Hot rooms: Moscow
We visit the luxury hotel within a hotel
WORDS: ROBINA DAM
IT’S THE BIG BOYS WHO HOLD ALL THE CARDS IN RUSSIA – and the same goes for high-end hotels. Although there are a couple of exceptions, the boutique hotel concept has yet to take off here. So in a ‘best of both worlds’ sort of way, the grande dame that is the Ritz Carlton Moscow has created a new strategy of the minihotel within a hotel.
For those who want the security that comes with a brand they recognise and feel safe in, it’s great. Not for nothing is this the most expensive hotel in Moscow. It has some of the highest staff to resident ratios that you can get, guaranteeing top-notch service from the moment your car drives up to the imposing entrance on Tverskaya Street – the best address in Moscow, save for the Kremlin itself.
But for those who want a more intimate setting, that’s where the (almost private members’) club element of the Ritz Carlton Club comes into its own. For a start, it’s only available to those who book rooms on the 10th or 11th fl oors, or suites on the other fl oors. But it also has a separate concierge desk to the main reception and its own check-in desk (perfect for VIPs who can enjoy all the benefits of staying at the hotel yet still achieve privacy).
And with the club access, you can use the laptops with free Wi-fiand have a private boardroom for one hour’s free usage.
Plus, not only do you have complimentary breakfast, light lunch, supper and snacks available throughout the day but also drinks. Given Moscow prices for eating out, it almost makes the 49,500-ruble (just under £1,000) starting price for a suite a bargain. Well almost.
The Club has been there since the hotel launched in July 2007, but it was only since President Barack Obama chose to stay here on a recent visit to Moscow (in the Presidential Suite, where else?) that the private club’s cachet shot up. And it set new heights in fivestar hotel service.
The team of club staff offer such a personalised service (just on the right side of not being overly intrusive) that when I had the first symptoms of a cold coming on, they discreetly covered me in blankets during meetings, kept up a constant stream of hot drinks and honey without my even asking, and recommended a particular green tea that Vladimir Putin swears by. My cold never took hold.
After that kind of service, it’s all you can do to run a bath on your own. Oh, I forgot – there is an option for a butler to run a bath for you with either rose petals or some champagne and caviar (beside the tub rather than in the water, I presume).
The Ritz-Carlton, 3 Tverskaya Street, Moscow, +7 495 225 8888 (toll free from the UK 0800 234000); www.ritzcarlton.com
