Jan 19, 2012: TripAdvisor: The Grand Hotel Europe leads the list of 15 Russia's top luxury hotels

Press Release

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/TravelersChoice-Hotels-cLuxury-g294459

The TripAdvisor web sites form the largest society of travellers in the world, attracting more than 50 million new users per month, as well as more than 20 million registered users and 60 million reviews and opinions. 

This award is a particularly great honour because the site's users and the prize's jury are real guests who have stayed at the hotel, whose opinion can be considered utterly impartial. All the reviews are genuine, and it is impossible to influence their comments – the site penalises hotels for bribing users to write positive reviews.

It is worth noting that last autumn the Grand Hotel Europe was named by Russians as the Best Hotel in Russia and the CIS (My Planet Travel Awards). Now the hotel's merits have been confirmed at an international level too. The award represents the perfect present to the hotel on the occasion of its 137th birthday, which it celebrates on February 10 (January 28 according to the Julian calendar previously used in Russia).

Note for editors

The Grand Hotel Europe — the oldest hotel in St Petersburg — is located in the very heart of the city center, on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Mikhailovskaya Ulitsa.

The architect Carlo Rossi worked on the construction of the building, which was built between 1820 and 1830. In 1875, after considerable reconstruction work, the hotel was reopened under the name that it still bears today. At that time, all the most high-profile visitors to the city stayed here: princes and diplomats, writers and artists. The hotel's grand staircases have felt the elegant tread of Anna Pavlova, and its rooms have housed George Bernard Shaw, Ivan Turgenev and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

From 1989 to 1991, the historic building underwent major renovation work. As a result, the hotel attained a top level of modern comfort while fully preserving its unique Style Moderne interiors and magnificent 19th-century facade.

Today the hotel offers its guests 301 rooms, 260 of which have recently been fully renovated and redecorated in a classical style using cutting-edge techniques. The hotel's Historic Floor boasts 10 unique suites with individual names, including the Dostoevsky, Romanov and Pavarotti suites. The hotel is home to six welcoming restaurants and bars of the highest international standards. On Fridays, L'Europe Restaurant hosts the hotel's celebrated Tchaikovsky evenings, while another pearl of the hotel's restaurants is the Caviar Bar, where guests can enjoy blini with caviar washed down by ice-cold vodka.

Those who enjoy chocolate can make their dreams come true in the hotel's in-house chocolate factory, where they can even order a chocolate grand piano.

The list of illustrious guests who stay at the hotel today is no less impressive than that of the past. The Grand Hotel Europe has hosted members of the royal families of Britain, Denmark, Spain, Norway, Holland and Malaysia in addition to descendants of Russia's imperial Romanov family, as well as eminent politicians such as Bill Clinton, Jacques Chirac, Helmut Kohl and Mikhail Gorbachev, and a multitude of musicians and performers including Galina Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovich, Claudio Abbado, Montserrat Caballe, Placido Domingo, Julio Inglesias, Elton John, Jane Fonda, Sharon Stone, Whitney Houston and many others.

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Orient-Express, (NYSE: OEH, www.orient-express.com) the name behind an elite collection of travel experiences, first came into being in 1883 as one of the world’s most exciting and indulgent train journeys.  Today those same two evocative words also embrace hotels, cruises and other luxury rail adventures in 25 countries, across five continents.  The Company has offered exceptional luxury travel experiences since 1976, when it first purchased Hotel Cipriani in Venice and then shortly afterwards, recreated the celebrated Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, linking London, Paris and Venice, along with other European cities.  Today, the company owns or part-owns and manages 50 businesses, 40 of which are highly acclaimed hotels, each unique in style, from the Mount Nelson in Cape Town and Rio’s Copacabana Palace, to the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg and Maroma Resort & Spa on Mexico’s Riviera Maya.  There are two restaurants, including ‘21’ in New York, two river cruise operations and six luxury trains.  For further information or images, please contact:

Irina Khlopova
Public Relations Director
Grand Hotel Europe
Tel.:      +7 (812) 329 66 08
E-mail: irina.khlopova@grandhoteleurope.com