Below average hotel. Above average location

Similar to some other peoples comments. I read the reviews the night before we when and was expecting the worst. Water was hot, thought I shower in the morning and it did seem cooler in the afternoon. The room was clean thought a bit dated in appearance and there was a crazy bed sheet thing going on. All the sheets where clearly to short for the bed. It looks like there have solved the problem with the entrance with the strip club as you can now only enter from outside, not via the hotel lobby. I didn't have the breakfast so I can't comment.

The big plus point of the hotel is the location as it's just opposite the opera house in the old town, our room had a view of it. I do imagine there are better hotels for the price but most of then seemed to be in the new town and as I was on holiday the location outweighed any shortcoming of the hotel. Being able to wonder the old town in the evening was the big plus point of the holiday.

Very poor value. nasty hotel

Horrible Hotel.

I have never paid so much for such poor quality.

I have stayed in 100's of hostels around the world and thought this would fit comfortably in with the worst bunch of them.

I asked for double bed. didnt get one.

asked again got moved to a room with no double bed again.

of the 3 nights i stayed there only 1 of them was there mildly hot water. the other 2,there was no hot water. oh and when i pulled the plug from the bath(of cold water) the bathroom flooded.

The standards would be pretty bad for a hostel. but this is a 4 star hotel--- with no hot water.

I would very much like to meet the person who said the breakfast was nice. even the cornflakes tasted rotten.

there was also an orchestra of people having [--] in adjoining rooms each night. no issues with that except it looks a little suspicious the way there is a door into the strip club frmo the lift in the hotel.

Represents very poor value for money.

As most of the reviews indicate, this hotel has some problems.

It is in a great location. Looks very impressive and is large.

There are a lot of problems though. It is in desperate need of a serious makeover. They do seem to try reasonably hard but everything looks like it needs to repaired or thrown out. Hot water seems to be a luxury that is not included.

The rooms are fairly basic and mostly clean but would not like to inspect closely.

The bar is tiny and not the most friendly.

PLus of course you do have the areas most advertised lapdance bar in the hotel itself by the lifts and stairs. Not great for families.

Just too expensive for what you get, especially in comparison to its rivals.

Could have been better....

Having read some of the reviews I too was very sceptical about staying at the Riga but it really wasn't that bad. The real plus point was its location right on the edge of the old town opposite the Opera House. The public area housed the reception and travel desks (both had very helpful staff) and up a few stairs was a bar area, albeit a little on the small side. Breakfast (usual continental with a reasonable choice) was taken in a large room on the ground floor despite the hotel blurb stating that it would be in the main dinning room on the 2nd floor. Our room was on the the top floor (6th). It was a little on the small side, but reasonably light and furnished. Importantly it was clean, the beds were comfortable and the television worked. Not so though the mini bar and there was no sign of the promised hair dryer. A call to reception quickly remedied the latter. The bathroom was again on the small side and hot water wasn't always available. Towels though were changed daily.

Overall the hotel had a good atmosphere and just about rates a three star.

Worse ever!

Everything was bad, the bathroom was old and smelly, the room was even older and the brekfast tasted less than good. The only good thing was the location. I have stayed at many hotels but never ever seen a worse four star hotel, this is not more than a one star!

Better then expected.

After we had booked this hotel we read the above reviews. So you can imagine that we went to the Riga hotel with a lot of reservations. Fortunately our bad feelings did not come through and my wife and I had a pleasant stay from june 30 until july 3, 2005. The Riga hotel is rated as a three star hotel, which in our opinion is justified. As the location, at the edge of the old city, is excellent and breakfast is very good we rate this hotel above an average three star hotel.

Disgusting

This was one of the worst hotel experiences of my life - if you are planning to stay here don't bother. If you can spend a bit more I would recommend the Radisson SAS Hotel which is on the other side of the water to here - the rooms are OK - the bathrooms are a bit basic - but compared to Hotel Riga it is like Buckingham Palace. We checked in then straight out of Hotel Riga - there was urine stains on our sheets, the floors and bathroom was dirty on arrival - and even the staff agreed with us that the hotel is not fit for guests. Apparently it is due a big revamp and until then they are doing very little to the hotel. There is also a strip club off the hotel reception which is not what we wanted to see on the way up to the room. PLEASE DO NOT STAY HERE - IT IS A HOLE. Luckily they let us check out with no penalty as we had secured the reservation with a credit card. Very nice staff though - they were very understanding. I think half of them were more embarrassed than we were.

Worst hotel experience of my life

Stayed two nights at this miserable hotel. Although having booked a non-smoking room I was put in a smoking room, which smelled absolutely awful. There were several stains on the carpet and bloodstains after killed moskitos on the wall. The bathroom was dirty and the bathtub rusty. The bed was too short and lumpy and to make matters worse the tram was running just outside my window making it impossible to sleep.

The next morning I was promised to be moved to a non-smoking room only to find out when returning to the hotel in the evening that it had not been done. When demanding to be put in a non-smoking room as agreed I was told the hotel was fully booked. Only when I started making a real fuss and asking to see the manager did they manage to find me a non-smoking room. This room was slightly better, but still not very clean and pretty run-down.

Staff was overall rude and unhelpful and the hotel does certainly NOT deserve four stars! Ruined my visit to an otherwise nice city.

Good location, basic, showing some age

Stayed at Hotel Riga during the last weekend of January 05.

Location is good, as it is in the Old Center, meaning walking distance to restaurants, pubs, and clubs.

Room was clean and basic, hotel in general showing some age.

Breakfast was sufficient.

Notes: no massages in the weekend, and the sauna should be booked in advance as it fills up quickly.

Overall: this old 'grand' hotel is not quite four stars, but can be good value for money given location and cleanliness.

Poor

Have just returned from 4 nights at the Hotel Riga (Jan 2005), and I can't say I was very impressed. Location is great, but things are downhill from there. Our room was really quite small, dark and very basic, not like the web site pictures suggest.

The shower was nothing more than a dribble. Maybe I should have settled for a bath, but the water was brown... Oh, and cold as well. Rather like the room, actually. There was a radiator, but it was stone cold, and had no switch. No facility to make a hot drink - shame given how cold it was. Not especially clean either, though the tired & dated decor didn't help matters.

Breakfast was included, and reasonable enough - standard fare. The resturants suggested we eat elsewhere when we tried to book a table- so we did....

Staff were generally sullen and unfriendly, though the bouncers were quite intimidating. I was quite amused when one of them asked my partner what room she was staying in one night (suggesting she was a -----), but other guests may not be so amused.

Riga is a great short break destination, but give the Hotel a miss.