Clarion Hotel® Helsinki

I actually have been already a couple of times to this hotel and it never disappoints. It is a bit off the center in the harbour area, but it´s just a 10 minutes walk downtown or if you don´t feel like walking the tram stops right in front of the hotel. I like the urban industrial design of the hotel and the harbour feeling around. Rooms are a bit small, but most of them with nice views. Best is the rooftop bar (which can be also visited from non-hotel guests) plus the rooftop pool, gym and sauna. If you like to know more about the features of the hotel and what you can do in the city, check also on traveltreasuresbymarion Breakfast is also great with a huge variety for everybody´s taste and the restaurant in general is always a good option for a lunch or dinner in-house.

My husband decided not to celebrate at home for his big 50 but to go at least somewhere, regardless of the current situation. As we cant travel out of the country, we chose to stay at least in another city. sp we chose Helsinki. Clarion had great summer deal which we were able to enjoy. Got a nice big room (I booked superior but I think we were upgraded to a deluxe, when looking at the photos on their website). Our room was in a corner, 5th floor facing the water. Better to have a room on that side of the building, as our friends had similar room on 11th floor but to the road and they could hear the schreeching of the tram breaks from early morning onwards. Room was elegantly decorated and the bed was excellent. We had also nespresso coffee machine (free coffee) and a mini bar (with a fee). They have great top floor bar with great views but it seems that the hotel residents dont have any better access to regular customers - we all had to stand in line to get in! I've used to hotel guests having at least a vip access before outside customers. Breakfast was standard for any Finnish hotel, with no extra specialities . you could have purchased a glass of sparkling from the door, but nothing else differs from any other chain hotel. It takes about 15 mins with the tram to the heart of the city. Parking is 1-2 blocks away, so not directly at the hotel. I'd come again just for the view, but otherwise I would check options closer to the city centrum.

We really enjoyed the ambience of this hotel. Breakfast had something for everyone (including people eating 'clean'). The port was fascinating to watch ships come in and out. The only difficulty was location, we didn't have anyone explain the tram system so we walked into the city everyday (which is fine except when it became dark early afternoon and I didn't want to walk on my own). Make sure you work out how to use the tram so you can get around!

Arrived to the hotel at 2:30pm with my pregnant wife ready to celebrate our 5th anniversary. There was about 20 peoplle waiting at the check in counter, 2 staff members sorting things out very slowly(maybe they have a slow system etc dont know why it took so long). After 20 minutes of waiting we got to the counter just to find out our room was going to be ready in 30minutes and once they had our info(am a member) we didnt need to fill our info once we got back. As for the parking, there is none. Good luck trying to find a parking spot near by. They have an option to park about 2 blocks away in a garage for 27€/night. That’d be fine in LA or NY, but this is Helsinki, come on. Once we got back after 45 minutes there was about 100 people waiting at the check in, I’d guess about an hours wait to get checked in. I kindly asked the lady who earlier told us to return in 30minutes that here we are know and she said we would have to start at the end of the line again. Totally unacceptable. I tried to ask her is there any other option, but no. So we went outside and self checked in after an hour(1 out of 2 self checkin machines worked). There was supposed to be a bottle of sparkling wine with the room, there was none. Called reception 3 times before anyone answered. They said I have to come down and ask for a voucher and go to the bar and get the bottle with the voucher. I was, again, blown away with this ”customer service”. When I finallu got the bottle, I heard I got the last cooler in the hotel, people after me didnt get any coolers with their bottles. This was at 4pm. The bar was staffed with one lady at this point. Later in the evening they ran out of food at the bar/restaurant and they had only one dish, lasagne. The hotel itself was nice and modern with nice rooftop pool and skybar. The DJ was excellent and the skybar staff professional(they were under staffed aswell) PS. The AC controls at the deluxe room did not work. First visit to Clarion, probably the last also. Stick with Hilton and Marriotts if the service and staffing is like this in all the clarion hotels. Nobody apologized or offered any compensation.

Somewhat clinically furnished rooms but has all necessities like a kettle, coffee/tea, mini bar, safety box and even means for ironing. Very comfortable beds and fluffy pillows were a huge plus! Also a great breakfast. Minus for the extra slow check in.