two power outlets are provided near the tables as well.

The bathroom was of good size and had both a shower and a bath.
One strange thing is the door that leads from the bedroom to the bathroom. When you open the door to enter bathroom, the same door functions also for the loo. Thus it is not overly private to go to the toilet when there are other people present in the bedroom. But it's not a big issue in my opinion, though.


Executive Lounge

The lounge is located on the uppermost (11th) floor facing the city of Tallinn with a glimpse of harbor and the Gulf of Finland. The decor is elegant as in the other parts of the hotel.
There is personnel in the lounge during its operational hours, so there should't be any hardship to find assistance for booking a table at a local restaurant or getting some hints as to where to go and what to see.

On the far right corner there are two iMac work stations and a printer, which I used later on to print some ferry tickets.

There are chairs and couches around quite a large area that still feels private and the view is definitely gorgeous from here.

Hilton Tallinn Park, self-service bar at Executive Lounge
Executive Lounge

Hilton Tallinn, Exec Lounge seating
Executive Lounge

Hilton Tallinn Park, Executive Lounge
Executive Lounge

Hilton Tallinn Park Executive Lounge, tables and view
Executive Lounge with a view towards the city
Breakfast can be had at either the lounge or the main restaurant, and we did try both. On the first morning we wanted to enjoy the view as the weather was terrific so we opted for the lounge breakfast.
It was adequate, but the food selection is of course much bigger at The Able Butcher.
Basic items were present, such as tea and coffee, juice, cereals, fruit, bacon, bread and croissants.


Hilton Tallinn Park Executive Lounge breakfast items
Cereals and nuts

Hilton Tallinn Park Executive Lounge breakfast: bread, croissants
Bread, croissants and pastries 



The lounge had a Happy Hour from 6pm to 8pm when you could have complimentary drinks and light snacks. There was Vodka, Gin and one kind of red and white wine available and a few different kinds of warm and cold options for food. Perhaps they could add a sparkling wine to the collection? As well as hot chocolate, which our daughter missed.


Hilton Tallinn Park Executive Lounge evening snacks
Happy Hour offerings at the Executive Lounge

View from Hilton Tallinn Park Executive Lounge
Panorama view from Hilton Tallinn Executive Lounge

Spa

Spa (treatment facilities, pool and gym) is located on the 2nd floor together with the restaurant.
When entering the pool area you sign your name and room number, and you're given a rubbery bracelet kind of electronic locker key.

The changing room is stylish and there is a restroom, two shower cubicles and large desk with hair dryers.

The pool area is strikingly beautiful and it's nice and warm there. The main pool is 18m long heated to 30.5c whereas the jacuzzi is 36.5c. About ten loungers are facing the pool and you can find a few additional ones in a more secluded space if you venture further left close to the saunas. There is a conventional Finnish sauna and a steam one, both of which were perfectly fine.


Spa at Hilton Tallinn Park
Spa - big pool with a whirlpool in the background

I made a reservation for my wife and myself to try a 60 min massage. I opted for an Elemis Freestyle Deep Tissue Massage. The process started by filling out a form and waiting for the therapist to come and take you to the treatment room.
My therapist's name was Inna and as like the rest of the staff at this Hilton, she was lovely: friendly, smiling, professional and spoke excellent English.

The massage was very good and relaxing, exactly like it should have been. Inna asked me to let her know if she should apply more pressure or adjust the room temperature etc.

The little details make a spa visit worthwhile: Beautiful surroundings, scented and harmonic treatment rooms, groomed and nicely dressed therapists and faint, relaxing music.In every way, ELEMIS Spa at Hilton Tallinn Park delivered :)


Dining 

We tried the lighter breakfast on the first morning in the Exec Lounge, but the next three days we chose the main restaurant due to the bigger variety of breakfast items.

Breakfast was of good quality and always looked delicious. Again, service was superb. Every morning we were greeted with a genuine smile and a warm welcome. The staff were proactive and always ready to fill up your empty glasses or coffee mugs.

We enjoyed the luxury of having an omelet station and loved the quality of bread and croissants.
It was nice to see local dishes present, too.


Hilton Tallinn Park breakfast at The Able Butcher: Quinoa pudding
Quinoa pudding, breakfast at The Able Butcher restaurant

Hilton Tallinn Park breakfast at main restaurant
Omelet station, breakfast @The Able Butcher


We dined once at The Able Butcher and the restaurant surroundings were very pleasing to the eye in the evening.

We found a few dishes to try - ladies tried burgers whereas I gave a shot at risotto.
The burgers were handsome and large, the buns were of beautiful color and the burger itself was juicy and lovely.

The risotto was excellent! Rice was perfectly cooked and taste was delicate. I asked for a suitable white wine to accompany the dish and a German Riesling was suggested. I tried it and it worked well :)


Hilton Tallinn Park dinner at The Able Butcher
Dinner time @The Able Butcher

Hilton Tallinn Park dinner at The Able Butcher
The Able Butcher, kitchen in the background

Hilton Tallinn Park dinner at The Able Butcher
Excellent risotto @The Able Butcher

Bottomline

We were extremely pleased and impressed by the level of service at Hilton Tallinn Park. Much more so than at Hilton Helsinki Strand we visited a few weeks earlier. The staff was friendly, talkative without being pushy, helpful and hard-working, always polite and smiling. Kudos to the management for doing a great job hiring so good staff.

The Spa area was beautiful and treatments offered were very good. My wife said the massage she experienced in the hands of Kristiina, was one of the best she's ever had.

Thanks in part to excellent food and service in restaurants (like Pegasus) across Tallinn this ended up being one of the best holidays for our family so far.
We will definitely return, hopefully sooner than later!

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