We contacted the staff at Kreutzwald a couple of times after making the reservation to enquire about taxis, restaurants, etc. They were extremely knowledgeable, all the staff were fluent in English and not only that, they answered with a smile. After arriving, nothing was too much trouble for any of them. They actually went out of their way to be helpful. We had several conflicting pieces of advice on how to get from the airport to the Kreutzwald and we opted for the easy option, but made sure of the price we were going to be charged by the taxi in advance. He said between 8-10 euros for both of us and it worked out at 8.50 so we gave him the 10, and we were glad we had taken a taxi.

On arrival, having filled out the registration forms, everything was simple. The reception area is functional, spacious and not unattractive. The lift seemed to have a life of its own but wasn't a nuisance. Our room, 418, was spacious, functional and minimal in furnishings, although good quality. The free computer and wi-fi worked well although the computer was only there for the internet. There were no facilities to use it as a work station. The television had, from our point of view, just three channels - BBC World, Euronews and a cartoon channel. There were a couple of nice touches - tea and coffee making facilities with its own "capsule" coffee maker. However, there was a plethora of sockets but these were placed on one wall behind the desk and out of reach with none by the beds. The lighting was adequate. The "Zen" bathroom was not quite what we envisaged. Putting a square sign on the wall with multi-coloured led lights which change colour and a very deep whirlpool bath does not constitute a Zen experience, and if you have mobility problems at all this bath is too deep for you. The pressure jets were extremely efficient but the shower head could not be used effectively because there was no shower curtain, so we were forever turning the shower off, soaping ourselves, turning it back on, which proved difficult with wet soapy fingers to pull the button out from tap to shower. And after our showers, we ended up drying the floor. There were no slippers or robes as advertised for the room although to be fair we didn't ask for them, and if the door to the bathroom had been left closed on our departure there was a slight smell of drains on our return. Our big - or minimal - criticism though was the size of the towels. they were definitely far too small, basically they were a large flannel and a large hand towel.

Breakfast was excellent and set us up for the day. We were staying over the New Year period and it was quite chilly out, but the location didn't prove a problem, even with the snow. It is situated about ten to 15 minutes easy walk into the Old Town and, going the other way, there is a great little Chinese restaurant about 100 yards away (don't over order, the portions are big) and there is a hypermarket/shopping centre about ten minutes walk further on.

We have to re-emphasise though the criticisms above are for the management, not the staff who were fantastic.