The Bad Side of Our Hotel in Tallinn, The PK Ilmarine
Our hotel in Tallinn, the PK Ilmarine was just a short walk away from the harbour where our ferry/ship, The Eckero Line, docked. We did have to ask for directions as to how to get there from the lady at the tourist information office inside the ferry terminal. As it turned out, there were many terminals in Tallinn and it was sheer luck that we chose Eckero because it docked at the terminal closest to our chosen hotel. As soon as we got out of the ferry terminal, we just walked a straight path and after a few minutes, we arrived at PK.
This was our first glimpse of the hotel. Not bad, I thought.
This is the main facade of the hotel. We arrived around 12:45 pm, way before the usual 2 pm check in. As in many hotels worldwide, we were told that we couldn't check in yet since it was way too early. We were told that we could just leave our suitcases and backpacks in their storage room right in the lobby and next to the check in counter.
We didn't hesitate to leave our suitcases. They were bulky and heavy. We wanted to leave our backpacks as well but they contained our laptops, clothes, and travel papers. We were apprehensive leaving them in the storage room especially after we found out that the storage room was not locked and people could just go in and out as they pleased. We figured since there was no one checking and no stubs were given out to match the suitcases being taken out, we opted to stay and keep watch and wait in the lobby. We kept ourselves busy by working on our laptop computers.
By 2 pm, we approached the check in counter to get our room. We were told that the hotel was fully booked and that we would have to stay in a suite instead. Marc was told that we would just have to vacate the suite the following morning so that we could go to a regular room in another wing of the hotel. "A suite? No problem." I said to my self. "We got an upgrade." I muttered to myself. We were given the key to Suite 122. That was when the horror began.
The door to our suite 122
This was what greeted us upon our entry.
The suite they told us we were going to get didn't look like a suite at all. It was similar to a tiny loft with the bedroom right above the living rfoom and dining room. I was quite perplexed as to why there was a vacuun cleaner right next to this tiny wooden cupboard/closet in the landing or vestibule. Then I checked the bathroom out.
We saw a bucket with rags and a mop.
Here's a close up view of the bucket.
Right above sink, there were no tissues in the tissue box. It was totally empty.
I went upstairs to check out the bed.
This was the loft with our beds.
I wondered why a baby's crib was in there.
When I opened the closet doors, I saw a baby's blanket and a tiny pink bag. There was a white blanket I didn't want to touch. Everyhting I saw seemed to belong to someone who actually lived in the suite.
This was the light fixture right above the dining table and below the bedroom loft.
Can you see the dust?
Now this was the airconditioning unit that would make noise and blew air out but did not cool the room. can you spot the dust here too?
I have asthma and I was beginning to have difficulty breathing just after a few minutes of staying there. I was glad I brought my medicines, two full bottles of them just in case I got sick.
Get a load of this window. I couldn't see what was outside given the dirt that covered the glass.
Here's a closer view of the windows.
And here's an even closer closer at the window glass. It couldn't have been any worse.
There was a kitchenette, a round dining table, and a two seater sofa in the area under the bedroom loft. I couldn't get to sit in any of the chairs nor the sofa given the stains in each one of them.
Here's one of the stained chairs.
I looked around and saw this on the wall next to the sofa. The remains of a squished bug with dried blood.
This was the main light fixture above the dining table that flickered for several minutes before we got light.
Then there was a tv set that did not work. I kept turning it on and on to no avail.
The kitchenette
A hole in the wall
Needless to say, I was distressed and outright mad to have been assigned a room like this for my vacation in Tallinn. I had paid good money to stay in this hotel. I read reviews about the place and most werfe favorable. I couldn't understand why the hotel room was like this. We went to the front desk right away and asked for a chanfge of rooms. We were told the hotel was full and that they couldn't do anything to help us.
I kept asking why the room they advertised in their website had different pictures and that none of them resembled the room we got. We returned to our room mad and we planned on changing hotels that same evening. Tallinn had many other hotels and we were just going to move even if it meant losing the money we had prepaid for a room in PK Ilmarine.